YOU JUST NEED TO BREATH! In Episode 68 of the Shining Brightly Podcast Show, (links in the comments), titled LEADING WITH COURAGEOUS KINDNESS, I welcome a dear friend, interfaith advocate and best-selling author of “Healing a Shattered Soul” – Mindy Corporon. Ten years ago, Mindy lost her father William Corporon MD, her oldest son Reat Underwood and a third victim Teresa LaManno (may there memories be only for a blessing for all who knew and loved them) were killed by a white supremacist in a domestic terrorism shooting at the Jewish Community Center on April 12, 2014. We discussed the last ten years and Mindy’s nonprofit SevenDays Foundation – teaching empathy and kindness to children / teens and her work with companies and human resource groups with Workplace Healing, a Human Recovery platform. Lastly, we bring the talk to the current shootings at the Oxford High School in Michigan, Uvalde School in Texas and recently a shooting a the Superbowl parade in Kansas City. Please come listen, download, share and review this emotional and powerful episode.
Mentioned Resources –
About the guest –
Mindy Corporon, Co-Founder of Workplace Healing and the Human Recovery Platform™ helps employers transform how they support an employee experiencing a life disruption. By balancing the head-based corporate environment with empathetic heart-based support, leaders preserve long-term productivity, retention and morale. The former CEO of a successful wealth management firm, Mindy was in the middle of raising two talented boys when her father and oldest son were murdered by a white supremacist intent on killing Jews. Author of Healing a Shattered Soul (2021), Mindy delivers inspiration from her unique life experiences and mentors how to lead with courageous kindness.
About the Host:
Howard Brown is a best-selling author, award-winning international speaker, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, interfaith peacemaker, and a two-time stage IV cancer survivor. He is also a sought-after speaker and consultant for corporate businesses, nonprofits, congregations, and community groups. Howard has co-founded two social networks that were the first to connect religious communities around the world. He is a nationally known patient advocate and “cancer whisperer” to many families. Howard, his wife Lisa, and daughter Emily currently reside in Michigan, and his happy place is on the basketball court.
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Http://www.shiningbrightly.com
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LinkedIn - https://wwwlinkedin.com/in/howardsbrown
Instagram - @howard.brown.36
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Hello, it's Howard Brown. It's the Shining Brightly
Howard Brown:Show. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome another amazing show on tap
Howard Brown:here. I have the incredible Mindy Corporon with me, Mindy,
Howard Brown:how are you?
Mindy Corporon:I am wonderful, Howard, I'm so excited to be on
Mindy Corporon:your show.
Howard Brown:Oh, It's amazing. Unfortunately, we're gonna dig
Howard Brown:deep a little bit today, we got some topics that make make
Howard Brown:people a little uncomfortable. But we have to deal with some of
Howard Brown:that, as I call it, him and I booked darkness in order to
Howard Brown:shine our lights. And we're gonna we're gonna dig in,
Howard Brown:because I think it's really important that you share your
Howard Brown:story and how it actually goes out into the world. And people
Howard Brown:have to be able to deal with their resilience, their
Howard Brown:emotions, their feelings in today's world. So let me tell
Howard Brown:you a little bit about Mindy. Mindy is impressive. And I will
Howard Brown:make a quick disclaimer and a shout out to front edge
Howard Brown:publishing and read the spirit magazine. We share the same
Howard Brown:publisher our books, and so will shout out to them. They did a
Howard Brown:great job for us. Were best selling authors and publish. So
Howard Brown:it's really great. So Mindy Corporon is the co founder of
Howard Brown:Workplace Healing, and the Human recovery Platform, which is
Howard Brown:trademarked and we're going to talk about that and what that
Howard Brown:is, she helps employers transform how they support an
Howard Brown:employee experiencing life disruption. By balancing, head
Howard Brown:base, corporate environment, and empathetic heart based support
Howard Brown:leaders preserve long term productivity retention, and more
Howard Brown:Raul, and you are the former CEO of successful wealth management
Howard Brown:firm. Mindy, you are in the middle of raising two talented
Howard Brown:young men, young boys, your sons and your dad and your oldest son
Howard Brown:were murdered by a white supremacist in a domestic
Howard Brown:violence act, intent on killing views. And in this heytvelt
Howard Brown:environment today, this is really relevant. You are the
Howard Brown:author of healing of a shattered soul and 2021 you deliver
Howard Brown:inspiration from your unique experiences, and mentor how to
Howard Brown:lead with courageous kindness. I just have to let that sink in
Howard Brown:for a second Mindy, because it's it's it's so powerful. And I
Howard Brown:just want to actually always start by saying that your dad
Howard Brown:and your son made their memory be for a blessing for all of us
Howard Brown:who loved and knew them. That's a Jewish prayer. But we we have
Howard Brown:to we are honouring their memory by speaking about them today. So
Howard Brown:thank you. Tell me something and tell my audience something that
Howard Brown:we may not know about you.
Mindy Corporon:When you asked me that question earlier, you
Mindy Corporon:said the okay, you're gonna be prompted to answer this
Mindy Corporon:question. I was like, I feel like I am such an open book.
Mindy Corporon:Because I wrote a book. And it was all about me. So I know,
Mindy Corporon:this isn't like the easiest thing. You're thinking, why
Mindy Corporon:don't you just have something off the top of your tongue?
Mindy Corporon:Because I think so much about me is out there. So I think what
Mindy Corporon:might be helpful is to say to people, especially listening to
Mindy Corporon:your podcast, and after they hear everything, and they hear
Mindy Corporon:what I've done, and you just read my bio, and even I listened
Mindy Corporon:to him when I listened to my bio, I'm like that, that is
Mindy Corporon:impressive. That is a lot of effort. That was a lot. And I
Mindy Corporon:look back, and it's a lot of effort. I will say what people
Mindy Corporon:probably don't know about me is that frequently I wake up in a
Mindy Corporon:cocoon. And I wonder what is next? I do not always know, what
Mindy Corporon:is next. You know, I think we I think that we look at people who
Mindy Corporon:achieve, and we think they got it going on. They're always on
Mindy Corporon:top of things. And I frequently wake up and think what is next.
Mindy Corporon:So what people might not know about me is that when that
Mindy Corporon:happens to me, I pray, I meditate, I pray, and I journal
Mindy Corporon:and I write out my thoughts. I write out my fears, immediately,
Mindy Corporon:and I and then I and then I have gratitude. And I turn that into
Mindy Corporon:gratitude. And then I kind of let it flow. So I think that
Mindy Corporon:might be really helpful for people to understand about me,
Mindy Corporon:so that as we go on and have our conversation, they'll they'll
Mindy Corporon:look back at this and say, that is something that helps her move
Mindy Corporon:out of that stuck moment. So I get stuck, and to move myself
Mindy Corporon:out that those are the things that I do.
Unknown:Well, this is your moment. So you share it you
Unknown:share that and that's what you do your your journaling and
Unknown:you're writing it down to to get through the moment. So thank you
Unknown:for sharing that. So this show is all about the human resolve.
Unknown:And when we step into darkness, we can learn from that darkness
Unknown:but hopefully not stay there too long. And I am all about get
Unknown:back up again. Use your light to get yourself back up and then go
Unknown:lift up others and you have certainly a model for that. So I
Unknown:would like an eye I get I'm sure it's painful every time that
Unknown:could you give us a little from your book, I'll recount a little
Unknown:bit about the situation. What happened on that dark day at the
Unknown:Jewish Community Centre in Kansas City?
Mindy Corporon:Yes, Howard. I can. It's been 10 years this
Mindy Corporon:April marks the 10th anniversary of losing my Dad and son. And it
Mindy Corporon:seems like yesterday. And it seems like forever ago. Do you
Mindy Corporon:just look at the time when time marches on And anyway, I can, I
Mindy Corporon:can just remember what I felt like it after your one and after
Mindy Corporon:your two and now I'm sitting at your, at your 10. And I don't
Mindy Corporon:have to pick up my book and read it to remember it because I
Mindy Corporon:remember it so vividly. So sometimes I can't remember where
Mindy Corporon:my car keys are. Or, you know what, what I'm supposed to do
Mindy Corporon:next. But I remember April 13 2014. So, so vividly. And it's
Mindy Corporon:important to say and I'll go through it rather quickly for
Mindy Corporon:the sake of what we want. I know what we want to get to today.
Mindy Corporon:But on April 12, we were a family of four. And on April 13.
Mindy Corporon:We are a family of three. That's my small unit, my larger unit.
Mindy Corporon:We also lost my dad. So I lost my dad and my son on the same
Mindy Corporon:day. heard me on April 13. And the way it transpired is I was
Mindy Corporon:supposed to drive my son Reat to an audition. He was a performer
Mindy Corporon:as singer a dancer, vibrant, he could memorise books from the
Mindy Corporon:age of four, he was just this amazing gift. And he was also at
Mindy Corporon:genius level. So we've had him tested, he was off the charts.
Mindy Corporon:He was in the special, you know, gifted classes, and he was in
Mindy Corporon:Boy Scouts. He was just he was just so much. And he really
Mindy Corporon:lived a very full life could have lived so much more. But
Mindy Corporon:it's I'm so grateful that he lived as much as he did with the
Mindy Corporon:time that he ended up having. My dad drove my son Reat to the
Mindy Corporon:Jewish community centre, because I needed to be at our younger
Mindy Corporon:son's lacrosse game. So as a parent of two boys, I'm a boy
Mindy Corporon:mom, and they were in sports. They were in activities. Right?
Mindy Corporon:It was in theatre. And this was his third performance third
Mindy Corporon:audition, I had to get him to the other two. And he had
Mindy Corporon:already made them so he was already going to be in Tom
Mindy Corporon:Sawyer for the summer, and he was already going to be in this
Mindy Corporon:great performance troupe for the year. It was a 12 month
Mindy Corporon:programme Starlight stars for the year. And those he had just
Mindy Corporon:received acknowledgement of him getting in those groups. And now
Mindy Corporon:this was the third one. It was at the Jewish Community Centre.
Mindy Corporon:And I expected to drive him and Lucas had a lacrosse game. My
Mindy Corporon:younger son had a lacrosse game. Reat stepped in and said Mom, I
Mindy Corporon:think you know Popa ended up picking me said I think you
Mindy Corporon:should go to Luke says lacrosse game. So now on April 13. I am
Mindy Corporon:fidgety because I thought I should be driving him and my
Mindy Corporon:dad's coming to take him. And in the kitchen, I'm waiting on my
Mindy Corporon:dad to get there and Reat comes bounding down the stairs and
Mindy Corporon:he's wearing a suit and a tie and a fedora. And I can just see
Mindy Corporon:him coming into the kitchen and and I said the mom thing. You
Mindy Corporon:need to warm up your voice. And he did. He did all the me me me
Mindy Corporon:and warmed up his voice. And then he sang the 36 bars of on
Mindy Corporon:the street where you live. And then he's saying You're gonna
Mindy Corporon:miss me when I'm gone. He said mom, they might let me sing two
Mindy Corporon:songs. And the second song is this one and he's saying You're
Mindy Corporon:gonna miss me when I'm gone. And I just stood there so proud of
Mindy Corporon:him and listened to him sing. My dad showed up. The last words I
Mindy Corporon:said to my son were I love you. Good luck. And he said I love
Mindy Corporon:you too. Mom did not know those would be the last words he would
Mindy Corporon:say to me. And I showed up at the JC I showed up at the
Mindy Corporon:lacrosse game. And here's the interesting thing that lacrosse
Mindy Corporon:game got cancelled due to weather. I went to the Jewish
Mindy Corporon:Community Centre I got there before he would have even
Mindy Corporon:started his audition and I thought this is miraculous. This
Mindy Corporon:is miraculous that I'm driving in and they he shouldn't have
Mindy Corporon:even maybe been here or in the building. And I found my dad
Mindy Corporon:already murdered next to the truck. I pulled into the parking
Mindy Corporon:lot. And my dad's body was lying next to the truck. And it was I
Mindy Corporon:was hooked. FIDE, and I pressed on the gas pedal more, and I
Mindy Corporon:pulled the car. And I just ran to my dad. And it was so
Mindy Corporon:apparent that there was nothing I could do for him. And it's so
Mindy Corporon:important for me to share this with you, Howard and all of your
Mindy Corporon:listeners, because there are, you're gonna call it God, I call
Mindy Corporon:him God, you can call it the spirits, you can call it, you
Mindy Corporon:know, people who've crossed over, I was leaning into my dad
Mindy Corporon:and I felt this pressure on my shoulders, pressure to push
Mindy Corporon:back. And visually, I knew I could not help my dad and I felt
Mindy Corporon:this pressure and I stepped back. And I heard the words,
Mindy Corporon:your father's in heaven, go find rate, loud and clear. And there
Mindy Corporon:was no one around, there was no one around. And I looked to the
Mindy Corporon:left, and that would have been an easier path to go to the left
Mindy Corporon:around his body. But I didn't take that path. I took a harder
Mindy Corporon:path and I went around the truck. And I found my son in the
Mindy Corporon:arms of two men. And so the shooter had shown up only
Mindy Corporon:minutes really before me, and he'd murdered my dad on contact.
