WILD MAG #2 June 2023: Reena Merchant

WILD Magazine

Founder

Rhonda Swan

Editor In Chief

Jonas Muthoni

Editor

Nigel Simmonds

Creative Director

Stuart Sullivan

Graphic Design

Adi Mika

Writers

Andrew Hall, Karen Donald

Administrative Director

Yana Vasilik

WILD Magazine is published by the Unstoppable Branding Agency, a forward-thinking public relations and branding company based in Bali with influence and followers internationally.

UBA utilizes storytelling, SEO, and brand messaging to grow its clients’ personal branding. It employs experts from all over the world (from countries such as Malaysia, New Zealand, Germany, the UK, Singapore,

UBA

Chief Marketing Officer

Brian Swan

Head Of Publishing

Annelise Sylta

Head of Sales

Ryan Lenett

Head of WILD Council

Starrwyn

Editorial Content Director

Tarryn Reeves

Accounting

Jelena Dakic

Senior Designer

Jez Orbe

France, America, and more) in related fields such as digital marketing, graphic design, UI/UX, and content production as well as publishing. For its employees, degrees are not the prerequisite – instead, it is experience, knowledge, and skill which matter to the company.

Unstoppable Branding Agency was founded upon Rhonda Swan’s firm belief in the importance of empowering

© No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

women everywhere. As a child, Rhonda grew up in a turbulent home and struggled with her self-image and an eating disorder that lasted for almost 10 years.

When she overcame her struggles, Rhonda realized that she wanted to help other women achieve the same success. The drive behind the Unstoppable Branding Agency is to empower women by showing them that

unleashing their voice is of paramount importance in order to attain success.

This is the second issue of WILD Magazine, a publication which seeks to leverage the company’s faith in women and their partners across all countries and nationalities.

We feel priveleged that you are taking the time to read our publication, it makes what we do so worthwhile.

Reena Merchant photographed by Mark Fore Photography.

WELCOME

WELCOME to WILD magazine, Issue 2! It’s my great pleasure to once again bring you a collection of some of the most powerful women on the planet who are living their very best lives in what has been a testing couple of years.

Many of us have had to regroup and rethink our businesses in the wake of the pandemic madness, but if one thing it has proven is that from new challenges come new opportunities for adventure. And what adventures we have planned!

Aside from our latest push into the online PR space with a new partnership with Jonas Muthoni at Deviate Agency, we have a new edition of Women Gone Wild out on the shelves around the world and are pressing forward with our Google Indexing, SEO & Top Tier Publishing programs that stand to change the game in terms of online visibility for our clients. That’s not to mention our exciting new TV shows, Times Square Billboards and award-winning podcasts which continue to garner millions of views in every sector!

On a personal note, I am very happy to let you know that I am building a brand-new house on the island of Bali, my beloved home where I live with my husband Brian and of course my now 16-yearold daughter Hanalei, whose star continues to rise with each year that passes. To have such a loving and supportive husband and a talented and beautiful daughter is a blessing for which I will always be grateful.

I feel further blessed to be able to offer you some insights into these fabulous women in WILD Magazine, and I continue to be mindful and grateful for everything we do together as a team around the world. As I always say, if you’re going to create a brand, create a sexy brand, and if you’re going to be anything … be unstoppable! -

Rhonda Swan

CONTENTS

26

REENA MERCHANT

We need warriors like Reena Merchant to guide us through what promises to be a future controlled by UX and AI. She’s perfectly placed to help out.

22

RHONDA SWAN

Rhonda needs very little introduction. As the publisher of WILD magazine and the Women Gone Wild book series, she remains the Unstoppable force behind her successful agency UBA.

44

TEAM SWANK

Ebony Swank saw the gap left by The Gap and made clothes for fully formed women. But it was no easy ride for her brand Swank A Posh.

94

HEATHER MARIANNA

Keeping it real in the kitchen with her beauty secrets, Heather brings the pop back into homebased beauty potions with Kitchen Confidential.

52

NEW LEADERSHIP

What leadership style are you, and how does it affect the success of your business? WILD delves into the whys and wherefores of the biggest frontrunners.

48

FROM BURNOUT TO BALANCE

Lady Gaga leads the way in serene liftestyle ... how does she do it? y looking at all aspects of her life and discarding that don’t serve her inner soul. She’s not alone.

80

HILARY DECESARE

Caught in a spiral of stress at the very top of her game, Hilary decided to take a step back and offer a path to a new way of fulfillment.

32

INTUITION EVERYWHERE

The female intuition famously guides many people through the most difficult of time, but how does it relate to business, and how do we access it for success?

58

BOBBI VARGAS

Bobbi Vargas and her brand Bodela are an inspiration. We talk to this beauty educator, speaker and maven.

GODDESS IN THE MACHINE

Spirituality and business do not mix, right? Wrong. Today’s most successful entrepreneurs recognise that balance comes from looking upwards.

62

TERRI BRITT

Terri Britt, former Miss USA, spiritual coach, TEDx speaker, award-winning author of “The Enlightened Mom,” is the founder of the Women Leaders of Love global movement.

CONTENTS

60

SOPHIE ZOLLMANN

A cohesive team is often more efficient than multiple individuals working in silos, says growth expert Sophie Zollman in our feature article All For One.

36

HANALEI SWAN

Hanalei Swan, fashion designer, artist, international speaker, author, and model, grew up traveling the world with her entrepreneurial family. We talk to her about living in the now.

90

PATTI NEGRI

Patti Negri, psychic medium, “Good Witch,” podcaster, author, and TV host, shares the benefits of energy balancing and some easy elemental exercises to help you get back in good psychic shape.

56

JULIE DUCHARME

Since earning her MBA and Doctorate degrees in business and organizational leadership, Julie has become a five-time national best-selling author, recognized by INC magazine.

66

ANNA NOWAK & ALICIA BERG

Trailblazers in forging healthy relationships, Anna Nowak and Alicia Berg, are showing us how to have a better relationship with sex.

92

DIANA WENTWORTH

Diana Wentworth, Founder of Inside Edge Foundation for Education, international keynote speaker, author of seven best-selling and award-winning books, and co-author of two Chicken Soup for the Soul titles, shares the power of what it means to be drawn rather than driven.

70

MICHALE GABRIEL

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born … and the day you find out why,” says Michale Gabriel, who guides her clients to discover their purpose.

72

BEATE NIMSKY

No matter how successful you think you are, author, former business manager, and current life coach, Beate Nimsky, has a question for you: are you happy?

12

CUSTOM COLLAB

UBA and Deviate Agency have announced a partnership to provide dynamic and infallible digital branding solutions to clients.

42

ARCHANA REDDY

Archana Reddy, the founder, and intuitive transformational facilitator of Embody Your Mastery™ is a spiritual seeker and eternal student who aims to help, empower, and unleash your great potential

88

BARBIE LAYTON

Host of the TV channel, ‘You Are Amazing’ on The Best You TV, and co-founder of ‘The Infinity Life’, Barbie Layton has devoted her career to helping others literally fall in love with themselves.

18

EVENT HORIZON

Women Gone Wild: Feminine Guide to Fearless Living Wealth Edition is partnering with She Talks and Combat Boots To High Heels to host a gala event at Huntingdon Beach. Party!

Dreams Gone Wild

UNSTOPPABLE BRANDING AGENCY’S RHONDA SWAN & DEVIATE AGENCY’S JONAS MUTHONI FORM AN ALLIANCE THAT BREAKS BOUNDARIES ONLINE AND IN PRINT.

UNSTOPPABLE Branding Agency (UBA), a top PR and branding firm, and Deviate Agency, a leading digital marketing company, have announced a partnership to provide dynamic and infallible digital branding solutions to clients. This partnership marks the first time these two sectors have merged to create an unbeatable force in the digital branding world.

The partnership is expected to create a ripple effect in the digital marketing and branding industry, as both companies have a wealth of experience and expertise in their respective fields. Clients can expect a more personalized approach, as both firms will work together to create a strategy that best fits their brand and overall goal.

The founder of Deviate Agency, Jonas Muthoni, and the founder of UBA, Rhonda Swan, have also joined forces to create WILD Mag, a magazine that celebrates women and their achievements while also providing valuable insights and advice for women who are looking to take their lives to the next level. The magazine’s focus on personal and

professional growth is especially timely, as many women are looking for guidance and support as they navigate the challenges of a changing world.

WILD Mag’s commitment to authenticity and inclusivity is one of the things that sets it apart from other publications. Rhonda and Jonas have made it clear that they want the magazine to be a space where all women can feel seen, heard, and valued. They have enlisted a diverse group of contributors to ensure that the magazine represents a wide range of perspectives and experiences. This commitment to diversity and inclusivity allows women from all walks of life to feel that they are part of a community that supports and uplifts them.

The partnership between UBA and Deviate Agency, along with the launch of WILD Mag, is a testament to the power of collaboration and empowerment. Entrepreneurs Rhonda Swan and Jonas Muthoni have put in the effort to uplift each other and collaboratively come up with methods and solutions that are

geared towards women’s empowerment. The partnership and the magazine are expected to make a significant impact in the marketing and PR industries, as well as the personal and professional growth of women around the world.

Another key feature of WILD Mag is its focus on practical advice and actionable insights. Rhonda, the founder of the best-selling book series “Women Gone Wild”, is no stranger to empowering women to achieve their goals. With her expertise in branding and marketing, she has helped countless women entrepreneurs build successful businesses and establish themselves as leaders in their respective industries. Jonas, on the other hand, brings his extensive knowledge of digital marketing to the table, ensuring that the magazine is not only informative but also visually engaging and accessible to a wide audience.

The launch of WILD Mag comes at a time when women are facing unprecedented challenges in both their personal and

WILD THINGS: JONAS AND RHONDA, TIMES SQUARE NYC

professional lives. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected women, with many having to juggle work, childcare, and other responsibilities without adequate support. In addition, women continue to face discrimination and harassment in the workplace, as well as societal pressures to conform to narrow standards of beauty and behavior.

Despite these challenges, Rhonda and Jonas remain optimistic about the future of women’s empowerment. They believe that by providing women with the tools and resources they need to succeed, they can help create a world where women are valued and respected for who they are and what they contribute.

“I’ve always been passionate about helping women achieve their dreams,” says Rhonda. “With WILD Mag, we’re taking that mission to the next level. We want to provide women with the

inspiration, guidance, and support they need to become the best version of themselves.”

Jonas echoes this sentiment, adding that he sees WILD Mag as a way to create a community of women who can learn from and support each other. “We want to build a space where women can come together to share their experiences and help each other grow,” he says. “There’s so much power in that kind of community.”

The launch of WILD Mag has been met with enthusiasm from women across the world. The magazine’s social media pages have already amassed a large following, with many women sharing their excitement about the magazine’s launch and what it represents.

With its focus on empowering women and celebrating their achievements, WILD Mag is poised to become a major player in the

women’s empowerment space. As Rhonda and Jonas continue to build the magazine and its community of readers, they remain committed to their mission of helping women thrive in every aspect of their lives.

“This is just the beginning,” says Rhonda. “We have big plans for WILD Mag, and we’re excited to see where this journey takes us.”

As the worlds of PR, marketing, and digital branding continue to merge, and entrepreneurs like Rhonda and Jonas continue to pave the way for women’s empowerment, it’s clear that the future is bright for women everywhere. With the right tools, resources, and community, women can achieve anything they set their minds to – and WILD Mag is here to help them do just that.

www.wildmag.com

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: WILD MAG, ISSUE 1; WILDMAG.COM; JONAS AND RHONDA AT NASDAQ; ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER PODCAST

READY, SET, GO

WOMEN empowerment has been a central topic in today’s world, and Rhonda Swan is putting together an event that is set to empower women in a big way.

Swan is an entrepreneur and author who is launching the “Wildest” book launch of the year. The Women Gone Wild: Feminine Guide to Fearless Living Wealth Edition is partnering with She Talks and Combat Boots To High Heels, a non-profit that supports women veterans. This partnership is meant to empower and inspire women by offering a platform for women to share their stories and knowledge.

The book launch event will take place on June 17th at Barnes and Noble in Huntington Beach, Orange County, Southern California. The redcarpet event will feature a host of high-profile female figures, celebrities, renowned authors, and inspirational speakers. There will be book signings, entertainment from American Idol’s Jessica Meuse, and much more.

Women Gone Wild: Feminine Guide to Fearless Living Wealth Edition is about re-defining wealth and encouraging women to build their own financial success. The book offers insights and strategies for wealth creation and management,

with a focus on the meaning of W.I.L.D – Wealth, Intuition, Leadership, and Diversity. This powerful book involves 25 female authors from all walks of life, and their stories reflect a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and challenges. Together, they create a powerful message of resilience, empowerment, and hope.

The 25 authors are Rhonda Swan, Diana Wentworth, Jamie Anderson, Danette May, Danelle Delgado, Adriana Alvarez, Hanalei Swan, Camberly Gilmartin, April Ryan, Michelle Beltran, Kortney Murray, Stefanie Bruns, Blair Kaplan Venables, Ania Halama, Karen Whelan, Tarryn

WOMEN GONE WILD: WEALTH EDITION BOOK LAUNCH IS PARTNERING WITH SHE TALKS & COMBAT BOOTS TO HIGH HEELS FOR A RED-CARPET EXTRAVAGANZA IN HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA.

JUNE 17TH AT BARNES & NOBLE

BOOK SIGNING: 10:00AM-1:00PM

RED CARPET EVENT: 3:30PM-8:30PM

6501 PALM AVE, HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA 92648

TheHuntingtonClub.com

CELEBRITY SPEAKER LINEUP

SPEAKERS:

Reeves, Dana Kay, Ebony Swank, Barbie Layton, Genevieve Searle, Shar Moore, Michale Gabriel, and Robin Mullin.

Swan explains why Women Gone Wild partnered with She Talks for their upcoming book launch extravaganza. “It’s an important collaboration and partnership. We want to break down gender barriers and promote and empower women,” she says. Using powerful voices at the event such as Sharon Lechter, author, and businesswoman, and Diana Wentworth, author of seven best-selling and award-winning books and the co-author of two Chicken Soup for the Soul titles. Film rights to her romantic memoir, Send Me Someone, were purchased by the Lifetime Network.

The partnership between Women Gone Wild and She Talks highlights the importance of empowering women to take command of what they want out of life and redefine what wealth means to them. Attendees will have the opportunity to network with other women, gain valuable insights, and become more empowered in their financial decision-making. Swan says,

“If you want to rub shoulders with the leaders in women enrichment and be inspired and network and grow, this is where you need to be.”

Furthermore, the Women Gone Wild and She Talks event on June 17th will feature 20 female speakers who will share their experiences and expertise on topics related to the WILD definition. The speakers will inspire the masses with topics such as wealth creation and management, intuition, leadership, and diversity.

Among the speakers, Justine Siegal, an American baseball coach, sports educator, and the founder of Baseball For All. In 2009, she became the first female coach of a professional men’s baseball team, when she worked for the Brockton Rox, in the independent Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball.

Jen Welter, an American football coach who is currently line backers coach for the Vegas Vipers of the XFL. She was a defensive coaching intern for the National Football League’s Arizona Cardinals during their training camp and the

2015 preseason, making her the first female coaching intern in the NFL. Swan says, ‘’Their powerful voices among the other incredible speakers will ensure our mission is cemented –which is to uplift women everywhere. ‘’

If you’re attending the book launch you can meet the authors, and have your book signed. There’s an opportunity to get glam and walk the red carpet, network, meet and greet, enjoy delicious appetisers and drinks and of course enjoy top class entertainment.

www.shetalks.life

www.cbhh.org

www.wgwbook.com

SHE TALKS, THEY LISTEN.

JUNE 17TH AT BARNES & NOBLE

BOOK SIGNING: 10:00AM-1:00PM

RED CARPET EVENT: 3:30PM-8:30PM

6501 PALM AVE, HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA 92648

TheHuntingtonClub.com

SHETALKS SPEAKER LINEUP

SPEAKERS: ABIGAIL DUCHARME | IRINA SYCHOV | LUBA SAKHARUK | SHELBY JO LONG | GRACE GREENE | ANDREA BELL CORY FISK | DR. KAREN WALKER | DR. JULIE DUCHARME | MELISSA A. WASHINGTON

IT’S BEEN QUITE THE YEAR FOR RHONDA SWAN AS SHE CONTINUES HER JOURNEY BOTH PERSONALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY …

BY NIGEL SIMMONDS

PHOTOS BY OSCAR MUNAR

RHONDA, it’s been a minute since we caught up. How have you been?

I’ve been amazing, thanks! We’ve been on a wild and crazy path of growth, with a lot of ups and downs. We kicked off 2023 with a family trip to Japan for snowboarding, then headed back to the USA. We went to LA and New York for filming some television shows, opened our new office in Orange County, solidified my new partnership, and traveled to Florida, Michigan, and Atlanta to be showcased on the new TV show called “American SESH” with Pinkie Cole. We also went back to Bali to start building our new villa. However, we have been in different hotels for the last four and a half weeks, changing every two to three days because the villa isn’t ready yet, and the island is full. This is nothing new for the Unstoppable Family because we traveled like this for about eight full years, maybe not moving every two to three days, but typically every two to three weeks or months.

What are some of the biggest personal challenges you’ve faced in your life over the past year, and how have you overcome them?

Some of the biggest challenges that I’ve faced over the last year have been pretty intense. In 2022, we launched our book “Women Gone Wild” and went on a massive book tour in New York, Vegas, and LA. During the tour, we found out that the book was not written properly with the right guidelines from our publisher. We had to pull the book in the middle of the tour and rewrite it before relaunching it this year. Scaling a business and being authentic to the world can bring a lot of unexpected challenges, and I had to clear out people who weren’t serving my purpose and supporting my efforts. It was a tough year for my business, but I believe that stepping back allowed me to step back in even stronger. Now, the book is written with CMS guidelines and is available in bookstores worldwide, including Barnes and Noble, Target, and Walmart. We’re excited to go on our next book tour in Orange County, partnering

with She Talks and a charity called Combat Boots to High Heels that supports women veterans with the highest suicide rate in the world. I’m thrilled to be able to create a bigger impact in women’s lives and show others that they have a strong voice. Partnering with amazing charities and other women doing incredible things allows us to change the way women work together and for me to be a stronger role model for my daughter. Even though things may not always go as planned, they will find their way, just like water finding the easiest path. That’s how we’re starting to flow.

How’s the family?

Our family is doing great, thank you for asking. We have been closer than ever, especially since my daughter Hanalei bought her first property. As part of our Unstoppable Family values, we are teaching her practical skills as she grows. She has been homeschooled for the past six years and started her first fashion company at the age of 11, making her first six figures at 12. When she decided to take a break from fashion and focus on her artwork and writing, we used the money she earned to invest in real estate for her. Now, at the age of 16, she is building her first studio apartment and learning about property development, real estate, rentals, and Airbnb. The pandemic was a blessing for us, as it allowed us to reflect on our values and what we wanted in life. We are grateful for the growth and lessons we have learned throughout the challenges we faced. Ultimately, our family’s happiness and growth together are what matter most to us.

How did the pandemic affect your business, and what strategies have you implemented to adapt to the changing market conditions?

During the pandemic, our business was not significantly affected because we were already fully online as a PR and branding firm. In fact, the pandemic made people realize the importance of showcasing their business online

and restructuring their brand to invest in bigger PR opportunities. We were able to help businesses leverage the online space in a bigger way. While there were shifts in the economy, interest rates, and inflation, we didn’t see much of an impact in our business. However, we did notice that some clients started to pull back in certain areas such as PR. To counteract this, we shifted our message and focused on educating clients on the importance of building their online presence. We emphasized that if they didn’t invest in their online footprint, they risked being left in the dark because everyone else was shifting online. Our strategy of education over selling ultimately benefited us in a major way.

What new services or offerings has your agency developed recently, and how have they been received by your clients?

Our agency has been focusing on Google verification, which means ensuring that our clients are seen as experts when they or their company are searched for online. We achieve this through the creation of Google Knowledge Panels, which we call GKPs. While having a blue tick on social media is fun, being verified by Google is essential as it’s the number one search engine in the world, and where people go to find information. Our clients have responded well to this service, and we’ve shifted our payment structure from higher upfront fees to a monthly retainer, making it more manageable for clients who may have experienced lower sales throughout the year. Overall, we are pleased with the success of this new offering.

How do you help clients develop and communicate their brand story? What’s different about the way your company does that?

The more people are talking about you, and the more people are seeing you, the more they decide that you are the right one. So I use the example that branding and personal branding, when you are selling for yourself, or for your company, is like you standing in Times Square with a megaphone

saying ‘Look how great I am!’ What we do in our agency and how we help clients achieve higher visibility and more brand credibility is we place them in top tier publications. And it’s as if there is, for example, a Forbes magazine representative standing in Times Square, saying that business or that brand is credible. It’s a whole different perspective. And a third party is validating your business, your services. That’s what we do best – we help someone else tell the story about the brand, so that there’s not only more consistency, but they’re being seen or heard in a different way. When someone recommends or refers someone to you, you take that with a lot more trust than if you’re just searching for yourself.

What new collaborations have you made, and how do you see the online marketing space developing over the next 24 months?

I recently partnered with Jonas Muthoni, CEO of Deviate Agency, to create a new company called Be Unstoppable. This collaboration allows us to provide the best in PR, SEO, and paid advertising to our clients. By combining our expertise, we can help our clients increase their visibility and organic traffic while reducing their ad spend. Additionally, we launched Wild Magazine, which is now available in both print and digital formats. (www.wildmag.com). Thanks to Jonas’ software development skills and his company’s strength, the magazine was recognized by Google as a news source within eight months of its launch. This recognition has allowed us to compete with top publications worldwide. We are continuously working to tell more stories, including a new section for men similar to Forbes Women. Looking ahead, I believe the online marketing space will continue to evolve rapidly over the next 24 months, with a focus on personalization and creating unique customer experiences.

How do you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in branding and marketing, and what resources do you rely on for inspiration?

I keep myself up to date by closely monitoring the marketplace and staying attentive to the latest trending strategies. However, I also make sure to learn from the pioneers of copywriting, marketing, and branding because these are the principles that endure in the long run. While there are many fleeting tactics that people can use, focusing on the fundamentals such as consistent storytelling, SEO, paid advertising, and PR is what will never go out of style. We always keep an eye on emerging trends in the marketplace, analyze where the buying power lies, and pay attention to what people are discussing, so that we can share these insights through our magazines and stay ahead of the curve.

What advice do you have for entrepreneurs and business owners who are struggling to establish a clear and effective brand identity, and how does that relate to your own story of overcoming challenges and seeking new depth in business?

My advice to people is to get very clear on the one client or customer that you can help the most. If you know your target market, then you will know exactly what they look for and what problems they have. I use the awareness scale to identify where our clients are in their business journey. Many businesses tend to want to help everyone, but they miss the point of understanding where their client is in their awareness scale. Are they aware they have a problem and looking for a solution, or are they not even aware they have a problem? We need to create that need for our clients and make them aware of what they do and how they can help them. In reality, clients need to see you as credible and as a solution to their problem. So, we focus on identifying where our clients are in their awareness scale and tailor our message and marketing strategies based on that.

Looking ahead to the future, what are your goals for Unstoppable Branding Agency, and how do you see the branding and marketing industry evolving in the coming years?

I believe that the branding, online PR, and digital marketing industries will continue to grow and evolve, but not necessarily in the social media space. Instead, I think there will be new platforms and apps emerging for sharing messages. However, the most important aspect of digital marketing will always be on Google, where businesses need to fully understand their clients and their problems, and create high-quality, keyword-rich SEO content to be seen as experts in their field.

As for Unstoppable Branding Agency, our goal is to continue helping our clients achieve their branding and marketing objectives, while staying ahead of the trends in the industry. We will continue to prioritize understanding our clients’ needs and using data-driven strategies to achieve their goals. We also hope to expand our reach and impact by working with more clients and partnering with other businesses in the industry. As I always say, if you’re going to create a brand, create a sexy brand, be unstoppable and always stay wild.

www.rhondaswan.com

www.unstoppablebrandingagency.com

SCIENTISTPhilosopher

REENA MERCHANT HAS MASTERED THE PERFECT COMBINATION OF LOGIC AND CREATIVITY TO GUIDE US THROUGH A FUTURESCAPE THAT WILL DESPERATELY NEED BOTH.

BY NIGEL SIMMONDS

TO be described as a paradox used to be a negative. “A person having qualities that appear to be opposites,” goes the dictionary definition. It denotes an unreconciled confusion, like an incomplete puzzle.

Except in today’s world – and more importantly tomorrow’s – these are exactly the type of qualities that will dominate: traits that bring together two opposing forces of logic and creativity.

Think about AI and its role in our future. Generative tech will soon dominate the online landscape – creating content, building websites, handling and delivering information at will. Pundits say this will lead to a homogenization of the online space, creating a meta world that will operate entirely under its own AI thinking.

A world where tech makes all the decisions, all the content and all the imagery to create a living virtual space in which humans will engage. And that’s what has a lot of people worried – where exactly do oxygenbreathing mammals like us fit in? Who will handle this tricky marriage of artifice and human experience?

It will likely be people like Reena Merchant.

LEFT BRAIN, RIGHT BRAIN

The Great Adventure

Reena Merchant is a product of two worlds. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, she hails from a family of Indian descent. A clever kid with a talent for academic study, in Grade 9 she left the comfort of her Canadian education and on the advice of her parents moved with her grandmother to India.

“I was really shy. I was an introvert, with a lot of focus on normal things – you go to school, do well in your studies. And then all of a sudden, I was put in this situation where I was going to be in a completely different country. And although I was somewhat familiar with Indian culture and language, living there full time was very new to me.”

It was her Great Adventure. “It was a big journey of me pushing myself out of my comfort zone and coming out of the shell that I had grown into. I needed to make sense of the world and figure out how to do well in this new environment, how to make friends and how to be more social. It was a really great experience, if challenging.”

The experience shaped her, but she soon had to do it all over again. “I came back three years later and had to reintegrate. There was a cultural shock all over again Although I’m Canadian and familiar with that culture, I had no idea what high school was going to be like. I had no friends, I didn’t know anyone because I had gone to India for the past few years.”

It wasn’t the last time she would feel out of place.

Dance Little Sister

As a child, Reena considered being either a lawyer like her mother, or a ballerina. It perfectly describes her dichotomy and the two sides of her personality. Her paradox. On the one hand, a bright spark in the field of computer science, where she would eventually end up applying her logical brain to master code, and on the other a gentle and inquiring creative that sought to deal with an inherent sensitivity to the world around her. At first, she struggled to marry the two sides, but then she

discovered UX – the science of adapting tech’s user experience to be of ultimate benefit to people’s lives. She joined Blackberry, then Citrix and Sony PlayStation, and then Google, where today she runs a User Experience team for YouTube.

“I enjoy UX because it’s the perfect way of combining logical thinking and problem-solving with my artistic and creative side. And when it comes to user experience design, it’s so much about creating great products for humans. That’s something that’s really important to me.”

Is It Still A Man’s World?

Reena rose through a tech industry dominated by men, another challenge. “There simply aren’t as many women in tech. And because of the cultural fabric, we are often expected to behave in a certain way. Women are often expected to be a louder voice and presence that doesn’t necessarily lean on intuition. And I have found that whenever I’ve tried to become that person, I have missed out on the intuitive part within me.”

Reena started to look inwards and began to engage with her intuition in order to further reconcile her inward and outward selves. Life helped her along.

“In 2015, I went through a lot of personal change in my life, and to help manage the stress, I started meditating. That allowed me to give myself permission to quiet all of the chaos inside me. I learned that when I was quiet there was another little voice within me that I usually wasn’t hearing, but oh my goodness, I could hear it now. And through that I learned that my intuition is always there. It’s just that many times I’m not tapping into it.”

Learning how to hear her intuition put Reena in better alignment with her authentic self. “It’s been a lot of learning to have the courage to say, ‘No, I don’t need to show up in this industry as women are often expected to. It doesn’t need to be like that. It can be my own flavour of leadership. It’s about learning how to coexist in this diverse industry. I’m constantly in boardrooms with people who aren’t like me.”

“There simply aren’t as many women in tech. And because of the cultural fabric, we are often expected to behave in a certain way.”

Just Be Yourself

“It may seem obvious,” says Reena, “but the biggest lesson I’ve learned over the years is that you should never try to be someone you’re not. When working in an industry where success is frequently defined in masculine terms, it can be easy to start believing you need to ‘become’ that in order to succeed,” she says.

In addition to her high-powered tech career, in which she leads a team at Google, today she is an author, podcaster, and mindfulness coach via OurVoice, her community organization aimed at fostering self-confidence and authenticity. Inner work has helped Reena to stay calm and centered no matter what is happening around her. “It has helped me hear my own voice and tap into my intuition. All of this has helped me become more confident in myself and my decisions. I think it’s kind of a lifelong journey. There is this platform [OurVoice] through which my hope is to bring others resources, but I am on this journey too so I’m growing as I go.”

Bring It All Together

The world of user experience is going to be central to how we exist in the future, says Reena. “On one hand, the field of user experience is a high ‘human touch field’ and I believe will always require the hands-on expertise of UX designers, researchers, prototypers, and writers to develop great products. However, I do think AI is quickly changing the landscape of tools and methodologies available to UX professionals. The possibilities are endless. AI could revolutionize the way we brainstorm, ideate, conduct design sprints, collaborate, generate designs, or even conduct research. I think there is a lot of opportunity for AI not only to streamline the UX process, but also to amplify it by putting more generative capabilities at the hands of UX professionals.”

There are dangers ahead too, she says.

“I’m embarking on a lot of research around AI as part of my role. I’m personally very passionate about ensuring that we adopt and utilize AI responsibly. Though AI has been used for years in the tech industry to create products that are intelligently and intuitively tailored to user needs, the growth of Generative AI specifically opens up a plethora of trust, safety, and authenticity related considerations throughout tech. Especially as a UX professional, my role is to ensure that technology is humancentric, and I think it’s important that all of us in tech, and especially in UX, more than ever spend time to establish the right principles and guardrails that can keep us innovating with AI, but in a responsible way.”

Reena Merchant is well positioned to lead the way.

“I have a deep love, appreciation and gratitude for life overall,” she says. “I am on a continual journey to cultivate this from within, rather than having my love for life be dependent on external things. If I love life no matter what’s happening around me, then I am grateful for each and every day, and excited for the experiences life will bring me.

“I thoroughly love what I do. I deeply enjoy my role as a user experience professional – bringing meaning to human lives through tech is something that gratifies me. This deep love keeps me going every day, even when the going gets tough.”

www.reenamerchant.com

“It may seem obvious,” says Reena, “but the biggest lesson I’ve learned over the years is that you should never try to be someone you’re not.”

BY NIGELLA LORSON

HAVE you ever had a gut feeling or inner voice that guided you in your decisionmaking process? That’s your intuition at work! As women, we often undervalue this powerful tool, but by tapping into our intuition, we can achieve great success in our personal and professional lives.

So, what exactly is intuition? It’s not some mysterious ability that only a few possess. In fact, intuition is the result of our brain processing and synthesizing vast amounts of information beyond our conscious awareness. It’s the reason we often feel a “gut feeling” or “inner voice” when making decisions.

In today’s fast-paced world, where we are constantly bombarded with information and faced with numerous decisions, the ability to make quick and accurate choices is essential. By trusting our intuition, we can tap into our inner guidance system and make decisions that align with our values and goals.

Developing Intuition

One way to develop intuition is through mindfulness. Practicing mindfulness helps us tune out external distractions and focus on our inner voice, making it easier to make decisions based on our instincts and gut feelings, rather than being swayed by external pressures or societal norms.

When it comes to career decisions, women often feel pressure to conform to traditional roles, such as teaching or nursing. However, by trusting our

intuition, we can pursue careers that align with our passions and strengths, rather than being limited by societal norms. Using our intuition can also help us navigate difficult situations, such as negotiating a salary or dealing with a challenging boss. By reading between the lines and picking up on subtle cues, women who trust their intuition can navigate these situations more effectively.

Of course, intuition isn’t a substitute for critical thinking or rational decisionmaking. It’s important to balance intuition with logic and reason to make the best decisions possible.

Use It Wisely

Many successful women credit their intuition for leading them down the right path. Oprah Winfrey, for example, has spoken about how she has used her intuition to make decisions throughout her career. She once said, “I’ve trusted the still, small voice of intuition my entire life. And the only time I’ve made mistakes is when I didn’t listen.”

Another way to develop intuition is by paying attention to our physical sensations. When we are faced with a decision, our bodies often give us physical cues that can help guide us. For example, we may feel a sense of tightness in our chest or a knot in our stomach when something doesn’t feel right. Conversely, we may feel a sense of lightness or ease when we are making a decision that aligns with our values and goals.

It’s also important to acknowledge that intuition can be influenced by our emotions and biases. For example, we may be more likely to trust our intuition when we are feeling confident or optimistic, and less likely to trust it when we are feeling anxious or insecure. It’s important to be aware of these biases and to approach decision-making with a clear and open mind.

In addition to mindfulness, there are other practices that can help women develop their intuition. Meditation, journaling, and creative pursuits such as painting or writing can all help us tap into our inner voice and develop a deeper understanding of ourselves.

When it comes to using intuition in the workplace, it’s important to remember that it can be a valuable asset, but it’s not a substitute for hard work and perseverance. Women who have achieved great success through intuition have also put in the time and effort to hone their skills and develop their knowledge.

Intuition is a powerful tool that women can use to achieve success in all areas of their lives. By developing our intuition and learning to trust our inner voice, we can make better decisions, pursue our passions, and navigate challenging situations more effectively. It’s time to embrace our intuition and let it guide us on the path to success!

YOUR FEMALE INTUITION IS A POWERFUL TOOL EXCLUSIVE TO YOU. MAKE SURE YOU USE IT TO STAY AHEAD OF THE GAME.

ILLUSTRATION: ADI MIKA

Intuition: What is it?

THE word “intuition” comes from the Latin word “intuitio,” which means “looking at, considering, or contemplating.” The term was first used in the English language in the late 16th century and originally referred to a type of direct perception or insight that was thought to be a gift from the divine.

The concept of intuition has been studied and discussed in various cultures and philosophical traditions throughout history. For example, in ancient Greece, the philosopher Plato wrote about the concept of “anamnesis”, which refers to the idea that knowledge is innate and that we can access it through introspection and contemplation.

In Eastern philosophy, the concept of intuition is often associated with mindfulness and meditation practices. In Hinduism and Buddhism, for example, intuition is seen as a

means of accessing deeper levels of consciousness and understanding.

Today, the concept of intuition is widely used and studied in fields such as psychology, neuroscience, and business. Research has shown that intuition is related to our unconscious mind and is often driven by our past experiences and knowledge. Our brain processes information and makes connections subconsciously, and intuition is thought to be a result of this process. In other words, our intuition is based on patterns that our brain has learned over time, and it’s able to recognize those patterns even when we aren’t consciously aware of them.

Studies have also shown that intuition is closely linked to our emotions. Our emotions can influence our intuition by shaping the way we perceive and interpret information. For example, if we are feeling anxious

or stressed, we may be more likely to interpret a situation negatively and trust our intuition that something is wrong, even if the evidence suggests otherwise.

Additionally, research has shown that people who are more in tune with their emotions and more self-aware tend to have stronger intuition. This is likely because they are more attuned to their own internal signals and more able to recognize when their intuition is guiding them.

While there is still much that we don’t fully understand about intuition, the science suggests that it is a real and powerful phenomenon. By paying attention to our physical sensations, our emotions, and our past experiences, we can learn to develop and trust our intuition, which ultimately helps us make better decisions to achieve greater success.

These women celebrated their intuition in business...

Sara Blakely

Sara Blakely is the founder of Spanx, a wildly successful shapewear company. Blakely has spoken publicly about how she used her intuition to develop the Spanx product. She noticed that there was a gap in the market for comfortable and flattering shapewear and trusted her gut feeling that there was a demand for such a product. She launched Spanx with a small initial investment and went on to build a multi-billion dollar company.

Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington is the founder of the Huffington Post, the popular online news site. Huffington has spoken about how she used her intuition to pivot the focus of the Huffington Post from a celebrity-focused blog

to a news site that covered politics and current events. She trusted her intuition that there was a demand for a more substantive news source and made the shift, which ultimately led to the site’s success.

Sheryl Sandberg

Sheryl Sandberg is the COO of Facebook and author of the best-selling book, “Lean In.” Sandberg has spoken about how she uses her intuition to make decisions in the workplace. She believes that women often undervalue their intuition and should trust their instincts when making tough decisions. Sandberg has also spoken about how she used her intuition to identify the potential of Facebook when she first met Mark Zuckerberg.

PRESENT TENSE

BY TARRYN REEVES

HANALEI BY FIKRI HALIM

WHEN we are growing up, how often are we asked what we want to be when we grow up? The intention behind this age-old question is wellmeaning, but the sentiment behind its answer leaves something to be desired. Instead of setting children on a track for success in some far-off future, what if we asked them something different? What if we asked them what they want to be now?

Hanalei Swan, fashion designer, artist, international speaker, author, and model, grew up traveling the world with her entrepreneurial family. She will never forget the moment when, at the age of seven, her mother asked her, “Hanalei, what do you want to be now?” It was a moment that undoubtedly changed the trajectory of Hanalei Swan‘s life. She shares the power of asking the question: “What do you want to be now?”

The Importance of Living in the Moment

In today’s world, getting lost in the future can be easy. We plan our lives as though they have already occurred – we think about where we will be in five years, what job we will have, who we will marry, etc. This kind of planning is important for ensuring our visions become a reality. However, living only in the future can lead us to neglect the present moment and all that it offers – opportunities for growth and learning lessons.

The same goes for your children. When you ask them what they want to be when they grow up, even if you don’t mean it this way, it implies that their current pursuits don’t matter or are somehow less important than their future ones. It steers them away from pursuing their passions here and now and instead focuses on a distant goalpost that may never come true. This can make kids feel like failures before they even begin because the pressure of achieving their ultimate dream can seem insurmountable.

The Answer is Asking Differently

To combat this issue and allow kids (and yourselves) the freedom to live in the moment without sacrificing ambition or success in the future, reframe the question. Ask your children not “what do you want to be when you grow up?” but rather “what do you want

to be now?” This subtle shift allows them (and you) permission to explore their passions with curiosity instead of expectation while instilling confidence in their abilities right here and now. In addition, it grants us permission to make mistakes without fear of failure because those mistakes are part of what makes life meaningful. Seeing your child take risks with enthusiasm is much more fruitful than seeing them cower under pressure – for both parent and child alike!

It is important to give kids permission to dream, explore, and make mistakes without worrying about getting them right all the time. We must remind them that there is no one definitive path to success and that they should not feel pressured into taking a certain direction just because it appears to be the expected route. Instead of asking them what they want to be when they grow up, let’s encourage them to start dreaming now, in the present moment.

“I believe as kids, we are very open to so many possibilities and constantly want to try new things. So when my Mom asked me what I wanted to be in that moment, it was like an affirmation to feel like I could do something bigger right then and there rather than waiting for the future,” reflects Swan.

Helping kids identify what they want now can help them develop a sense of self-awareness and confidence that will carry over into adulthood. For example, if your child expresses an interest in sports or music, encourage them by helping them find ways to pursue those interests today instead of waiting until some distant point in the future when “the time is right.”

Living in the present moment doesn’t mean forgetting about our aspirations for the future; rather, it allows us an opportunity to enjoy life as it happens while also working towards our goals with gusto. Asking, “what do you want to be now?” instead of “what do you want to be when you grow up?” encourages exploration without sacrificing ambition or success. So let’s permit ourselves today – no matter how young or old –to explore who we are now instead of waiting until some far-off future date materializes!

www.hanaleiswan.com

in the machine. Goddess

WOMEN AND SPIRITUALITY IN BUSINESS: AN EXPLORATION OF MEANING, PURPOSE, AND IMPACT.

BY ANDREW HALL

OPRAH BY ANNIE LEIBOVITZ

“SPIRITUALITY is not just about religion, it’s about having a sense of peace and purpose in your life,” says Oprah Winfrey, who perfectly captures the growing trend of female entrepreneurs incorporating spirituality into their businesses. Meditation, visualization, and affirmations are just a few examples of spiritual practices that have become common tools for female entrepreneurs. These practices help reduce stress, increase focus and productivity, and create a positive and empowering mindset.

However, it’s important to be aware of potential pitfalls, such as being perceived as unprofessional or becoming too reliant on spiritual practices. Despite these risks, many women entrepreneurs have successfully incorporated spirituality into their businesses and found a greater sense of fulfillment and success.

In today’s world, entrepreneurship has become a popular career choice for many women. The ability to create and manage a business on their own terms, and to make an impact in the world has become increasingly important for women in business. For many women, the pursuit of success goes beyond just financial gain or career advancement. It’s about finding a deeper sense of meaning and purpose in their work and creating a positive impact on the world. This pursuit often leads women entrepreneurs to integrate spirituality into their businesses.

Oprah says: “The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but on significance – and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.”

For many women, spirituality is an integral part of finding that significance and aligning their businesses with their personal values and purpose.

Spirituality can be defined as a belief in something greater than oneself, and a search for meaning and purpose in life. It encompasses a wide range of practices, including meditation, prayer, gratitude, and mindfulness. By incorporating these practices into their businesses, women entrepreneurs can align their work with their values and purpose and create a more meaningful impact.

Arianna Huffington, founder of Huffington Post, is one example of a woman who has successfully integrated spirituality into her business. In her book Thrive she writes about the importance of incorporating mindfulness and meditation into our lives and businesses. She says that by doing so, we can reduce stress and increase productivity, while also creating a more fulfilling life.

Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, is another example of a successful woman entrepreneur who has integrated spirituality into her business. She has publicly discussed her spiritual practices, including “gratitude journaling” and meditation. She says these practices have helped her to stay grounded and focused on her purpose, despite the challenges of running a multi-billion-dollar company.

However, incorporating spirituality into business also comes with its own set of challenges and potential pitfalls. One major concern is that it can be seen as unprofessional or even inappropriate in some industries. It’s important to strike a balance between being authentic to your beliefs and maintaining a professional image.

Another challenge is ensuring that your spiritual practices do not become a distraction from the day-to-day operations of your business. It’s important to find a balance between taking time for self-care and ensuring that your business remains a top priority.

So, how can women entrepreneurs integrate spirituality into their businesses while still maintaining a professional image and ensuring that their business remains a top priority?

Archana Reddy, the founder, and intuitive transformational facilitator of Embody Your Mastery™ is a spiritual seeker and eternal student who aims to help, empower, and unleash your great potential that hides under unwanted corporate burnouts, life transition, and limiting beliefs.

From a very young age, she grew up with a strong sense of spirituality in the Hindu faith where philosophy and life practices were part of her upbringing. Her grandfather was a Vedic scholar, philanthropist, and co-founder of a sacred temple in South India.

For more than two decades alongside her work in the corporate realm, she has worked with hundreds of healers and more than a dozen coaches and helped a lot of people with “turning point moments” in their lives.

Archana says spirituality is an inside-out job.

“It’s how one handles every aspect of life especially challenges

that life inevitably throws our way. Do we choose to grow or to shrink? Do we choose to go within deep within our very soul and spirit to source the wisdom and answers or stay stuck? It is a very practical tool that one can use to navigate life, not just a contemplation of life but how that contemplation reflects and translates into a meaningful life full of joy, purpose, and wisdom.”

Archana speaks of the “Three Cs” of ethical/spiritual leadership, the first of which is compassion: “In the face of suffering – one’s own or that of others – one can turn away or turn towards it and be a voice of compassion or a hand to uplift. It does not always require bold steps but even a small gesture will do.

“In organizations, the need for results and bottom-line profits sometimes does away with the need to see the humanity in a person or situation. There can be room for both humanity and results.”

Courage is next, Archana says, in the sense it takes a true leader to lead by example, by virtue of acting in the right way, not taking the most convenient path.

“There are many instances or situations where it is easy to take path of least resistance yet what is really required is the path of courage. To either speak the inconvenient truth or to stand up for what is right or just. It takes conviction and courage to go against the grain and give up one’s comfort to act in an ethical way.”

Competencies are not just hard skills but also the human skills – the combination of the head and heart-based leadership that leads to the greatest engagement and results. Archana says people want to know they matter and that they are contributing to a greater mission and purpose; that they’re not just a cog in the corporate wheel.

While they might use slightly different phrasing, these women agree that you need to identify your core values and purpose to align your business with your spirituality and create a more meaningful impact. Find a practice that works for you. It’s important to set boundaries around your spiritual practices to ensure that they do not become a distraction from your work. Set aside specific times for your practice and communicate these boundaries to your team.

“Spirituality is not just about religion, it’s about having a sense of peace and purpose in your life.”

ALL PRAISE THE SPREADSHEET. CREDIT: THE NEW YORK TIMES

TOP: MULTI-TASKING MINDSET. ABOVE: ARCHANA REDDY

Another important aspect of integrating spirituality into business is understanding that it is a personal journey. Each woman’s path to spirituality is unique, and it’s important to find practices that resonate with you personally. Some may prefer to incorporate mindfulness meditation into their daily routine, while others may find comfort in prayer or gratitude journaling.

Jenna Brocious, creator of Positive Intention Prayer Cards, understands firsthand how essential spirituality is in both professional and private lives. But what does spirituality, in this sense, even mean?

“Spirituality is knowing oneself,” she says. “Knowing oneself more than others is a huge advantage in all aspects of life. Finding your true purpose and following your desires is a powerful move. Having clarity and intention will always lead you down the right path. Investing time in yourself allows the truth of your heart and mind to show itself fully.”

Authenticity is key when it comes to integrating spirituality into your business. Be true to yourself and your beliefs, and don’t be afraid to share your journey with others. Seek support. Find a community of like-minded individuals who can support you on your spiritual journey. This can be a mentor, coach, or group of peers who share your values and beliefs.

There are, however, some potential challenges to integrating spirituality into business. One concern is that it can be seen as unprofessional in certain industries. For example, a financial institution may not be receptive to an employee who openly discusses their spiritual beliefs. In these cases, it’s important to strike a balance between being authentic to your beliefs and maintaining a professional image.

Another challenge is ensuring that spiritual practices do not become a distraction from the day-to-day operations of a

business. Entrepreneurs need to find a balance between taking time for self-care and ensuring that their business remains a top priority. Setting boundaries around spiritual practices can help ensure that they do not interfere with work responsibilities. Despite such challenges, many women have successfully integrated spirituality into their businesses. Entrepreneur and author Gabby Bernstein, who has built a successful career around teaching others about spirituality and personal growth, is a good example. Her books, workshops, and online courses all incorporate spiritual practices, and she gives seminars about how spirituality has helped her in her own career.

Another fearless spiritualist is entrepreneur and author Marie Forleo, who has built a business around helping others create successful businesses and lives. She speaks about the importance of spirituality in her own life and how it has helped her navigate the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.

She says spirituality can be a powerful tool for women entrepreneurs to create a business that is aligned with their values and purpose. By finding a balance between spirituality and professionalism, women can tap into their inner wisdom and create a more fulfilling and successful business.

www.embodyyourmastery.com

“It’s how one handles every aspect of life, especially challenges that it inevitably throws your way. Do we choose to grow or to shrink?”

Team Swank

EBONY SWANK REFOCUSED AFTER A START-UP FAILURE TO BUILD AN 8-FIGURE INNOVATIVE FASHION BRAND CALLED SWANK A POSH.

BY ANDREW HALL

EBONY Swank’s path to success was far from conventional. After dropping out of high school, she pursued various jobs until a chance encounter in her hair salon business sparked her entrepreneurial spirit. She discovered a door-todoor clothing seller and took it upon herself to locate the production source, but her first attempt at opening a store was unsuccessful.

Undeterred, she persisted and opened a second store called Swank A Posh, which focused on trendy jeans for girls. With her unwavering determination, Ebony grew the business from one store in Detroit to a staggering $40 million empire. Today, Ebony is a true powerhouse in the fashion industry, driven by her unyielding determination, vision, and unwavering passion for excellence.

As CEO of Swank A Posh, she has created an 8-figure enterprise, starting from a modest $12,000. Ebony’s remarkable success is a testament to her perseverance and hard work, and she serves as an inspiration to others who strive for success. She is the first millionaire in her family, and a true role model for future generations.

The Numbers Matter

Ebony’s journey as an entrepreneur began with a deep-rooted passion for fashion and a strong belief in the importance of inclusivity within the industry. She saw a gap in the market for stylish, high-quality clothing options that catered to women of all shapes and sizes. She wanted to fill that void. Her desire to promote body positivity and empower women to feel confident and beautiful in their own skin became the driving force behind her journey as a CEO.

A self-taught entrepreneur who overcame the challenges of limited formal education to build a successful business, Ebony discovered early on that she had a natural affinity for numbers, which played a crucial role in the growth of Swank A Posh. She navigated through corporate culture with various job titles, from data entry to becoming a collections specialist, accounting manager, and financial analyst. She later realized that understanding numbers would allow her to make data-driven decisions that could clarify the complexities of the fashion industry.

“My passion for fashion, combined with my love for numbers and my dedication to inclusivity, has allowed me to create a brand that is not only successful but also transformative,” she says, adding “I strive to inspire women everywhere to

embrace their individuality and feel confident in their own unique beauty.”

Setbacks, pfft

Her journey was not without setbacks. Ebony’s initial failure came when she opened her first store, which was not profitable due to mismanagement, poor cash handling, and a lack of understanding of her customers’ needs. This experience was painful, she says, but she did not let it defeat her. Instead, she saw it as an opportunity to learn and grow, to rediscover the business principles that she knew and apply them to her next venture.

Says Ebony: “No matter how much business experience you have, you’re always going to encounter problems and even some failures on your entrepreneurial journey. Failure is part of the learning curve and can contribute to your success if you take the time to learn from your mistakes.

“When I opened my first store, I was more into the excitement of owning a store and the presentation than marketing to customers,” she says. “After it failed, I knew that if I wanted to make my next store work, I needed to focus on inventory and marketing.”

Vision One

Today, Ebony’s vision is to provide a wide range of clothing options specifically designed to fit and flatter the real woman’s body.

Her foundation begins with carefully selecting the right fabric, which often incorporates stretch to ensure comfort and the perfect fit. As CEO, she now personally designs 90% of the company’s catalog, ensuring that the products not only reflect her vision for style and inclusivity but also meet the unique needs of their diverse clientele.

One of Swank A Posh’s most successful achievements is the sale of over one million pairs of their most popular denim, the Super Swank Jean. This versatile and inclusive product, with its comfortable stretch, has resonated with their customers, as it is designed to accommodate a wide range of sizes, from small to 3XL.

“We take pride in offering clothing options that celebrate every woman’s unique shape and empower them to feel confident and beautiful,” says Ebony. “At Swank A Posh, my mission is to provide high-quality, fashionable clothing that embraces inclusivity, promotes body positivity, and empowers women to feel their absolute best. I am dedicated to continually evolving

our offerings and ensuring that the fabrics and designs we use to cater to the needs of real women, making Swank A Posh a go-to destination for stylish and flattering attire.”

It’s A Movement

Swank A Posh is not just any fashion brand – it is a movement.

“At Swank A Posh, we’re not just selling clothes, we’re creating a movement of confident, empowered women who are proud to stand out from the crowd,” she says. Through her brand, Ebony wants to inspire women to be bold, brave and embrace their uniqueness.

“My role as a black woman CEO has allowed me to break barriers, overcome obstacles, and create lasting change in my community and the lives of those around me. Throughout my journey, I have expertly balanced my personal and professional life, embracing my roles as a mother, wife, friend, and mentor. My accomplishments demonstrate my relentless pursuit of excellence and my dedication to making a meaningful difference in the world of business and beyond,” she says.

Customer First

Ebony knew early on that the key to success was to focus on the consumer. She understood that to build a brand that speaks directly to the customer, it was essential to understand their needs and desires.

“My advice to anyone starting a business is to focus on your customer, understand their needs and desires, and build a brand that speaks directly to them,” she says.

Success, according to Ebony, is not about luck or talent. “It’s about hard work, persistence, and a willingness to adapt to changing circumstances.” Ebony’s determination to succeed has been one of the driving forces behind Swank A Posh’s success, as has her desire for constant innovation.

Innovation is one of the core values of Swank A Posh. Ebony believes that innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. “That’s why we’re always pushing the boundaries of what’s possible at Swank A Posh,” she says. The brand is constantly striving to find new and innovative ways to empower women through fashion.

In her world, success is not final, and failure is not fatal. She says: “Building a brand requires the courage to continue forwards. And at Swank A Posh, we’re not afraid to take risks and learn

from our mistakes.” She and her team are always looking for ways to improve and grow.

It’s also not a path to be taken alone. “Great things in business are never done by one person,” she says. “They’re done by a team of people. And at Swank A Posh, we’re proud to have a dedicated team that’s committed to our mission of empowering women through fashion.” Her team, she adds, is the backbone of Swank A Posh.

Learn The Tech

Technology and data analytics play an important role in business growth. “At Swank A Posh, we’re not just a fashion business – we’re a tech company that’s using fashion as a way to innovate and disrupt the industry. Our focus on technology and data analytics is what sets us apart from traditional fashion brands,” says Ebony.

Ultimately, Swank A Posh is not just a fashion brand – it is a company that is empowering women and a testament to the fact that with hard work, determination, and a focus on innovation, anything is possible.

Here’s Ebony’s 5 Point Plan for Achieving Success

Step 1: Believe In Your Vision

Develop a strong vision for your product, service, or company, and believe in its potential to make a significant impact in your industry. Your unwavering commitment to your vision will guide you through challenges and inspire others to join your cause.

Step 2: Embrace Innovation and Change Stay open to new ideas, technologies, and methods that can help you achieve your goals more effectively. Be willing to take calculated risks and adapt to changes in the market, always seeking ways to improve your products or services and stay ahead of the competition.

Step 3: Develop a Customer-Centric Approach

Focus on understanding and addressing the needs and desires of your customers. Create products or services that genuinely improve their lives, and continuously seek feedback to refine your offerings. Remember that your success depends on your customers’ satisfaction and loyalty.

Step 4: Cultivate a Culture of Excellence Foster a culture within your organization that values innovation, dedication, and collaboration. Encourage your team to think creatively and challenge the status quo. Recognize and reward their contributions, and provide opportunities for growth and development.

Step 5: Lead by Example

As a leader, embody the principles and values you want your team to follow. Demonstrate resilience in the face of adversity, maintain a strong work ethic, and stay committed to your vision. Your passion and determination will inspire those around you to strive for excellence. By embracing innovation, staying true to your vision, and focusing on your customers, you can achieve significant success and leave a lasting impact on your industry. This approach has been proven effective in transforming various fields and creating iconic brands.

KITCHEN DREAMS

from burnout to balance

BY ANDREW HALL

LADY Gaga (aka Stefani Germanotta) is possibly one of the busiest women on the planet.

As a multi-award-winning singer, songwriter – selling tens of millions of albums – actor, philanthropist and entrepreneur with health and beauty brand Haus Labs, Gaga has amassed enormous success, wealth, and fame. In April 2023 Rolling Stone magazine reported that US president Joe Biden appointed Lady Gaga as co-chair of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Her awards collection includes 13 Grammys, an Oscar, two Golden Globes, a BAFTA, and three Brit Awards, among a plethora of others. But none of this has come without mental and physical investment and cost.

In a 2020 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Gaga detailed her long-term travails with PTSD –arising from being raped as a teenager – a “psychotic break” and the ongoing struggle with chronic pain after being diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

Describing her psychotic episode to Oprah, Gaga said: “My whole body started tingling and I started screaming. I was in a hospital. It’s very difficult to describe what it feels like other than that you first start to tingle from head to toe and then you go numb.”

So, how does this amazingly talented and courageously committed woman keep doing what she does?

Over the years, Lady Gaga has perfected her diet and workout routine into one that works well for her lifestyle and health needs. She prioritises working out consistently, and has worked with celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak for many years. She works out at least five times a week, sometimes more if she’s preparing to go on tour. Harley says Lady Gaga has never needed to lose weight. Instead, they focus on keeping her strong and able to perform well. Her regime includes cardio work – she likes to swim, Harley says, which can be “a great source of cardio”. She wrote on Instagram that she will even swim laps before some of her shows. Gaga is also a yoga practitioner and has spent years studying Pilates with trainers

Sloan-Taylor Rabin and Lisa Marie Goodwin. She used Pilates in 2017 to help her improve some chronic pain that she was experiencing.

What you are what you eat

Lady Gaga’s food choices are, at times, eclectic, according to her long-time friend and personal chef Bo O’Connor.

Bo says that Gaga is healthy on tour, which is essential to help fuel successful performances. “She usually puts on an intense show, so she can’t be eating Doritos, clearly,” O’Connor told The Feast. “But in general, she tries to stay away from anything that was super processed or made with white flour,” Bo says, noting the singer opted for whole-wheat and whole-grain products, instead.

As Bo told Australian Women’s Health: “The Mother Monster gets off to a healthy start first thing in the morning. It would usually involve some type of eggs or egg whites, vegetables – a lot of vegetables – and sometimes Greek yoghurt or different types of fruit, or healthy granola.

“If [Gaga] is in the mood for French toast or something sweeter, we would make a healthier version of that for her. Think: whole-wheat bread instead of white.” This is an example of what Bo O’Conner calls a “half-cheat meal”; or a slightly more nutritious version of a traditionally not-so-healthy dish.”

Bo says Gaga hasn’t strayed far from her roots when it comes to her favourite meals. “She’s definitely an Italian girl at heart, so she loves the red sauce, or gravy as they call it. For a slightly healthier version, she’ll opt for glutenfree or quinoa pasta, served with veggies, and grilled shrimp for protein.

“At home though, with her hair down, whether I’m cooking or we’re going out, she’ll usually pick Italian.”

. . . or is it?

Burnout, Baby

Burnout is a common phenomenon in the workplace, affecting employees across various industries and roles. It is characterized by emotional exhaustion, a sense of depersonalization, and reduced personal

accomplishment. Burnout can be caused by a variety of factors, including workload, lack of control, and a lack of support from co-workers and supervisors.

In recent years, there has been a growing focus on the role of nutrition in combating burnout and promoting overall well-being. A healthy and balanced diet can help individuals manage stress, increase energy levels, and improve mental clarity. For female entrepreneurs, who often juggle multiple responsibilities and face unique challenges, a healthy diet can be especially important.

An author who has written extensively on the subject of burnout and nutrition is Patricia Bannan – a dietitian and nutritionist. In her book, From Burnout to Balance, Bannan emphasizes the importance of a balanced and varied diet in combating burnout. She notes that a diet rich in whole foods, including fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats, can help to reduce inflammation, support the immune system, and promote overall health.

Bannan also emphasizes the importance of regular meals and snacks throughout the day, noting that skipping meals or going too long without eating can contribute to feelings of stress and fatigue. She recommends planning ahead and keeping healthy snacks on hand, such as nuts, seeds, and fresh fruit.

In addition to Bannan, several other authors have written about the role of nutrition in combating burnout and promoting overall well-being.

Dr Josh Axe is a doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, and author of several books on nutrition and wellness. In his book Eat Dirt he explores the role of gut health in overall health and well-being, noting that a healthy gut can help to reduce inflammation, support the immune system, and promote mental clarity.

He recommends incorporating gut-friendly foods into the diet, such as fermented vegetables, bone broth, and probiotic-rich foods. He also notes the importance of avoiding processed foods and sugar, which can contribute to inflammation and other health issues.

Dr Rangan Chatterjee is a physician and author of several books on health and wellness, including The Stress Solution. In his book, Dr Chatterjee explores the connection between stress and health, and offers practical strategies for managing stress and improving overall health.

One of the strategies Chatterjee recommends is incorporating stress-busting foods into the diet, such as blueberries, almonds, and dark chocolate. He also emphasizes the importance of eating regular meals and snacks throughout the day, noting that this can help to stabilize blood sugar levels and reduce feelings of stress and fatigue.

In addition to incorporating these key nutrients into their diets, female entrepreneurs can also benefit from reducing or eliminating certain foods that can contribute to burnout and stress. This includes foods high in refined sugar and processed carbohydrates, which can cause blood sugar crashes and lead to fatigue and mood swings. Excess caffeine and alcohol should also be avoided, as they can disrupt sleep and contribute to anxiety and irritability.

Authors and experts in the field of nutrition and burnout stress the importance of mindful eating practices, which involves paying attention to the sensory experience of eating, such as the taste, texture, and smell of food. This practice can help female entrepreneurs better connect with their food and make healthier choices, rather than mindlessly consuming food as a means of coping with stress.

It’s Not All About Food

A mindful revolution is sweeping the world, with Bobbi Vargas and her ground-breaking company, Bodela, at the helm. Their potent philosophy revolves around health, beauty solutions, self-love, and self-care, promoting a balanced and joyful life.

Bodela distinguishes itself by emphasizing comprehensive wellness and ethical practices. It offers an extensive array of products and services designed to foster self-care in daily life. Bobbi’s entrepreneurial journey led her to recognize the necessity approach to health

beyond exercise and meditation. Driven by a desire to break stereotypes in natural beauty, Bobbi’s leadership in holistic healing inspires a harmonious lifestyle.

With unwavering determination, passion, and hard work, she embodies the notion that “Nothing is impossible,” encouraging others to embrace the same mindset in their ventures.

“Your best strategy for creating work life balance lies in prioritization and mindfulness,” she says. “Begin by setting clear objectives for both your personal and professional life. Rank these goals and ensure that the top priorities receive the attention they deserve.”

mind through meditation, exercise, or simple leisurely activities,” she says.

Over The Moon

Moon Maison is an artist, entrepreneur, and soon to be author. “I am creating a brand that inspires others to become their fully expressed selves,” she says. “Your best strategy for creating work life balance is that when you feel stress, it means you are out of a creative flow, and it’s time to pause for a couple hours or a day if possible.”

Moon, who writes a blog for a “non-toxic life with style”, says we shouldn’t overlook the obvious: water.

“Water is essential to everything we do; it’s what keeps us alive and nourished. It may sound obvious, but many people overlook this simple fact: without enough water, we can’t operate at our full capacity.”

Even such a simple act of drinking should also be recognised as mindful, she adds

“So, if you haven’t been talking to your water, it’s time to start!” she says. “Tell it, ‘thank you for hydrating me and keeping me healthy and beautiful. I love you.’ Hey, it’s worth a try… everything with intention…”

Her other great passion in understanding how what we consume affects how we perform is in recognising that even simple everyday products can be harmful to us.

This clarity helps in recognizing which tasks are essential and which ones can be postponed or delegated without compromising either sphere, she says. “As an entrepreneur, it’s necessary to establish boundaries between work and personal time,” says Bobbi. “Dedicate specific hours to your business, but also commit to reserving time for yourself, your family, and your hobbies.”

This intentional time allocation fosters a wellrounded lifestyle and a sense of fulfillment. Mindfulness plays a crucial role in maintaining balance too. “Continuously evaluate your emotional and physical well-being, ensuring that you aren’t leaning too heavily into one domain at the expense of the other. Regularly practice self-care, nurturing your body and

“Take toothpaste, for example,” she says. “Many mainstream toothpastes and dental flosses are super bad for you. The ingredients are kept very discreet as they don’t even really mention them. I mean what are those white crystals on dental floss anyway? I’ve never seen the ingredients listed anywhere. Do yourself a favour and throw out your crappy toothpaste and promise yourself that you will not use toxic substances to brush your teeth. Repeat through your entire bathroom cabinet, then move on to the fridge and try to better treat your body –and what you put into it – as a temple.” www.bobbivargas.com

MOON MAISON, AND LEFT, BOBBI VARGAS

NEW LEADERSHIP

The Rise of Women Leaders in Business

In recent decades there has been a noticeable shift in the leadership landscape, with more and more women taking up leadership roles in a vast array of business endeavours. These women are bringing fresh perspectives, innovative ideas, and different approaches to managing teams that operate in a landscape that arcs from small business to global corporate giant, and everywhere in between. This article explores successful leadership styles used by women and how their impact is set for enduring success.

WOMEN Leaders in Business

According to a study by McKinsey & Company, companies with diverse leadership teams, including women, are more likely to outperform their peers. The report also found that companies with a higher percentage of women in executive roles tend to have higher profitability and better overall performance.

In January 2022 McKinsey published an interview with Stephanie Hill, executive vice president of Rotary and Mission Systems at Lockheed Martin – a $16 billion, 35,000-employee organization.

When asked about what leadership principles have been helpful, Hill replied: “You start by keeping your commitments to your team. And if you’re not able to keep them for some reason, you own up to it. Everybody makes mistakes, full stop. And the most powerful thing I’ve seen done –and that I try to do – is to say you’re sorry. You tell your team, ‘You know what? That thing I did or that thing I didn’t do, that was wrong. And you have my commitment that I’m going to work on it so that it doesn’t happen again. And if it does, I want you to hold me accountable’.”

Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, is known for her collaborative leadership style, where she encourages her team to share ideas and work together to achieve common goals. Barra says: “Diversity in the workplace leads to better decision-making and better outcomes.” Under her leadership, GM has been able to bounce back from various crises and deliver strong financial results.

Former CEO of PepsiCo Indra Nooyi is known for her transformative leadership style, where she focused on investing in healthier products, expanding PepsiCo’s reach globally, and promoting sustainability. Nooyi famously said: “If you’re trying to create a company, it’s like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion.” Under her leadership, PepsiCo became one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies.

Although she is not (yet) involved in the business sector, prime minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern – who stepped down from the position earlier this year after being elected (in 2017) the youngest national leader in democratic history, only to be pipped by Finland’s young female PM Sanna Marin (in 2019) – says of women in leadership: “One of the criticisms I’ve faced over the years is that I’m not aggressive enough or assertive enough, or maybe somehow, because I’m empathetic, it means I’m weak. I totally rebel against that. I refuse to believe that you cannot be both compassionate and strong.”

Leadership Styles

Women tend to deploy different methodologies and mindsets than their male counterparts (and competitors). They often adopt a more collaborative and inclusive leadership style, encouraging participation and teamwork. They prioritize building relationships and empowering their teams to achieve their full potential. It must be said, however, that this is not necessarily an empirical global phenomenon.

• Transformational Leadership: is a leadership style that inspires and motivates employees to perform beyond their expected capacity. Women such as Indra Nooyi and Mary Barra have demonstrated this leadership style by setting a clear vision for their companies and empowering their teams to achieve it.

• Servant Leadership: prioritizes serving the needs of others, rather than one’s own interests. Women leaders such as Oprah Winfrey and Sheryl Sandberg have demonstrated this leadership style by prioritizing the needs of their employees and customers and putting them first in their decision-making.

