Leaders of Hope

Jackie Leonard is a storyteller, teacher, and community builder dedicated to empowering the voice of all women, because she believes this is the way to create a better world. With an MFA in Creative Writing and a writing group of her own, Write Beside Her, Jackie is deeply invested in telling her story in her own words and helping other women do the same.

Today’s guest is Kelsey Overstreet: fine artist, jewelry designer, serial entrepreneur, teacher, mother, and founder of the Fucking Fierce Artist Circle.

The first months of the pandemic rocked Kelsey’s business world: 2020 was fully booked with in-person art fairs and pop-up shops to sell her paintings and jewelry. However, this wasn’t Kelsey’s first time facing great challenges. She learned from her experience in the 2008 recession and decided to CHANGE THE NARRATIVE from fear to commitment and contribution.

Seven months later, it has been amazing to see Kelsey’s resilience shining through these challenging times. She committed herself to continue showing up for her studio time no matter what. She leaned into the story of her Hope Necklace which became a bestseller online. She has shifted her energy from in-person events to her online shop and has become a master at curating beautiful photography with personal storytelling. Here’s your leader of hope for the week, Kelsey Overstreet!

Today’s guest is the one and only Lauren Duke: a talented entrepreneur, yoga teacher, community leader, and writer. We first met about 3 years ago when I was right in the middle of a rock bottom moment and Gather became my safe haven for healing heartbreak and moving trauma out of my body. Gather was a thriving community yoga space on the 101 that became my home away from home for yoga classes, wellness workshops, pop up markets, and dance parties. When Lauren took over the space next door to create Be Well, a women’s co-working space, I was all in. These spaces were my connection to self-care practices and like-minded community during one of the hardest times of my life - they were my lifeline.

And I looked up to Lauren tremendously for her ability to speak her truth without apology, teach with passion, and create without fear.

Today, Lauren’s businesses look very different than they did in January 2020, and this interview talks about she is evolving with the times while honoring her original mission to promote mental health in our community.  I’m living in SF and Lauren is living in Ojai now, but I still call the Encinitas community OUR community, because it is.

I thought about this conversation for days after we recorded it. Lauren brought up so many ideas and insights that helped me find a deeper understanding of the personal and collective experiences of 2020, and she posed questions that made me think deeply about the greater systems we’re living in. Lauren is super smart, curious, bold, and honest - and she’s not afraid to challenge your ways of thinking.

The first half of this conversation is about the spiritual journey of 2020 and the second half focuses on the nitty-gritty details of how Lauren’s businesses are evolving. Every second is worth listening to - here’s today’s Leader of Hope, Lauren Duke!

Dive deep into Lauren’s transformation journey over the past six months. Listen here:

Lauren’s Information:

It’s here! My very first podcast episode features a longtime dear friend and teacher of mine, Sarah Pascual. This powerful woman has been a prominent yoga teacher in San Francisco for over a decade, and before the pandemic, she had a full schedule of in-person private and public classes. She also had two international retreats on the books for 2020, one of which was sold out. We talk about how the shelter-in-place order gave Sarah a moment for sacred pause and how she used this time to find her edge as a teacher and how it has shaped her sense of self and her business.

Key takeaways:

• Sarah is driven every day by her passion, vision, and intuition and has designed her lifestyle to really feed and support the best version of her so that she can show up and give the most to her yoga students.
• Discusses the massive evolution of her yoga business in 2020. How it’s shifted and changed so much with the onset of the pandemic. She went from almost all in-person to all virtual in 2020 all under the umbrella of her own brand.
• Sarah took this pause the pandemic afforded her and turned it into an opportunity to find her growing edge as a teacher and really level up. This edge has been calling for a long time and the pause forced her to do more than dip her toes in.
• Discussion on the fears around transitioning from in-person to virtual.
• Daily practice of a pause, a daily cocoon.
  

Dive deep into Sarah’s transformation journey over the past six months. Listen here: