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113 | Legacy, Leadership & Believing in Your Gifts with Rachel Proctor

 
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It’s an honor to welcome Rachel Proctor, an online educator helping people transform their lives through faith and online business to our Rising Women Leaders community. We touched on all the challenges we face as entrepreneurs in the online world: fear, self-doubt, the inner critic, comparing ourselves to those who are our inspirations, how to handle trolls and so much more.

Rachel not only shares her firsthand experiences, vulnerable moments, challenges and successes rising as a leader in online business, but also through running a campaign for mayor in her town outside of Dallas, Texas. If you’ve been having trouble believing in yourself, your gifts or your dreams, you may just find the motivation you need to take your first step in today’s conversation.

In this episode we discussed:

  • Making courageous business decisions (even when the odds are against you)

  • Finding your unique voice in a crowded mediascape  

  • How to approach what scares us through mindset practices

  • How “failing” leads to our greatest success stories

  • How to navigate “compare and despair” in entrepreneurship

  • What Rachel learned from six years in local politics and her reflections after running for mayor in her town outside of Dallas, Texas

  • How to navigate the people who “attack” or speak up against you when you are taking big strides in your life and career

  • The role of faith in Rachel’s life and work as an entrepreneur

  • Bringing Black business owners/entrepreneurs to the forefront through education and building upon the principles and actions used by previous generations of Black business owners to achieve success in the face of inequality

Stay in Touch with Rachel:

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Author, speaker, and second-generation entrepreneur Rachel L. Proctor helps people turn ideas into successful online businesses. A self-proclaimed market research junkie, Rachel has hit seven-figure sales marks as she’s built a versatile and trusted learning resource hub for aspiring and successful business owners alike. Dedicated to equipping entrepreneurs with the skills needed for success, Rachel provides free business training on concepts including branding, budgeting, profitability, productivity, and more. With an emphasis on real-world skills, accessible technology, and holistic learning, Rachel helps students pinpoint their unique ideas and turn them into profitable, life-changing business ventures.

 

089 | Herbal Medicine & Growing an Online Audience with Veladya Chapman

 
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I first discovered Veladya Chapman searching youtube for more information about the herbal medicine, Kratom, after I heard it has been shown to reduce physical pain. I found her video to be so clear and well-produced, and I just loved the energy she brought to the topic of herbal medicine.

I soon began following her work on instagram and loved witnessing her world through video of growing an online business, buying a home with her partner in her hometown of Georgia, and her journey of pregnancy and becoming a mother.

In this episode we cover a range of topics from self-care and earth medicine to having a healthy relationship to social media and connecting with the audience you most want to serve.

I hope you enjoy it!

In this episode we discussed:

  • Kratom - what it is and why it is a controversial herbal medicine in some states

  • Facing adversity in the online world as a woman of color

  • Veladya’s journey from Broadway to Youtube success

  • What Veladya would attribute to her success as an entrepreneur

  • How to have a healthy relationship with social media

  • How to discover your soul callings and why it’s so important to follow them

  • Veladya’s journey with pregnancy and becoming a mother

  • How to overcome the fear of failure 

  • Veladya’s online shop, products and coaching offerings

Stay in Touch with Veladya


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In an extremely short period of time, Veladya Chapman has risen to become one of the most sought after influencers in the wellness, lifestyle and health industry. Within her first year on social media, Veladya grew to over 100,000 highly-engaged followers and subscribers.

Veladya is a Carnegie Mellon University alumni with a Bachelor’s degree in Acting & Musical Theatre. She has gone on to perform on Broadway in the Tony Award winning musical, The Book of Mormon and guest-starred in roles on series like CBS’ Instinct. 

While working as a professional actress, Veladya attended the Institute for Transformational Nutrition to become a Certified Holistic Nutritionist. 

Veladya now helps heal people from all over the world through her books, educational Youtube videos, personalized wellness plans and public speaking. 

Veladya is a prominent figure in the wellness and reproductive health community having influenced millions of people to elevate their lifestyles. Her rapid online growth has led to many eyes awaiting her next moves including top tier brands and event hosts. 

A true creative, Veladya is known for merging her talents and knowledge to produce inspiring and life-changing content that has reached over 2 million people to date. 

Veladya is a strong advocate for plant-based nutrition, sustainable living, and unconditional love for all beings.



 

3 Questions to Ask Yourself When You’re Feeling Depressed

 
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It was this week three years ago I treated myself to my first week-long yoga retreat in Costa Rica.

The retreat was lovely - I ate delicious food, practiced yoga with my teacher, and had wonderful conversations with great people.

But there was one night, near the end of the trip where I started feeling depressed. I felt really off, like something was missing. When I tuned in to feel the feeling it felt like this deep unknown hole of sadness inside of me and I had no idea what it was about.

Everything on the surface was great. I was in a beautiful tropical location. I was surrounded by loving people. I just didn’t know what it was.

Then, the next day in my yoga practice, I had a realization, “I haven’t been sharing my gifts!” A week had passed without writing a blog post, or leading a group coaching call, connecting with a client, giving a speech, singing or teaching a yoga class.

I realized the sadness that was setting in was simply a sign showing me it was time to be of service, and share my gifts.

Depression and sadness have been a real teacher for me - as a watery Pisces (my birthday is this Thursday!) - I feel a lot, and I’m sure many of you can relate.

And now I know when I start to feel this way, I can at least first ask myself, “How can I connect more deeply to my community and be of service?”

Over time I’ve discovered it’s that place of authentic sharing, space-holding and teaching, that I feel most ALIVE, JOYFUL and present in the moment.

I believe that for those of us that have a deep soul calling to be teachers, healers and space-holders in this life, we are going to start to feel pretty miserable if we are not fulfilling that mission.

Do you feel like you have a soul contract to help and uplift others? If so, jumping in and saying YES to that mission is going to deeply impact your sense of well-being.

So the next time you are feeling sad, try asking yourself these simple questions:

1. How can I share my gifts?

Find small ways to give back, right now.

  • Is there a friend in need?

  • A way you can start that healing practice?

  • Someone you can be a coach or a guide to right now?

Sometimes we feel like we need to have it “all together” before we can start helping people.

And it’s not the case! You don’t need the perfect website. Or social media brand. Or the big email list. You can start helping people right now!

The world needs you! And the truth is:

You only need to be one small step ahead of the person you are helping.

So how can you put yourself out there? Teach that class or workshop? or reach out to someone in need? It may not look the way you thought it would at first, but the simple act of giving will bring so much joy and meaning to your life.

2. Am I balancing “input” with “output”?

While going to retreats and trainings are great (and taking time off is pretty essential to reconnect with your creative flow) if you are only signing up for trainings, courses and retreats without sharing or putting anything out into the world, it can start to feel pretty imbalanced.

I call this balancing your “input” with “output.”

How much information are you consuming on a daily basis? How many online trainings or retreats did you sign up for in the last year? And how often were you releasing content, and digesting that information into something that could be of service in the world?

I’m careful now to not take on too much “input” so I can always be in balance with how much I am releasing “output,” or creatively sharing with others.

3. What fears am I ready to face?

It’s through doing the work, that you are going to gain confidence, and it’s the work that is going to fill the void you may be feeling from not fully sharing your gifts.

And often we need to take a step before we feel ready. To take authentic action. To pick up the phone. To have the conversation. To put the workshop on the calendar. To practice the free consultation. To teach the yoga class. To have the art show. To give the speech. To write the post. To share your story….

So today I encourage you to face the fears. To put yourself out there. To help someone in need. Because the truth is, everyone benefits when we ask the simple question, “How can I be of service today?”

Want to join the conversation? In the comments I’d love to hear: How will you share your gifts this coming month?

Warmly,
Meredith

 

Live Lead Launch Webinar with Meredith Rom

 

Update! The recording of this webinar has currently expired. Make sure you are signed up for email updates (at the bottom of this page) to be  the first to know about the next time this webinar will be offered.

Thank you and stay tuned....

Subscribe to the Rising Women Leaders podcast


Last week I led a webinar all about how to Live, Lead and Launch as a Rising Woman Leader. 

Many of you signed up to watch the webinar but the replay was only available for a couple days afterwards and some of you have reached out to share you weren't able to watch it in that limited time. So I really sat and thought about it, and I decided to make this webinar available for you as an audio on the Rising Women Leaders podcast.

I received such positive feedback from the women who took the time to listen that I knew I wanted this information to be available to as many women as possible.

I spent so much time gathering and putting all this valuable content together in one place for you to rise as the woman and leader you know you are… so here it is now available for free for you to listen to.

Just to note: this webinar was led live over video, so there are some parts where I am doing a screen share to show you the web page of my latest course, and you can actually find all the details about that at risingwomenleaders.com. 

There are some prompts I give throughout the episode so it would be great if you had a pen and paper to write down some of the ideas and insights that come to you.

In this episode you’ll hear:

  • More about my story and why I believe it’s important for women to be sharing their gifts and their voices in the world 
  • Solutions to have more courage, share your voice, to lead with femininity ease and grace
  • The 5 mistakes I made when I launched my very first online offering and how you can avoid them
  • My 6 truths about fear and how to move through fear and self-doubt when it inevitably will arise as a feminine leader
  • The 4-step implementation process I use to design and launch successful online courses
  • All about my new offering Live, Lead and Launch that begins June 7th and includes 4 live calls for you to learn all the tools and systems you need to launch your dream online course...

Enrollment is now open until June 6th. Join us right here.

I believe the time is here for you:

To rise as the woman and leader you know you are

To stand up and share your gifts

To be spiritually AND financially empowered.

To thrive in your life's work AND do what you LOVE everyday.

To do it all in while embracing a feminine way of being and living: 

From the comfort of your own home.

On your own schedule.

From anywhere in the world… 

I hope you enjoy today’s show. 

Love, 
Meredith

 

010 | Creativity & Sisterhood with Becca of The Dabblist

 
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I'm back with a new podcast episode this week with Becca Piastrelli of The Dabblist.

I was first introduced to Becca at a women's retreat in Sonoma, and soon after attended one of her Sisterhood Soiree events.  I was immediately drawn to her sense of humor and  genuine love, care, and encouragement for the women around her.  

In this episode Becca shares how she listened to her inner calling to rediscover her feminine nature as well as start a successful online business supporting women to reconnect to creativity and sisterhood. 

We also share about the shadow side of sisterhood and leadership, how to handle comparison in a world of growing women’s entrepreneurship and how to create structures of support in your life to rise above your biggest challenges.

"Sisterhood is the field to freedom." ~ Becca Piastrelli

In this episode we discuss:

  • The power of sisterhood and personal stories of how sisterhood supported us to take bigger leaps in our lives

  • How Becca developed the courage to leave a comfortable corporate job in San Francisco to start her business, The Dabblist

  • An easy trick to help cultivate more female friendships in your life 

  • What a "Passion Project" is and how to start one

  • How Becca handles one of the biggest barriers to sisterhood - jealousy and comparison

  • How to pick yourself up after receiving a negative response to your work 

  • How to push through "compare and despair" to stay focused on what you are truly called to do 

Links in this episode:

Becca Piastrelli is an online entrepreneur who is part Artemis, part Athena. Her Artemis comes out in her work on TheDabblist.com where she holds space for women to awaken their creativity, stop chasing perfect, and work with their hands again in a space of creative sisterhood. Her Athena comes out in her work with bloggers and online business owners, helping them authentically market and build their tribes online. A nature devotée and lover of plant wisdom, Becca likes to dabble in deeper understanding of the moon and it works its magic both within the feminine body and out in the world. You can find her extrovert-ing with fellow creative women while drinking entirely too much coffee and likely making overly animated facial expressions.


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6 Lessons Learned From Running A Spiritual Business

 

I’m approaching the two year mark of running my own business and have been reflecting back on how I’ve grown, what challenges I’ve overcome and how I’ve been able to transform through service and doing what I love. 

It all started a few years ago when I asked myself, “What does success look like to me?”  For some it might mean reaching a certain number in their bank account, publishing a book, or receiving an award.  

For me, success is about the depth of the transformation I see in the women I serve, it’s about my ability to continue facing my fears even when I feel self-doubt or resistance, and to have a spaciousness in my schedule that allows me to truly take care of myself and follow my passions.

It hasn’t always been easy, but what I’ve found is if I can consistently come back to these six keys, I will always end my days feeling successful…

1. Vulnerability

We often want to see vulnerability in others but we are afraid to show it in ourselves. Being willing to be vulnerable is actually a courageous act, not a sign of weakness.

Brene Brown says, “You can’t experience the depth of joy and love without experiencing vulnerability…True belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world.  Our sense of belonging can never be greater than our own level of self-acceptance.”

Vulnerability creates greater connection and establishes a foundation of trust. 

People can relate to us when we share our whole selves.  I remember when I first started blogging, it was the times I chose to share about my struggles and fears and how I overcame them when students would come up to me after my yoga classes to tell me how much my story helped them. 

The world is craving vulnerable leaders.  Women want to relate to and understand the people they are going to follow.  

Where could you be more vulnerable and share more openly to create greater connection and trust in your life?

2. Generosity

Generosity didn’t always come naturally to me.  I grew up with a mindset of scarcity shown to me so often. But, I saw being in a state of scarcity blocked my flow to receive.

When I became generous, it came back to me in so many ways.  

Generosity also helped in my business.  Even though I didn’t start with a lot of financial resources, I knew I could be generous with my time and my knowledge.  When it came time to announce my first online program, people were ready and waiting to sign up.

Where could you be more generous?  Where may you be holding back your gifts, your time, knowledge or resources?

3.  Gratitude

It can be really easy to get caught up in achieving more, getting more and asking, “What’s in it for me?”  But what really opens us to our own desired feelings and attracting more of what we want, is gratitude.  

When we tap into the feeling of gratitude, and really feel it in our body, we raise our vibration and send signals out to the universe that actually send us more experiences that will create what we feel. 

Take a moment right now to think about three things you are grateful for.  Then say the affirmation, “I have everything I need and I welcome so much more.” 

When you really feel it in your body and make a daily practice of it, just watch the magic that will happen in your life.

4.  Service

When you tap into a vision that is larger than yourself, when you ask, “What kind of world do I want to live in?  How can I help and give back to others?” Fear becomes so much less important. 

When you are so focused onyour goal, that vision, there is no more room for fear.  

We cultivate courage is when the desire of what we do want is stronger than the fear of what we don’t want.  

Courage isn’t about winning or battling over fear, it is becoming very focused in our vision and then going for it.

When you ask, “How can I be of service?” You will be given everything you need to succeed.  

However, when the end goal is to make x amount of money, or get the new car, it’s going to be more of a struggle.  

When that vision has the potential to help so many more people, the universe is going to come in and give you support.

What can you be in service to?  What kind of world do you want to live in?  What is even more important to you than your fears?

5.  Connection to Spirit

When I feel afraid or unsure of what to do next, I go to my meditation practice.  My practice is where I connect to my body’s wisdom, and I become a vessel for where spirit would have me go and what spirit would have me say.  

When we establish a constant connection with our body's wisdom we don't need to look outside of ourselves for guidance or affirmation. We can then connect to a deeper, innate love within. Then we can begin to know our purpose and service in this life and share our gifts generously. Then we can find the courage to face our fears in service to what’s larger than ourselves. 

I do my meditations in a series of 40 days.  I get really clear on the vision I want to create in my life and in the world and I allow my meditation to be in devotion to that vision.

My greatest vision now is to see women all over the world finding this kind of connection and love within. That is where we find the courage to love and take care of ourselves, the courage to live our passions, and express ourselves in service to what we love. 

That is when we naturally inspire those around us and create beautiful change in the world. 

I’ve been creating this Vision by sharing my 40 day practice with others and creating a community of women around the world cultivating the courage to be fully devoted to themselves, to spirit and to sharing their light.

6.  Do what you love - every single day

One day a new woman walked into my yoga class.  I asked her the usual question, “Do you have any injuries I should know about?”  She replied, “Yes, actually I am recovering from several rounds of cancer treatments and surgeries.  I am cancer free now, but I am just trying to get used to this new body I am in.”

As we talked, more people came into the room and laid out their mats, I asked her,  “Do you have any wisdom to share with us?" 

She said, ”I now do something that I love every single day.  Something that makes me happy.  That’s why I’m here at yoga class.” 

Because isn't that we are alive for anyway?  To be happy? To do what we love?  I thought of my own life, and all the little things I had been stressing about all week. 

Yes,I had chosen a career that was my passion, but was I really doing what I loved every singleday?  

I made a vow right then, to let go of all the little worries and fears and re-commit to my joy, my happiness and taking the time every day to do something I loved. 

We all have one precious life.  How are you going to live it?

Now, we all have different versions of success, so wherever you are in your business (or your life) I invite you to ask: What does success look like to me?  What does it feel like?  What is my wildest dream?  

I believe everything you want and desire for your life can be yours.  All you have to do is listen to your intuition and be willing to face your fears, again and again.  

Often the thing we want most in our lives also takes us face to face with what we are most afraid of.  

When you are willing to face those fears and be driven by service, gratitude, and a connection to spirit, we can all create a new vision and a new world. <3