Collaborative Leadership: encourages participation and teamwork among employees. Women leaders such as Ginni Rometty, former CEO of IBM, and Ursula Burns, former CEO of Xerox, have demonstrated this leadership style by promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace and encouraging their teams to work together to achieve common goals.

Dr Julie Ducharme: Glass Ceilings Shatter

Since earning her MBA and Doctorate degrees in business and organizational leadership, Julie has become a five-time national bestselling author, recognized by INC magazine. Julie hosts a podcast; numerous TV appearances with CBS, ABC, and Fox; is a professional public speaker; and a serial entrepreneur. Her co-authored book, Leading By My Ponytail: Why Can’t I Wear Pink and be the President was named by INC as one of the top 60 leadership books for women. Her most recent book, Authentically You: Empowering Your Way to Success, is changing the way women approach their lives.

Julie is also a serial entrepreneur with four companies and has stepped up to take on the role of senior vice president of marketing for the Leigh Steinberg Sports Academy project.

“Leadership is a critical factor in the success of any business.

The style of leadership used by an organization can have a profound effect on its culture, productivity, and overall performance. Different styles of leadership may be better suited for different types of organizations or situations. It’s important to understand the various options available so that you can determine which one is right for your business,” Julie says.

“I like to say that I am an adaptive leader as well as a situational leader. Cambridge University defines adaptive leadership as a ‘practical leadership framework that helps individuals and organizations adapt and thrive in challenging environments. It is being able, both individually and collectively, to take on the gradual but meaningful process of change’. And in this world of business and leadership we must change and adapt rapidly.”

Situational leadership is “a style that refers to when a leader or manager of an organization must adjust their style to fit the development level of the employees they are trying to influence”.

Julie says: “After being a president, CEO, and leader for the past 23 years I learned two important lessons in leadership. Everything is not black and white, so we must adapt not only to the situation, but we must adapt our leadership style to meet the needs of the people we are working with. One size does not fit all in leadership and the good leaders know this and apply this method.”

Autocrats Suck

Dr Julie Ducharme says autocratic leaders are bad for business: “This is a pyramid-style where if you are on the bottom, you are never going to talk to the company hierarchy. It’s a leadership style that feeds off fear . . . and sadly this leadership style was very popular under patriarchal systems – people felt trapped working in fearful, hostile environments. Production drops when people are fearful; innovation and creativity go out the door.”

“Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.”

Meg Whitman

Adaptation is Key

Julie agrees with the McKinsey report when she says integration of diversity into an organization it brings in a greater perspective and depth. She says it creates the ability for leaders to be able to find relatability in their possible clients and as well as their employees.

“As a leader of several organizations, I want my perspective to be challenged. I want openness and passion for diversity of thought in my organizations. I want my teams to know their thoughts are important in the work we do and that I value them. As a leader I want my thoughts challenged to know I am as innovative as I can be.

“When I can increase the diversity of leadership in my organization, I will increase awareness as well. What do I mean by this? Well, we all have been shaped by our experiences and those experiences make us more aware of different situations, and how we handle them. As you diversify your leadership you diversify your ability to have awareness in a variety of areas and bring in a competitive advantage.”

At the end of the day . . .

Developing an effective leadership style takes time, practice, and reflection. By understanding the different approaches available and applying the appropriate tips for each one, you can create a style that best suits your organization’s needs and helps foster an environment of respect, collaboration, trust, and innovation. With this in mind, it’s important to remember that regardless of what leadership style you choose, it is vital to stay consistent with your approach so that everyone involved understands expectations clearly as well as what needs to be done in order to achieve your business goals.

www.drjulieducharme.com

“As you diversify your leadership you diversify your ability to have awareness in a variety of areas and bring in a competitive advantage.”

Bobb i

TOP BEAUTY EDUCATOR BOBBI VARGAS RISES AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER AND LEADER TO ENTREPRENEURS.

BE BOBBI

CELEBRITY make-up artist turned entrepreneurial coach, Bobbi Vargas has a stunning story of triumph over adversity. The self-made woman’s tale of spirited success following a troubled childhood is inspiring for all the right reasons.

As a young girl living in Kuwait, she was born to a wealthy businessman and a stay-athome mother. But In the ‘90s, her congenial life unexpectedly came to a halt.

On chance, Bobbi, her mother, and her sisters were visiting relatives in the United States right before the start of the Persian Gulf war. When the war broke out during their stay, things took a sharp turn, and they found themselves in a sudden hostile milieu as immigrants in a foreign country.

She describes the sudden shift from that of a vacation mindset to one of immigrant status overnight, “At a time when having an accent wasn’t cool and having dark features made you somewhat of an outcast, it was challenging coming to terms with the changes that life threw our way. The family that was happy to see us visit one moment couldn’t wait to get rid of us the next.”

The dizzying circumstances had the family on eggshells and they found their little unit living in uncertainty, bouncing from one family member’s home to another.

Bobbi had a humble illumination about the power of earning a dollar while sitting in a diner one day – she was watching her mother work as a host, not fluent in English. She was also unable to afford a babysitter for Bobbi and her sisters, they had to stay within her watchful eye.

Already thinking with a depth far beyond that of her eleven years, she calculated how she could ease the stress of working at the busy diner on her mother, which turned into her first gig bussing tables to help out.

“The servers rewarded me with money for clearing the tables when my only intention was to help them and my mother. That’s how I learned what it takes to make money.”

Eventually, the news came that her father would be joining them in the states, escaping the horrors of war in Kuwait.

The initial happy reunion took a bleak turn when her father’s issues, exacerbated by the trauma of war, started to manifest through fighting and abuse.

“We witnessed fights and arguments that no child should ever have to experience. The abuse escalated from the trauma my father endured during the war. “

Bobbi found herself at age sixteen - raising her sisters without their parents in the picture.

With a decided preference for work over school, she came to the conclusion that it would be more rewarding, financially, to pursue a career in the beauty sector.

Bobbi’s tenacity sparked her to climb up the totem pole, landing jobs as a make-up artist for celebrities like Christina Aguilera, and Jay Leno, among countless others, and working on music videos and movies.

By the time the mid-2000s rolled around, Bobbi was prospering as a beauty connoisseur and Versace had hired her to relaunch their cosmetic line.

But a pivot was coming that would change everything and reconfigure her path.

During the 2008 recession, Bobbi found herself taking a position in uncharted territory when Versace recognized a leadership streak in her and offered training in a sales position.

She says that the position generated buzz around her, “I excelled and my name was floated around luxury fashion houses because it’s a small industry. It was a lateral promotion year after year, and Christian Dior created a position for me. Then it was Valentino, Dolce and Gabbana, and finally, Chanel where I was the lead sales trainer and host to shows, and VIP clients.”

After stepping into the position of sales trainer, various companies and clients secured her for her prowess leading to opportunities outside of the fashion industry.

She currently acts as a consultant; helping build brands, and training sales entrepreneurs.

The most rewarding venture for Bobbi is being a voice for women starting businesses, and speaking at conventions for entrepreneurs – such as the 10X Ladies in Las Vegas and Fuerte Femme in Orange County.

She does public speaking to help women find their way in the industry and “to help my students succeed in the same way that I have by helping them develop their skills. Helping women achieve financial freedom and build their security independent of anyone and any job is an integral part of my mission.” She explains.

Then there’s Bodela, her brand of luxury products and services which focuses on selfcare and saving time on women’s beauty routines with permanent make-up procedures, and body-sculpting. “I have two decades in sales and beauty so I can use beauty as a force for good by helping women boost their selfconfidence and feel good about themselves.”

Through all of her pursuits – she hasn’t forgotten her roots; Bobbi’s altruistic nature serves the underprivileged by using her status to make a difference. With Bodela, a portion of the sales will go to children victims of domestic abuse, securing homes and resources for recovery.

Bobbi Vargas is bent on giving back so that others may follow her lead and become independent in their own right. From riches to rags and back to riches again, she defied the path set out before her at a young age, and she continues to grow, an inspiration for aspiring women entrepreneurs.

www.bobbivargas.com

www.bodela.com

ALL FOR ONE

AS a business owner, you know just how many moving pieces it takes to complete a project. You can choose to do it all yourself, but let’s face it, nobody has the time or all the expertise required to properly pull that off.

You can hire multiple individuals with different specialties and skills or an all-in-one team with all the necessary expertise under one roof. In the pursuit of offering excellence and simplicity to her clients, Sophie Zollmann launched her all-in-one team. Hiring an all-in-one team has many benefits compared to hiring individual contractors, especially for complex projects. Here are my top five reasons why an all-in-one team stands head and shoulders above hiring individuals.

Save Money

An all-in-one team can save money by eliminating redundancy and cutting down on costs associated with individual employees or contractors. You pay a flat monthly fee with a scope of work clearly identified. This means you don’t have to worry about tracking hours, overtime, payroll, overheads, and many other things you need to consider when hiring multiple individuals.

“With individual hires, you need to work out how much you will pay each person per hour and how long they will be required to work. With this style of project completion approach, your budget and cash flow are less known, and there is a large opportunity for hours creep. Put simply, when you look at the hours you will need to pay each individual person vs. the flat fee you would pay an all-in-one team, the single team is likely to be far more cash-flow friendly,” explains Sophie Zollmann.

Save Time

A cohesive team is often more efficient than multiple individuals working in silos because everyone understands how their role fits into the big picture. This makes it easier for them to collaborate and develop creative solutions quickly. An all-in-one team also saves time since they don’t need to wait on each other every step of the way - they can move on to the next while someone else works on the current one.

Additionally, it takes an enormous amount of time to look for, interview, hire, onboard and train multiple individuals. This is time spent away from revenue-generating activities. With an all-in-one team, lengthy processes like these are a thing of the past. Almost no training is required on your part as the team is already built out with the experts. It’s just a matter of that team adapting to your processes, technologies, and strategy.

Cohesive Project Management

As the CEO you know your time is best spent working on your business, not in it. Zollmann says, “Hiring multiple individuals would require you to take your own strategy, build it into a plan, break the plan down into the various tasks required for implementation, task each person to get their piece done, ensure the job is being done, conduct quality assurance processes, manage your people and on and on it goes. With an all-in-one team, you need to do none of that. Your team operates like a well-oiled machine delivering top-quality work according to your strategy as and when you need it.”

Legalities Made Simple

Under the operation of an all-in-one team, your legalities are made a whole lot simpler. Because everyone is part of a single entity, there

are no additional legal fees for separate contracts or any other administrative tasks that would be needed when dealing with multiple individuals. You will have no need to retain an attorney to do all the in-house legal around employment. This saves you both time and money.

Employee Churn

If you hire multiple individuals, if someone quits, you have to fire someone, or you need to expand the team, you have to go through the whole process of recruiting, hiring, training, etc., all over again. Every time.

With one team, you don’t need to worry about hiring new people - the team continues to work seamlessly whilst that person gets replaced by your all-in-one team project manager. “All-inone teams have the resources to bring people on easily and quickly. There is no break in the workflow, and the single team is well-prepared to cover roles from the get-go, ensuring no downtime if someone takes leave or is off sick,” states Zollmann.

Overall, I think you can agree that an all-in-one team has many advantages. They can provide a cohesive unit that can move quickly and efficiently to get the job done, and they often come at a lower cost than multiple individual contractors. So if you have a project coming up or your business is thriving and it’s time for next-level business support, consider hiring an all-in-one team instead of multiple individuals. Ultimately, it will likely save you time and money while yielding better results.

@thesophiezo www.sophiezo.com

GROWTH EXPERT SOPHIE ZOLLMANN BELIEVES IN THE BENEFITS OF HIRING AN ALL-IN-ONE TEAM OVER INDIVIDUALS. HERE’S WHY.

Terri Britt

MOMS everywhere are striving to be the perfect mom – a mythical role of perfection. They are trying to get it all right and be everything their family needs them to be. But what if, instead of trying to reach an unattainable standard, moms embraced unconditional self-love?

Terri Britt, former Miss USA, spiritual coach, TEDx speaker, award-winning author of “The Enlightened Mom,” and the founder of the Women Leaders of Love global movement, is on a mission to help moms establish a new family paradigm based on unconditional self-love.

Girls are raised to be good. We are told to be quiet but not too quiet. To look good but not too good. To be smart but to never be the smartest person in the room. And on and on the list goes. “I was raised to be good. So good, that in the moment I won Miss USA, I felt guilty. I actually considered giving back the crown,” shares Britt.

“I believed that if I received it, that my boyfriend would suffer as I would have to move away. I lived by a rule that said, ‘Love means that you must deny yourself.’ And I learned it from my family.” So many little girls grow up to be women and then mothers who believe this very thing. And that is so very damaging. Many families live by the old paradigm of putting their kids

first, their partners next, and themselves last, believing this is love. When parents, particularly moms, operate under this outdated family paradigm, they don’t feel very loving. They begin to feel angry, resentful, and even trapped.

The mother sets the tone for her family. By setting an example that her feelings, needs, wants, desires, and dreams don’t matter, the Mom sets a tone of unworthiness. Despite her doing everything for her loved ones, her example will affect them most.

We must be examples of abundance if we want them to live lives of abundance. If we want them to have happy lives, we must be an example of happiness. If we want them to enjoy peace, love, and fulfillment, we must lead by example and be those things for ourselves and in doing so, teach them to do the same.

“It’s not what we do for our families but how we live our lives that impacts them most,” explains Britt. “Most mommas don’t live by this truth. Instead, we deny ourselves, believing this is the loving thing to do. But when you deny yourself, you disconnect from your heart. This is what causes your pain and suffering. You become angry, resentful, overwhelmed, sad or depressed. And the next thing you know, you’re handing your pain over to your spouse and kids.”

The dangers of playing the perfect Mom

The moment a mother is able to shift her mindset from the idea that love is sacrificing yourself for your family is the moment she sets them all free, and the family unit is able to enter a new family paradigm. “Loving myself was the greatest gift I could give to my loved ones,” shares Britt. “The old family paradigm of self-denial teaches us to perform for love and approval and shuts us down to receiving the abundance we all deserve.”

The new family paradigm is built on unconditional self-love vs. performance/rule-driven parenting. This helps individuals heal from relational traumas and leads our world into greater mental health and productivity. When we understand that there is no such thing as a “perfect” mother, we can begin to work together to create a healthier and more supportive environment for everyone in the family system.

Moms need time for things that make them feel nourished, loved, and supported. They need to take time to nurture their creative side, spend time with friends, engage in meaningful conversations, and participate in activities that bring joy and fulfillment. Moms need these things, but it goes even deeper. The real need is for moms to heal. They need to go deep within to

release the beliefs that they harbor telling them that they are not good enough and that they must perform for love and approval.

When a mother is able to stop performing and own her worth, she sets a new example for her loved ones. By embracing unconditional self-love and investing in themselves, moms can become pioneers of change for their families, communities, and the world. When the mother heals, the family heals.

The dangers of striving for perfection as a mom are real. It can lead to burnout, guilt, resentment, and a feeling of not being good enough. It can be extremely challenging to unlearn this pattern, but when we understand that love is not performance-based but is found within ourselves through self-care and connection with others, it changes everything. Moms can create a safe space for their families to learn to love themselves and each other. It is time for mothers everywhere to take back their crowns - it is time to own our worth and inspire positive change that can benefit us all.

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LET’S TALK ABOUT sex

A GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MADE HOT

YES, you heard that right - sex. It’s high time we normalize the conversation around sexual wellness. Sexual wellness is an important and often overlooked component of a healthy, thriving relationship. It involves having clear communication around wants and needs in the bedroom between two partners. Such a dynamic can be difficult to achieve due to the stigma that often exists regarding sexual conversations, yet the benefits are expansive.

Founders of Made Hot STHLM AB and trailblazers in forging healthy relationships, Anna Nowak and Alicia Berg, are showing us how to have a healthier relationship with sex.

The S Word

“Sexual wellness is being in a healthy, thriving relationship where you and your partner have clear communication about your needs before, during, and after sex,” explains Nowak. “It’s important to have clear and healthy conversations about what you want to do, what you want to explore, and what you want to educate yourself on.”

The stigma around sexual wellness is a problem that affects many people on a global scale. It can often be traced back to the culture or country in which someone was raised, with certain countries emphasizing more traditional values and beliefs concerning sex. Sometimes, these traditional values are passed down from family to family, leading to an environment where topics such as sex are seldom discussed and seen as shameful or sinful.

“I was born in Poland, and sex is not open for conversation. It is assumed that when you get married and have sex for the first time, you will automatically know what to do. Unfortunately, your family isn’t teaching you anything, and neither are the schools. Not anything of real value in this area anyway. And that is frightening,” says Nowak.

A lack of real sex education in schools often reinforces this stigma, creating a situation where young people have no reliable source for information about healthy sexual behavior or practices. Without any real guidance on important topics such as contraception, consent, and pleasurable options in the bedroom, it becomes easier for negative stigmas around sexuality to take hold and remain unchallenged.

“Nobody is teaching how the dynamics in a healthy relationship are supposed to be. For example, how can we be intimate with our partners and not just in a sexual way? It’s not just about a man’s pleasure but a woman’s as well. So often, both sexes are afraid of speaking up and explaining what they want to feel and explore because we have been taught that we are not supposed to,” says Berg.

It is important to consider the stigma surrounding voicing our needs and wants in the bedroom. Many people feel uncomfortable discussing these topics with their partners, fearing being judged or rejected due to societal perceptions about sex. This can lead to a lack of communication in relationships, ultimately negatively impacting sexual satisfaction and pleasure. And we all want more pleasure, right?

Normalizing the Conversation Around Sexual Wellness

When it comes to normalizing sexual wellness within a relationship, there are several steps you can take: start small and be open-minded; create space for honest communication about sexual desires and boundaries; take time to explore fantasies together in a safe environment; practice listening to one another without judgment.

“Ensure you open up the conversation at the right time and place. There is no point in starting a sexual wellness conversation when you are feeling like it, but your partner is a million miles away in their head. It won’t go well,” shares Berg. “Start small. For example, many card games on the market will make exploring sexual conversations fun for both you and your partner.”

Why is sexual wellness so important? Well, developing healthy attitudes towards sex and exploring different aspects of it can help foster better selfesteem, more fulfilling relationships, and improved overall well-being. In addition, creating an open dialogue around sexual wellness can benefit both individuals involved.

Practicing healthy boundaries, developing trust with one another, and exploring different fantasies are just some of the ways that relationships can become more sexually fulfilling and satisfying. Furthermore, it’s been shown that couples who practice good sexual communication tend to have less overall relationship conflict.

Normalizing sexual wellness within a relationship is essential to creating an emotionally supportive atmosphere where both partners can express themselves freely. It’s important to remember that developing good sexual communication is a process that takes time and effort. However, the benefits of both physical and emotional satisfaction outweigh any discomfort that may come up during the process. With dedication, self-awareness, and open communication, couples can reap the rewards of a healthy sexual relationship, and the benefits ripple reaches far beyond the bedroom.

www.madehot.com @madehot_

YOUR STORY, YOUR WHY

YOUR WORK AND YOUR LIFE IS SOURCED BY YOUR PERSONAL WHY. MICHALE GABRIEL HELPS YOU FIND AND TELL THAT STORY.

BY TARRYN REEVES

MICHALE

DO you know the source of your “Why?”

The Why that fuels what you do in the unique way that you do it? Your Why is the underpinning of your business. It sources your mission, your vision, and your purpose. This all sounds fairly simple in theory but the process of truly uncovering your Why is a lot more complex. Michale Gabriel, storytelling expert and founder/ CEO of Story by Design, has spent years coaching leaders in not only uncovering their Why but in delivering the story behind it.

It is not enough to simply know your Why and then conduct business from a surfacelevel approach. The game completely changes when you know your Why, understand it, embody it, and then unleash the power of that story in the form of authentic storytelling.

When you are a leader, your story is what enables you to create authentic connections, build trust, motivate employees, galvanize audiences and make an impact. Human beings are natural storytellers but your Why is a valuable story that you may not yet have thought to share, or if you have, perhaps you haven’t told it in a way that allows your audience to step into your story, imagine it and retain your message long past the telling. The challenge with finding your personal Why is that most of us don’t know what sources our business on a deeper level. We don’t know the full story. And not knowing our full story is a missed opportunity to connect with potential clients, and most importantly with ourselves.

Mark Twain once said, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born … and the day you find out why.” That day will mark a pivotal moment not only on a professional level but on a personal level as well. Who we are and why we do what we do are fundamental to our experience as human beings. Some people figure out their Why at a young age. For others, the process may take a little longer. Tragically,

some people never truly understand their Why in this lifetime. “It is never too late to go after your calling. Your evolution and pursuit of fulfilling your personal Why never truly ends. You just keep working on it, refining and redefining it in relation to what is going on around you,” explains Gabriel.

The Power of Story

“Our brains are wired to make meaning and we do that through the narrative process. By telling stories. It’s how we make sense of things.” As Barry Lopez says in his book Crow and Weasel, “When stories come to you, care for them and give them away when they are needed. Sometimes people need stories more than food to stay alive. That is how we care for one another.”

Our experiences and the stories behind them are more often than not the key factors that influence our Why. These experiences are often gritty, challenging and less than glamorous. How then do we come to peace with our own story?

“My siblings and I grew up in a singleparent family in Anchorage, Alaska. My mother worked tirelessly to make ends meet. There was a tremendous amount of stress in the home and my mother suffered from depression. However, what I realized early on was that when my mother read to us, we all experienced a reprieve from the chaos that surrounded us. When my imagination was activated and I stepped into a story, I felt safe. I felt free. I felt whole. Stories allowed me to escape into a world of hope and possibility. I began to understand that I could imagine something better,” shares Gabriel.

“What I did not know then, but I know now, is that those moments of experiencing the power of story were preparing me for the realization of my own Why.”

The next pivotal moment in Gabriel’s Why journey came when she was in college and cast in the role of Emily in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. During a rehearsal, when her director felt she was “faking it” in a scene with her stage father, Gabriel exploded, “How do you expect me to relate to a stage father when I don’t even know what it’s like to relate to a real father?” She broke down. He took her into his office, and she told him what was going on behind closed doors at home. Gabriel revealed her fear that behind the carefully crafted façade that she had created to protect herself, she feared that she had no value. The director assured Gabriel that the person he cast in the role of Emily was a person of tremendous worth. He invited her to see herself differently. “By seeing me for who I truly was, he gave me the gift of a new story I could tell myself. That was the moment I started to heal,” reflects Gabriel.

“What I have discovered in my work with the transformative power of story over the past forty years, is when we are seen for who we truly are, it changes us. It reshapes us. When we reflect on our life as a whole, a tapestry emerges that is uniquely ours. Our wisdom is revealed, and we begin to understand what sources our life and gives it meaning. It allows us to lead from a more authentic place, to connect, to have the impact we so deserve to have.”

Uncovering your Why is your gateway to truly connecting with yourself and with others.

www.michalegabriel.com @michale.gabriel

the happiness guru

BY ANDREW HALL

NO matter how successful you think you are, author, former business manager, and current life coach, Beate Nimsky, has a question for you: are you happy?

Because, Beate says, if you lack joy in your life and your work – regardless of your status within an organization – that can drag you down and limit your personal horizons.

“I worked in management in corporations for 10 years and experienced how people are treated, especially during a merger,” Beate says. “People’s frustration and loss of productivity due to a lack of joy was obvious. I’ve always wondered how to change that.”

Crash, Bang, Boom

In the midst of a successful corporate career, Beate was involved in a serious traffic accident that left her physically injured and psychologically distressed. Her five-month convalescence led Beate to question life’s priorities.

“During this time, I learned from my doctor how homeopathy works. He also sent me to the Chinese Qi Gong grandmaster Mantak Chia, from whom I learned how to activate my life energy, to heal myself and to feel a lot of joy inside. That was the start of a new way of life, which led me to self-employment two years later,” Beate says.

“I found that activating life energy is one of the keys to happiness and success. That is why I have trained myself in the Taoist energy practices over 10 years with Master Mantak Chia. I combine his knowledge and techniques with many other leadership tools to empower people.”

Conscious Leader Coaching System

Beate coalesced Eastern meditation and martial practice with Western metrics for successful business management to develop a system that empowers women who might question their place in the world.

“The Conscious Leader Coaching System is a proven system that you can use for many years. The program is designed to take out the emotional stress and anxiety of not being good enough,” she says.

“You will be supported and empowered to build your business in your own way. It doesn’t matter if you’ve already started building a business or if you’re just starting out with an idea. We help you to integrate this system into your life so that you can be a successful entrepreneur.”

It is a personalized system that will help people discover, develop and implement their unique talents and ideas so they can successfully shape a business and a life that suits them. Step-by-step learning with weekly personal coaching with Beate and her team will help integrate what you have learnt so you can master your change and business development.

“To build business success it takes perseverance and changed approaches. Including recognizing and transforming ingrained patterns, solving blockages, and changing inhibiting habits,” Beate says.

Counting the Beate … two, three, four, five … Co-Founder and COB of Biotonus Corp. and founder/CEO of Nimsky Academy, Beate Nimsky just wants you to be happy.

In addition to an initial three-month program, the Conscious Leader Coaching System offers individual one-on-one sessions in the areas of personal assessment, recognition, and resolution of emotional, mental, and energetic blockages, as well as energy activation and transformation.

Stepping Up

Do you wake up happy every day? Or do you wake up with worry, judgment and anxiety weighing you down and keeping you stuck and unhappy?

The first step to happiness is gratitude. What if you were grateful for everything you have experienced in life so far? Grateful for the so-called good and beautiful as well as the bad and ugly.

Beate says: “The first step of gratitude is not about evaluating, but about being thankful to yourself that you have mastered everything up to this point. When you’re grateful, you don’t need to compare yourself to anything or anyone. Stop comparing yourself to others.

“Being grateful that you are alive, being grateful that you can make a difference, being grateful for your body gives you the energy for your next steps.”

The second step in the Conscious Leader Coaching System, speaks to the natural vibrational (biotonus) state of your body.

Beate says: “Imagine all your cells vibrating in a harmonious rhythm in accordance with the universal energy. Every step feels like a light dance, like floating. Our bodies are the most wonderful instruments on this planet. It is our soul’s home in this reality.

“Your breath plays a big role in this. Close your eyes and breathe in and out deeply into your lower abdomen for at least 10 breaths. With each breath you draw the energy from the pelvic area up to your brain and breathe out very slowly into the earth. This alone brings relaxation and calm to your whole system because the sympathetic nerve, which is always driven by external perception, is not activated at this time.

“That’s when you can step out of your drama and truly become the creator of your own experiences. When you are in your heart and smile into it again and again, situations that normally trigger you and trigger strong emotions like anger or envy are transformed. You stop being a slave to your emotions.”

Staying Happy

How do you think about yourself, about life? Have you ever thought that you are an infinite being that exists without limits? From whom did you adopt your assumptions and beliefs that limit you? What beliefs do you avoid or defend that keep you from at least trying what might be possible for you?

Happiness is a choice, says Beate. You decide whether you want to believe people who see a problem in everything and everyone and would rather not start something new because it could go wrong. You decide whether you want to compare yourself and take back your skills, or whether you step out of your comfort zone and live life bravely.

Beate says: “When you doubt yourself, when you think you can’t do something that you would like to do, you can always ask yourself: would an infinite being choose doubt? Would an infinite being choose restraint? What would an infinite being choose instead? You will discover how truly powerful you are, and how much strength, clarity and focus were within you all the time. You will begin to tap into your true potential to shape, form and create your reality.”

www.nimskyacademy.com

@beate.nimsky

LinkedIn beate-nimsky-16729973

the optimisation queen

TEDx speaker and best-selling author

Genevieve Searle says a positive future for humanity lies in people reaching a holistic level of understanding of themselves and each other, then moving forward together.

BY KAREN DONALD

VISIONARY OF THE HEART

GENEVIEVE describes herself as “a visionary and revolutionary of the heart” whose deep contemplation about how patriarchal systems have harmed all of humanity led her to turn her life around, and to share her journey with others, whose vulnerabilities prevent them from leading fuller lives.

She recalls the words of author, international keynote speaker Bryant McGill who says: “In a world of hate, love is a revolution”.

“The words of Bryant McGill are visionary and full of hope, but far easier to dream than to do, especially when we have experienced pain . . . but it’s time to go beyond anger and retaliation and begin building real connection within our relationships, teams, families and communities,” Genevieve says.

Genevieve was the 2022 ambassador for Feminessence Magazine, and is a contributor to Disrupt Magazine, Los Angeles Times “Now”, New York Weekly Times, the Rhonda Swan Show, and multiple podcasts. She is a guest teacher in The White Picket Fence Project with Cass and Kathryn Morrow.

Epiphany

Genevieve says: “One night, 25 years ago, after years of depression, post traumatic depression syndrome from rape and sexual assault, eating disorders, and chronic gut issues, I found myself lying on the floor of an empty resort pool, and I suddenly realised I had three clear choices: continue as I was; kill myself; or get better.

“With that clarity, I made the choice to get better, and from then on, I was committed to doing whatever it took first to heal and then, as the healing happened, to see how good I might become.

“It wasn’t a smooth path: divorce, bankruptcy, unexpected pregnancy and still battling depression, and other issues for many years.

“But I have a phenomenal partner, the father to our three incredible sons, who supported me in so many ways to heal, evolve, be a devoted mother, study, and start my first business – Rhythm and Light therapies.”

One day a client told Genevieve about epigenetic profiling, and she immediately trained to become a PH360-endorsed coach.

“Finally, I had a super potent, precise pathway for working with individuals. This was when I stopped searching for the ‘one thing’, because epigenetics is the one thing – it’s really the umbrella science of how humans work in relationship to the world around us, including our environment, food, movement, relationships, thoughts, and beliefs.

“I like to say we are in a dance with life responding to what happens, predicting what’s to come and adjusting our genetic expression on the way via our dominant hormones.”

Genevieve says that while we’re in our mothers’ wombs, and through childhood, we acquire a hormonal profile that “wires” us to be who we are at every level, physically, mentally, and emotionally. We are all different, we know this, but until now we haven’t really had a way of understanding how we are different or how to apply this to our lives. Epigenetic profiling changes this.

“With epigenetic profiling, about 80 per cent of the guesswork and complexity is removed from your personal wellness program. Taking physical measurements – health, lifestyle, and ancestry questions, combining that with 11 branches of science, ten thousand data points – this cutting-edge technology determines our ‘HealthType’. “While we are all unique, we also fit into six broad groups or HealthTypes, each ruled by a dominant hormone. Though we all have all the hormones in our body we each have one, sometimes two, hormones that we need to regulate more than others. When we do that, everything else falls into place. PH360 HealthType profiling uncovers which hormones governs us and then creates a personalized program.”

Not only does it offer a specific food plan including what, when, and how often and how much food you should be eating, and not only the type, timing, and frequency of exercise you should do, though this is ground-breaking enough, it gives insight and guidance on every part of your life.

What’s your body type? What daily rhythm best suits you?

The best way to de-stress and how to make the best of relationships. What your core values are, what environment best suits you, and how your brain works. The answers to all of this and more is available through epigenetic profiling.

Can epigenetics help you optimize your life?

Genevieve says: “One of the main gifts epigenetic profiling gave me was learning I am not ‘broken’ and never was.”

She notes that her tendency toward depression comes from serotonin being her dominant hormone to regulate, “so of course I’ll be prone to depression”. In learning this and now having clear strategies for how to regulate it daily, she can detect when her serotonin levels are out of kilter and can do something about it.

“It is extremely empowering to know not only what is happening in my system at a hormonal level but also how to work with that in very simple and practical ways,” Genevieve says.

“While the health industry has spawned a compulsive rhetoric aimed at improving fitness, strength, and muscle growth, epigenetics doesn’t often list these high on priorities but perhaps it should.”

Hack your environment; change your life

For many, epigenetic profiling alone is eye-opening, offering a glimpse into hidden traits and propensities. However, Genevieve amplifies its usefulness by applying her own hard-won experience.

“I overlay all my learning, gained over 25 years. I train people to become their own wellness experts by looking into their ancestry, hacking their environments, (workspaces, homes), habits, and behaviours to better support their body type, mind, and emotions,” Genevieve says.

Over the past 18 months, Genevieve has embodied epigenetic and hormonal profiling to an even greater degree, as she and her partner, Matthew, “deconstructed their 20year relationship, taking it down to ground zero”.

“I truly thought it was over. It was devastating.” Genevieve says. “Again, I realized I had three choices: ending the relationship or pretending everything is fine, when it’s not, are the two pathways most people choose but, as I said, I’m a visionary and at the very least I needed to understand what had happened. I dove deeply into how dominant hormones influence relationships.”

It was a game-changer not only for Genevieve and her partner, but this new understanding changed her work, parenting, and every other connection too.

“I see people very differently now. Matthew and I both say that we learned more about ourselves and each other in one year than we had in all the years previously and we are not new to personal development.”

This took Genevieve in a new direction with her business, moving beyond just personal health and wellness to supporting couples, and men with relationships, intimacy, and mission alignment through the lens of epigenetic profiling.

“What I love about this is that we can use the precision of personalized science to get to the heart of relationship dynamics and life purpose. Our core wounds, needs, desires, and values are all literally written in our bodies. I get to give people their own personal blueprint and instruction manual and

teach them how to understand the people around them.

“Already I see it changing the world, because this information gives people the power and pathway for individuals to access energy, clarity, passion, and purpose according to their own unique operating system. Imagine bringing this into our intimate relationships, communities, and businesses?”

And so, Genevieve’s own evolution continues. Going beyond individuals, she now wants to get this information out to the world. In addition to writing, speaking, and teaching, Genevieve has begun training other mentors, leaders, and impact-makers, especially men, to leverage this information for the benefit of their clients, communities, and businesses.

Genevieve’s decision to work more with men feels like a culmination of all her life experience and work up to this point.

She says: “The war that men and women have been waging with each other for millennia is not the way forward.”

Maximize your wellbeing with simple exercises

As well as her more advanced techniques that help amplify the results of epigenetic profiling, there are certain health-giving exercises that Genevieve prescribes for everyone: Breathing is of paramount importance to wellness. Genevieve advocates slow, controlled breaths through the nose – four seconds in and six seconds out, with a twosecond hold on the outward phase, for stress relief. Make sure that the breath goes all the way into the belly. But don’t ‘gulp’ the air.

The key is to try and make each breath calm, quiet, and light. Ten minutes of slow, nasal breathing is known to give your nervous system enough time to rebalance and harmonize, offering a host of health benefits.

“My vision is for a world where every single person on the planet is healthy, energised, feels deeply aligned with their own truth and can walk through the world with a strong back and an open heart,” Genevieve says.

“That’s the kind of world I want to leave my children. This is my mission, and this technology maps out a very clear pathway for this to happen. Truly, it can change the world and I’m so here for that...”

www.theoptimisationqueen.com

STAY AHEAD OF THE GAME

GETTING OFF THE STRUGGLE BUS

HILARY DECESARE IS ON A MISSION TO EMPOWER AND ELEVATE WOMEN.

HILARY’S first question is: Are you a woman with an unstoppable entrepreneurial spirit, but struggling to find balance between profitability and fulfilment?

“Having reached what, I thought, were all my professional goals as a high revenue (and rare female) CEO in Silicon Valley, I realized that my life had become overcome with stress, and I felt unrecognizable as the person I knew myself to be,” she says.

Hilary’s sense of burnout was compounded by her mother developing, and succumbing to, terminal illness.

Some things had to change.

“My mother’s unexpected illness and the emotional reckoning process of her death jolted me into re-examining my life and goals, and I became driven to focus on how we can make change for the good in our lives,” she says. “I became fascinated with neuropsychology and gained extensive training, education, and practice, working with leading experts and earning numerous certifications, and directing my intentions toward women who in many ways mirrored my own journey and challenges.

“Hearing the stories of the lives of scores of women and how they had made fantastic leaps and bounds toward often radical goals made me want to dig deeper and commit to understanding and supporting how they achieved these incredible successes and joys.”

Changing your headspace

Hilary says she became fascinated with neuropsychology and gained extensive training, education, and practice, working with leading experts and earning numerous certifications.

“Hearing the stories of the lives of scores of women and how they had made fantastic leaps and bounds toward often radical goals made me want to dig deeper and commit to understanding and supporting how they achieved these incredible successes and joys,” she says.

Hilary wondered about the common themes, and the science and methodologies that underpinned them.

“A key goalpost for me was leveraging the answers to these questions to build a sustainable architecture and life-enhancement platform, and then expanding and sharing this proactively with others,” she says.

Countdown to rejuvenation

One relaunch is all it takes to make your dreams a reality.

It’s not rocket science, but it does take some thinking outside the square, Hilary says, as she contemplates her revolutionary approach to taking women to the places they deserve to be – The Relaunch Co. – which offers mid-life-career women, who would like to propel their lives and/or career to the next level and beyond, a path to purpose and self-defined success.

Hilary says: “The ReLaunch Co. guides women who would like to propel their lives and/or career to the next level and beyond with a path to purpose and self-defined success. It offers a customizable portfolio of programs and methodologies – steeped in science and merged with years of experience and everyday practicality, that has been tried and tested by thousands of our clients, having successfully transformed their lives and incomes.

“As an award-winning business leader, international best-selling author, and coach to thousands of entrepreneurs and top executives, I’m on a mission to empower and elevate women. With The ReLaunch Co., you’ll have the opportunity to create your perfect blend of success. One

relaunch is all it takes to make your dreams a reality.” Hilary’s most recent book RELAUNCH! Spark Your Heart to Ignite Your Life is a proven go-to resource for women who want to learn how to take control, understand their goals, challenges, and inner blockages, and move forward toward greater success.

The secret, Hilary says, is her trademarked 3HQ™ Method, which provides a step-by-step guide to shift from the negative mindset “stuck” channel to the heart-led, high-energy “Success Zone” channel, and on to the higher path of being the best version of yourself.

Tune In, don’t Tune out – four steps to selfactualization

Hilary calls this the 4-Step “Tune In Process.”

1) Ask yourself – what is not working for you right now? What is your biggest challenge or what is your intention for something you are doing in your life?

2) It’s time to Change the Channel. It’s time to take a few deep, calming breaths. Tune In to a song that fires you up, one that literally elevates you when you hear it and allows you to change your state via “Changing the Channel”. Hear the music inside your head and let it flow through your body. This is tapping into your own energy state. When you hear that music inside you, you are accessing your higher self and elevating your vibrational energy level. This is the level where like attracts like and possibilities happen.

3) Now turn up the volume of your song and experience it. Let it spark you to shift your focus to what you really want away from the challenge from Step 1. Move through visualizing it; capture the emotions; allow your heart to feel the excitement of having it and knowing it’s already yours.

4) Continue to Tune In and hear your song and leverage the energy that you have been creating and ask yourself what can you do right now as a first step to create momentum towards that goal. Don’t wait to react, this is the time to act.

Hilary says: “In a world where stressful crisis is increasingly constant, and “tuning out” is an easy out, Women – with our unique needs – require powerful support from innovative, responsive and customizable tools with both flexibilities that keep up with the pace of change and built-in sustainability to go the distance, not one-off patches.”

3HQ™

This is the secret within the secret. Hilary says: “You are a complex, multi-dimensional person, but many programs only address one dimension. That’s just not me, and I’m sure it isn’t you, either! Or you wouldn’t be reading this. Addressing and calibrating your head, heart, and higher self – the 3H’s – leads to an alignment of your inner self, with all its desires and conflicts, with your goals and sense of purpose. At The Relaunch Co. we take a 360-degree, holistic approach. No part of you is left behind in this mission of total empowerment. Result? Strength without the stress.”

Your time is now

Hilary says: “Our sought-after coaching community is built on reinvention, alignment, and impact. Our core focus of business advancement using our trademark 3HQ™ method, allows women to achieve and inspire the echelon of entrepreneurship without compromising fulfillment. Hundreds of business owners have relaunched into a newfound sense of ambition and purposefulness.

“At The ReLaunch Co., we serve those who want to stop living a life on autopilot and instead, join us to become a woman to whom opportunities flock. We’re here to set off a spark in you if you’re halfway to somewhere in your life but not sure how to jumpstart the next step and want more: more out of your business and more out of yourself. You know how to work hard. Now, it’s time for the results you so richly deserve. Let’s close that gap, shall we?”

www.therelaunchco.com

@therelaunchco

BREAKING into male-dominated industries can be challenging yet rewarding for women, and despite the hurdles in the financial sector, there are successful women entrepreneurs who serve as inspiration.

One founder created a company to empower women in business by providing resources for public speaking, securing grants, and coaching. Her company helps women achieve their career goals by providing them with essential tools regardless of their industry.

Helping Lead Women To Success

CEO and founder of Coastal Kapital, a prominent women-owned financial service provider in Florida, believes that she has a voice that can be shared with the world. According to Kortney Murray, empowering women in business and guiding them to build their own empires is crucial.

With the limitless opportunities provided by the internet and available tools, women are no longer confined by previously established borders in male-dominated fields. Her mission is to help others navigate the challenging process of finding the right funding and expansion tools.

"Public speaking is a powerful tool that can help women in business communicate their vision and values to a wider audience. Intuition plays a vital role in building a successful company and leveraging available resources to expand it. Seeking out guidance and help is essential for any entrepreneur looking to achieve their goals."

Guiding Them Through Their Own Process

Trusting your intuition and staying true to your personal goals can be the key to building a successful business. By taking the time to establish your goals and listening to what your intuition or gut says, you can create a business that is aligned with your values and vision.

It is also crucial to find a team that is willing to work with and support you as you grow. A team that shares your values and is committed to your vision can help you navigate challenges and make better decisions for the long-term success of your business.

Finally, bringing positive energy into your workspace and culture can create a strong foundation for future growth. When positivity and a can-do attitude are present, teams are motivated to work harder, innovate, and support each other. This sets the tone for a successful business that can thrive in the long run.

Remember, building a successful business is a journey, and trusting your intuition and staying true to your goals can help you achieve success on your terms.

"I believe that by helping women trust their intuition and stay true to their personal goals, we can empower them to build successful businesses on their own terms,” says Murray. “By providing them with the resources and support they need to navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship, we can help them achieve their dreams and lead them to success through their own unique process."

Resource Strategies

Expanding a business can be a challenging and overwhelming task for any entrepreneur, especially for women who may be working in maledominated industries. However, there are resources available to help women in business overcome these challenges and achieve their goals.

One valuable resource is public speaking in the business industry and women in business. Attending events and conferences where successful women entrepreneurs share their experiences and insights can be inspiring and empowering. These events provide opportunities to network and connect with like-minded individuals who can offer support, advice, and potential partnerships.

Murray explains: “Expanding a business is a challenging but rewarding journey, and there are resources and strategies available to help women entrepreneurs succeed.”

Always Trust In Your Intuition

Trusting one's intuition and staying true to personal goals is also key. It's important to establish clear goals and listen to what one's intuition or gut is saying. This can help entrepreneurs make better decisions and stay aligned with their values and vision.

“Trusting intuition, establishing clear goals is essential for any businesswoman, “Murray continues, but finding the right help and support, and bringing positive energy to the workspace and culture can all contribute to building a successful business.”

The Sky Is the Limit

Public speaking can be challenging for most of us. As a high achiever, how has Murray set her sights on a new goal: public speaking while also achieving financial success? Murray explains: “Unwavering commitment to my community and the financial empowerment of women has earned me a reputation as a leader in the field. She explains: “With over three successful entrepreneurial ventures under my belt, I bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the table.”

Her forthcoming book, “Women Gone Wild: Intuition Edition,” set to be released this year, and a movie slated for 2024, will provide readers and viewers with insight into her tried-and-true methods for success.

Murray continues: “I firmly believe that women supporting women is the key to success. My personal mission is to help guide others through the complexities of business financing, creating successful partnerships, and advocating for the challenges faced by business owners,” says Kortney. Her unwavering passion for helping women succeed and her dedication to the cause make her a formidable force in the business world.

www. coastalkapital.com

CREATING KAPITAL

KORTNEY MURRAY EMPOWERS WOMEN WITH A RESOURCE-BASED INITIATIVE THAT HELPS ENTREPRENEURS ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS.

BY KAREN DONALD

KORTNEY

A SONG OF SELF HEALING

KAREN WHELAN OFFERS FIVE ACTIONS TO ACHIEVE BETTER SELFLOVE AND CONFIDENCE SO YOU CAN LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE.

FOR many of us, self-acceptance and self-love might be hard concepts to grasp. The act of being overcritical and unaccepting of who we are, what we’ve done, and how we were raised, could lead to a plethora of problems. This includes self-doubt and low self-esteem at the lower end of the spectrum; depression, eating disorders, and self-harm at the higher end.

Accredited psychotherapist, Karen Whelan, is a proponent for achieving greater self-love. Whelan posits it as a solution for individuals struggling with low motivation, anxiety, depression, loneliness, and forming healthy relationships.

Her unique coaching style has been featured in Los Angeles Weekly, Times, Yahoo News, Thrive Global, and more. She provides five tangible actions to achieve better self-love and confidence to live a more optimal life.

Heal The Inner Child The “inner child” is a concept used in analytical psychology, traced back to the works of psychiatrist Carl Jung. This archetype is used to describe experiences and memories of innocence, playfulness, and optimism.

Early experiences, whether positive or negative, have a significant effect on our behavioural patterns in the future. Thus, connecting to this inner child can be a way of altering those behaviours. Re-inviting those amicable feelings of bravery, confidence, and joy into our lives can act as a catalyst for us feeling better about ourselves.

Because painful or traumatizing life events can damage our “inner child”, healing becomes paramount to our development as self-loving adults. For example, if we were mistreated or untaken in some aspect as children, we are more likely to experience that lack of love and nurturing in our later life.

Reparenting Ourselves Healing, according to Whelan, begins with acknowledging those pain points and finding ways to nurture ourselves, our “inner child”, as adults so that we may transform those feelings of angst and lack of attention to patience and tender love.

This means being there for yourself when you go through adverse life events or daily feelings. Learning how to soothe yourself and be kind to yourself when you experience painful feelings (grief, loneliness, embarrassment, anger). Becoming our parents can help us reclaim ownership of our care and resolve the unloving tendencies we experienced through our developmental phase.

Heal Wounds & Trauma The majority of us have experienced some form of wound or trauma. This doesn’t mean we’ve all been through abusive situations or have gotten into accidents. Emotional wounds can develop from the smallest things and leave a resounding mark on the way we behave or perceive ourselves in the future.

This can range from experiences like watching a divorce go through, to “messing up” on stage in front of an audience as a child.

From these experiences, you may subconsciously fear commitment or perceive yourself as a bad public speaker. Again, these thought patterns derive from trauma and hinder our abilities in our adult lives.

Body Practices To Heal Trauma “Everything we learned as a child, we learned viscerally,” says Whelan, therefore, relearning how to love and care for ourselves can be done through the body. There’s a trove of activities we can engage in to bring out the joy factor from the child archetype. Most importantly, to unleash the negative stories that we hold in our bodies. These include shamanic work, dance, and breathwork to create balance, harmony, and alignment.

Getting Out Of Your Own Way

Many of us go through life with an unquestioning gaze of why we do things. How often is it to meet social expectations, rather than because we truly want to do them? Getting stuck in obligations and routines that don’t internally satisfy us can lead to self-doubt, depression, burnout, or just general looming dissatisfaction with life.

If there’s a nagging feeling to pursue a different career path, there’s most likely an intuitive reason why. The only person who is getting in the way of making that change is ourselves. Often it’s the fear of change when we perceive we’re already doing the “right” thing.

Whelan recommends that to live the most optimal life, one needs to take charge of discovering our authentic selves and needs, which will lead us to craft the type of future that will cultivate more joy and pride. When we live and create with alignment to our true selves and values, our confidence and the love we have for our lives can increase exponentially.

Tap Into Your Wisdom Learning to love yourself means also learning how to trust yourself. The truth is that we hold all the keys to our own problems.

Allocating the time to work on ourselves is imperative to better understand our patterns, obstacles, and unlock the key to selflove, says Whelan. When we begin to trust our intuition, decisions pertaining to our personal and professional lives may become clearer. This might mean we make that career change, take on more challenges and responsibilities or leave a toxic relationship.

Taking ownership of our own futures, and not letting them be dictated by our fears, our paths, or social expectations is only possible if we learn how to trust and listen to our own wisdom.

“The moment you take your energy off of worrying about what others’ perceptions of you are and put that energy onto your inner peace, your life will transform”, Whelan asserts. Self-love is not selfish, nor is it a clique, but is such an important tool for us to overcome the mental roadblocks that are hindering us from living the most optimal and joyous life.

www.soulutiontherapist.com

the Frequency of Gratitude

IT’S TIME TO FALL IN LOVE WITH YOURSELF AGAIN, SAYS BARBIE LAYTON.

THROUGHOUT the last couple of years of global pandemic, many celebrities have opened up about their personal struggles and how they are pivoting to a different mindset, choosing self-love over previous behaviors.

In a recent interview between Oprah and Adele, the singer stated that she loved herself and had become open to loving and being loved by someone else. “Everything is timing … You have to get clarity on what you really want in the soul of yourself.” When Oprah asked her, “What do you really want?” her response was, “Peace of mind and stability.”

Given the toll that job losses, health problems and a worldwide pandemic have had on society’s well-being, self-care has certainly come to the fore. Whilst some have balked at the term – saying it evokes a sense of narcissism – it’s been proven that a dearth of self-love can seriously affect your health.

Low self-esteem, caused by a negative self-image, is linked with depression, poor physical health and a lack of mental well-being. Since depression is an increasingly common and destructive blight on modern society, self-love might be the ‘antidote’ that we all need.

Host of the TV channel, ‘You Are Amazing’ on The Best You TV, and cofounder of ‘The Infinity Life’, Barbie Layton – aka Intuitive Barbie – has devoted her career to helping others literally fall in love with themselves. According to the renowned author and motivational speaker, self-love is a powerful emotion that opens one up to a new realm of personal and professional possibilities. As a vocal advocate of learning to appreciate oneself, she offers some practical advice.

Step One: Fall In Love With Yourself Where You Currently Are

Whilst falling in love with the world, and yourself, may be the first step towards self-acceptance, further action is required to see a monumental life-change. A common complaint amongst adults is that they have no time for themselves. Kids, careers, and chores conspire to subjugate dreams and aspirations. There are so many other pressing duties.

But Barbie maintains that transformational self-love must ‘reanimate’ old passions, whether it’s music, singing, painting, or something entirely entrepreneurial, like starting your own business. Part of appreciating yourself involves bringing your dreams to life and then carefully nurturing them.

According to recent studies, repeated bouts of self-compassion are strongly linked with resilience and success. The mood-enhancing effects can improve

job performance and help us to do more than we ever thought possible, both privately and professionally.

Step Two: Practice Extreme Gratitude

“Firstly, you have to tune into a frequency of gratitude. Native Americans would offer a prayer of thanks for the three hundred hands that had brought the food to their table. When I cook, it’s the same thing. I say thanks for the beautiful ingredients laid before me. I thank inanimate objects like my car, fridge or microwave because they carry an energetic frequency. And they’re there to support me. I’m acknowledging that everything is working with me, and for me, as opposed to against me.”

Barbie explains: “Extreme gratitude – as I call it – enables me to fall in love with the world around me, allowing me to easily shift out of a negative mindset and into a positive one.”

Step Three: Be The VIP Of Your Own Life

Turning that science into an art-form, Barbie believes that everyone should act as the ‘VIP’ of their own life. She explains: “Loving yourself means occasionally treating yourself to the better things in life. It’s not about consumerism, or spoiling yourself, but it’s an attitude that says, ‘I deserve the best.’

With pandemic-related job losses still affecting the economy, it can be easy to get into a ‘make do’ mindset where you never really put yourself first. Barbie says, “It doesn’t have to be something huge. Love yourself and act as though you are worthy of good things. Not only will it change your life but also the atmosphere around you, shifting people from a mindset of lack and fear to freedom and abundance.”

Barbie continues, “If you listen to a frequency of 528 HZ on the Solfeggio Frequencies, which sounds like Hyuuu (the tone of creation, love, and DNA) for thirty days, it can play a small part in opening up your energies to love or ‘above’ frequencies, which is the frequency where manifestation occurs. YouTube contains many free tracks. We have all watched people go through metamorphoses like the caterpillar that becomes a radiant butterfly. Above all, stay in childlike wonder and suspend disbelief that things can get better. Thank everything that supports you now and step into a better version of yourself every day just by shifting your perception.”

www.youareamazing.online

Patti Negri

ENERGY BALANCING FOR THOSE WHO ARE TIRED OF THE RAT RACE

THE key to almost everything is balance. Unfortunately, modern society has us running faster than crazed rats on hamster wheels, and sometimes it feels like the wheels will fall off. Yes, we all know the benefits of meditation and “me time,” but for those battling it out in the rat race of life, we have mere minutes to pull ourselves together and try to get back into balance so that we can not only survive but thrive. Patti Negri, psychic medium, “Good Witch,” podcaster, author, and TV host, shares the benefits of energy balancing and some easy elemental exercises to help you get back in balance within 30 seconds, no matter where you are.

What is Energy Balancing?

Energy balancing works by harmonizing the energies within you, bringing into balance your elemental natures of earth, air, fire, and water. When all of these elements are in balance, so are we. From this place of balance, we can achieve harmony and well-being in all areas of our lives.

“I am an elemental witch. I work with nature and its elements. Nature truly does balance us, but in our modern society, most of us don’t get enough time to commune with nature. The good news is, we don’t have to leave our office or our recording studios to tune into the elements and reap the rewards,” explains Patti Negri.

Our Elemental Selves

Your entire life is made up of the four essential elements of earth, air, fire, and water. Earth represents who you are, your home, and your sense of being. Air represents your thinking brain, thoughts, and sense of reason. Fire represents your passion, creativity, the blood flowing through your veins, and spirituality. And finally, water represents your emotions.

The next time you feel unhappy, unproductive, or like you are cruising through life “asleep at the wheel,” know that there is a remedy; you need to figure out which of your elements is out of balance.

How to Balance Your Energy - in 30 Seconds or Less!

“Recognising which of your elements is out of balance is easy. All you need to do is think about which element aligns with your feelings. For example, I feel angry. That is an emotion. That’s water. I’m feeling foggy. That has to do with my thoughts; that’s air.

Here are four simple techniques to quickly bring yourself back into balance as you move through your day.

Water and Emotions

Feel as if your emotions are out of balance? “Your emotions keep you from your full experience of life…you need the water element,” explains Negri. You only need access to a running water source to balance the

element of water. Find a sink or something similar. Before you turn on the tap, be sure to set an intention such as, I choose to release my anger. Then turn on the tap and place your hands underneath the running water for 30 seconds. You may wish to visualize your excess emotions draining down the sink. Now that you have released your excess emotions, you can deal with whatever brought on the feeling minus the overwhelm.

Air and Thoughts

“Do you overthink? Get foggy? Sometimes you can’t get your thoughts to SHUT UP! You need to balance your air element,” says Negri. A quick fix to calm the air element is to bring awareness to your breath and add sound. First, set the intention that your breathing will clear and quiet your mind. Then take 30 seconds to sound out vowels or chants like Amen, Om, aaaa, eeee, etc. This is great to do before a presentation!

Earth and Grounding

Feeling ungrounded or as if you have left your body? Take 30 seconds to connect with anything made of wood or stone. Affirm that the object you are connecting with will ground and center you. Then hold onto it and breathe.

Fire and Passion

All out of passion and feeling tired? Fire is what you need. “This is breathing and sound magic,” explains Negri. “Affirm in your head how you want to feel and then, for 30 seconds and breathing deeply, make the sound of a bee buzzing. You will start to feel a tingling at the base of your spine, and in no time, you will have all the energy, passion, and creativity you need to move forward.”

These four techniques will act as your hidden powers! You can do them anywhere. Best of all, they cost nothing and only take 30 seconds. So keep them in mind and pull them out whenever needed for immediate balance and relief.

www.pattinegri.com

ELEMENTAL

FROM EGO TO ESSENCE

HOW TO OPEN YOURSELF TO INFINITE POSSIBILITIES.

BY TARRYN REEVES

ARE you driven? Or, are you drawn? The pathway of being driven often leaves us feeling exhausted, stressed out, and unfulfilledalways searching for the next best thing. To be drawn, however, is where the magic lies. Diana Wentworth, Founder Inside Edge Foundation for Education, international keynote speaker, author of seven best-selling and award-winning books, and co-author of two Chicken Soup for the Soul titles, shares the power of what it means to be drawn rather than driven.

“We’ve evolved into a time when we can experience a much more intimate, interactive, expansive relationship with the unknown,” explains Diana Wentworth.

The Essence Within

We are all familiar with the term ‘soul,’ but what does it mean, and how can we connect with it to support us to live our lives to our fullest potential? “I refer to the soul as essence. It is the elixir that lights up the core of someone’s being. It is your purpose based on your gifts to bring forth in this life; what you are here to exemplify from your purest, truest place,” says Wentworth.

In her 80 years, Wentworth has experienced the profound magic that can occur when we feel and listen to the power of being drawn to people, experiences, and places. Some might refer to this as luck; however, Wentworth understands that the magic that continues to unfold in her life is a result of learning to listen, connect with her essence, ask for what she wants and then allow herself to be drawn to the next best step to achieve her goals.

Just like a seed being drawn out of the Earth to bloom into the sunlight, so must we allow ourselves to be drawn to the next thing that will lead us forward.

Put the Drive in Park

Our modern way of living has us stepping further and further away from our true selves and falling into the trap of running faster and faster in pursuit of the next best thing. But what if we just stopped, even just for a moment? What if there was a way for us to remember who we truly

were, park the pursuit of ‘more,’ and embrace the magic of ‘being’?

“The clear, easier path emerging in these dark times takes the work out of it. All that is required is a shift of perception. You need only discern and create a partnership with all that is available to us now and become completely open and receptive to your highest good,” says Wentworth.

Studies have shown that we have a minuscule 17 seconds to capture a negative thought and turn it into something more positive. As is natural human behavior, our first thoughts in the morning are often centered around survival. Thoughts about all the things we have to do that day, the things we don’t want to do, situations we dread but know we must do; thoughts like these tend to start running rampant in our minds as soon as we open our eyes. It can be easy to get overwhelmed by stress and even easier to fall into victimhood, but we must learn to take control and set the stage of our day for wonder rather than woe.

Wonder instead how great the day can turn out or how you can lift someone’s spirits. Turn your thoughts instead to a place that lifts you and makes you feel light and full of possibilities. “From that place, that feeling of wonderment, you become a flowing fountain nourishing the world with your unique gifts,” says Wentworth.

There are many ways in which we can learn to shift our thoughts. Start your day with an app such as NuCalm or a journaling session. “You need only ask for what you want, listen and discern the highest answer to that,” explains Wentworth. As you move through your day, you only need 20 minutes to realign yourself. Take a 20-minute walk in nature, breathe deeply and/or listen to a short meditation. You will be surprised at the power that this has to support you in choosing your mental state - because that is what it is, a choice. You get to choose. You must expect magic.

“Invisible help is not only available but standing by for eager directions!” says Wentworth. So start small and go from there. The more you follow the feeling of being drawn, the more magic you discover. And who doesn’t want more magic in their lives?

www.dianawentworth.com

KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL

FROM DIY YOUTUBER TO BEAUTY BRAND ENTREPRENEUR: THE HEATHER MARIANNA STORY

BY KAREN DONALD

HEATHER MARIANNA, an entrepreneur and beauty expert, turned her passion for creating homemade beauty recipes into a global brand. Her journey to success is unique and inspiring. She started as a beer girl in bars while attending college in Indianapolis before starting her own business of booking promo girls.

At just 21 years old, she made her first million dollars by selling Ferrari-shaped doggy beds to wealthy women. After a break from work, she moved to Vegas as a marketing consultant where she launched her successful YouTube channel, Beauty Kitchen.

Heather’s DIY beauty videos gained popularity, leading to the launch of her own all-natural, plant-based skincare line, Beauty Kitchen. Her expertise and bubbly personality helped her appear in over 100 national TV news segments and be featured in major publications like Better Homes and Gardens and US Weekly.

Empowering Entrepreneurs

But Heather’s success didn’t end there. She started a Brand Incubator and Accelerator Program that provides coaching, manufacturing, and affordable resources for those looking to launch their own beauty brands.

Despite facing challenges like her struggle with a shopping addiction and being engaged 13 times to 11 men, Heather’s passion for natural beauty and her desire to share her knowledge with others have driven her success. Her products are used by many celebrities, and she has been called “Hollywood’s best-kept secret” by her clients. Heather’s journey serves as an inspiration to anyone looking to turn their passion into a successful business.

Starting a beauty brand can be a daunting task, but with the right guidance and support, anyone can turn their passion for

beauty into a thriving business. In this article, we will dive deeper into how Heather Marianna is using her knowledge and experience to help entrepreneurs achieve their dreams.

In The Beginning

Heather Marianna skyrocketed in popularity with the launch of her Beauty Kitchen YouTube series in 2012, where she showcased simple DIY beauty recipes made with common kitchen household ingredients. Her channel quickly generated a following of more than 3 million viewers.

With the channel’s growing success, the vivacious social media personality translated her passion for looking and feeling great into the development of her all-natural, plant-based self-care and skincare product line, Beauty Kitchen, which delivers a luxurious at-home spa experience with simple ingredients at an affordable price.

“Over the last decade, I’ve had the privilege of assisting numerous individuals in launching their beauty brands through private labeling,” she explains. “My expertise has even extended to working with celebrities and TV personalities. Through these experiences, I’ve accumulated invaluable knowledge that any entrepreneur starting in this industry can use to gain a competitive edge.”

Building An Empire

Marianna’s DIY beauty recipes went viral, inspiring viewers to create their own natural beauty products. Her relatable personality and charisma helped her build a thriving business with the Beauty Kitchen line. The products are all-natural, plant-based, and free from harsh chemicals and toxins.

Beauty Kitchen offers a variety of self-care products like bath bombs, body scrubs, and face masks, providing an indulgent, spalike experience at home. The brand is available at Boots, Planet Organic, Lloyds Pharmacy, Nature Intended, and Lloyds Pharmacy: selected stores and online, and is popular among celebrities.

Achieving Financial Freedom:

Marianna’s dedication to empowering others and sharing her expertise has made her a trusted source in the beauty industry and a beacon of hope for those looking to turn their passion for beauty into a successful business.

With her famous tweet, “The only way to fail is to stop trying,” Marianna has not only built a successful business in the beauty industry but has also become an inspiration to many women seeking financial freedom. Her commitment to hard work and passion for helping others has created a story of success that inspires many.

Celebrity Swag Bags

Marianna’s journey began in 2015 with her own YouTube series called Beauty Kitchen, where she shared her DIY methods and quickly gained a following. In 2013, she expanded into selling her line of natural beauty products and has since grown her business to include private labeling for other brands. Her company grew as she continued making appearances on reality TV shows and providing items for celebrity “swag” bags.

Currently, Marianna’s line includes soaps, bath bombs and soaks, shower gels, skin polishes, anti-acne items, eye gels, lip balms, and face and lip masks. They come in a variety of scents as well as purposes, such as anti-aging, plumping, or skin brightening.

She even offers an all-natural bug spray. Because her products incorporate fresh, natural, organic ingredients, Marianna said they have a shelf life of about one year but are better when used shortly after they are made. This also enables her to create seasonal scents, such as Fall in Love with Fall orange clove skin polish and Pumpkin Pie hand sanitizer.

Knowledge Is The Key

Marianna has extensive experience in building successful beauty brands and helping others launch their own. She believes her knowledge can empower other women to achieve financial freedom and offers resources and services for those passionate about creating their own brands. Her master class courses on the website provide an excellent starting point for those seeking preparation.

Through building beauty brands, Marianna gained valuable knowledge in cost reduction, bulk order marketing, wholesaling, pricing, public relations, and more. She also travels throughout the country to source raw materials for her products, maintaining a focus on quality.

Having made several mistakes herself, Marianna is determined to help others avoid the same errors while building their own beauty brands.

The Tools For Success

“Over the last decade, I’ve had the privilege of assisting numerous individuals in launching their beauty brands through private labeling,” she explains. “My expertise has even extended to working with celebrities and TV personalities. Through these experiences, I’ve accumulated invaluable knowledge that any entrepreneur starting in this industry can use to gain a competitive edge.”

Marianna’s passion for teaching and sharing information is evident in the resources she provides, such as workbook downloads, minicourses, and product packages with limited-run product lines. For those looking for more personalized guidance, Marianna provides one-on-one coaching sessions that offer personalized guidance and support over Zoom. With Marianna’s guidance, anyone with a passion for beauty can turn their dreams into a reality.

Weekly Support Develops Your Brand

If you’re already running your beauty brand, Marianna’s coaching services can help you take your business to the next level. These courses offer valuable insights into the beauty industry and provide the necessary resources to get started. Workbooks are also available for those with a passion for beauty who can turn their dreams into a reality.

These courses offer valuable insights into the beauty industry and provide the necessary resources to get started. Workbooks are also available for those who are looking to expand and elevate their existing business.

Marianna’s dedication to helping others achieve financial freedom through the beauty industry is admirable. Her vast knowledge and experience in building successful brands have been instrumental in helping others launch their own businesses. From providing educational resources to personalized coaching, Marianna is committed to helping others turn their passion for beauty into a profitable business.

Weekly Workouts

For those who are ready to fully commit, personal coaching sessions are a great way to navigate the development of their brand. These weekly calls provide guidance and support, along with access to products, labels, and designs.

“From someone who started reading skincare articles in magazines as a teen, to someone that’s taking one of my skincare brands public I can give you the coaching, motivation, and map to success that you’ll need as you create your dream skincare line,” explains Marianna.

Heather Marianna is also making waves in the industry. She will be co-hosting an Emmy’s Event Celebrity Gifting Lounge in September with the Merritt Marianna Group to help bring exposure to brands and their products to help build their business.

www.beautykitchen.net

JUNE 17TH AT BARNES & NOBLE

BOOK SIGNING: 10:00AM-1:00PM

RED CARPET EVENT: 3:30PM-8:30PM

6501 PALM AVE, HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA 92648

TheHuntingtonClub.com

SPEAKERS:

DIANA WENTWORTH | BARBIE LAYTON | DANA KAY | KAREN WHELAN | GENEVIEVE SEARLE | MICHALE GABRIEL

KORTNEY MURRAY | TERRI BRIT | BEATE NIMSKY | RHONDA SWAN | HANALEI SWAN

WGW SPEAKER LINEUP

The Wild Network

At The Wild Network, we understand that women today are looking for more than just entertainment – they want to be inspired, empowered, and supported on their journey to becoming their best selves.

That’s why we offer a wide range of shows that are designed to help women connect with themselves, each other, and the world around them.