Mindy Corporon:And he had shot rate through the winch through the driver's side
Mindy Corporon:door. And people had heard gunfire, and they had come
Mindy Corporon:running to help. The gunman had shot up the place. There was
Mindy Corporon:glass everywhere. He evidently had shot at about 17 people on
Mindy Corporon:the way out of the facility. And I had just missed this like,
Mindy Corporon:barely missed it. I pulled in, probably as he was pulling out
Mindy Corporon:or at the stoplight past me. The police had even asked did you
Mindy Corporon:see this white car, they described it, I had not noticed
Mindy Corporon:that I'd seen it nor had I seen some crazy man driving out. And
Mindy Corporon:these two men are holding my son in their arms. And after that a
Mindy Corporon:lot of chaos happened. A lot of chaos. I didn't go with him in
Mindy Corporon:the ambulance to the hospital because I wasn't there when the
Mindy Corporon:ambulance showed up. I had been placed inside. So much, Howard,
Mindy Corporon:I talk about it in detail in the book. And I go through every
Mindy Corporon:painstaking detail of what happened. But about 30 minutes
Mindy Corporon:later, my husband and younger son and my mom and my and my
Mindy Corporon:younger brother and I are all in a car, driving to the hospital
Mindy Corporon:where we know that they have taken rate, my son. And we know
Mindy Corporon:that my dad has been murdered. And we're just, it's
Mindy Corporon:unbelievable. It's an unbelievable feeling. And then
Mindy Corporon:we got to the hospital. And within about 10 minutes, the
Mindy Corporon:director of trauma I didn't know that was his role at the time,
Mindy Corporon:he was the director of trauma and he had been in the emergency
Mindy Corporon:room. They had called him when Reat was brought in. And he came
Mindy Corporon:in and he said to the room really no one in particular
Mindy Corporon:because he didn't know who was who and he said, the young man
Mindy Corporon:who was brought in from the headshot wound did not survive.
Mindy Corporon:We lost his heartbeat in the ambulance. And that sentence
Mindy Corporon:just sent us all on the floor, just that sentence and it was
Mindy Corporon:earth shattering. And it's earth shattering to feel it again, and
Mindy Corporon:to say it. And so my life shattered, our lives shattered.
Mindy Corporon:And then from that moment, we really had to start thinking
Mindy Corporon:about how are we going to put the pieces together again, and
Mindy Corporon:that's and then that just changes who I became it
Mindy Corporon:literally changed the trajectory of, of where I would go in my
Mindy Corporon:life and for the past 10 years.
Howard Brown:Thank you, I'm I'm shaking a little bit. I mean, I
Howard Brown:know you and, and I know your story. I have your book, right
Howard Brown:here, I read your book, and just hearing you say those words are
Howard Brown:getting a little bit of emotional, because I'm feeling
Howard Brown:I'm feeling empathy, but I'm feeling sorrow. I'm feeling a
Howard Brown:lot of things right now. And two things I want to tell you, I
Howard Brown:noticed when you were describing Reat, singing and warming up his
Howard Brown:voice, but even saying that you're gonna miss you when
Howard Brown:you're gone. And your last words to him. You lit up your light
Howard Brown:was beaming, beaming, beaming, beaming. So I want to tell you,
Howard Brown:I noticed that and then the thing that I actually didn't
Howard Brown:pick up from the book and knowing you, you were like
Howard Brown:driving into an active shooter situation. I did not know that
Howard Brown:as well. And this is horrifying. And God I just so many things
Howard Brown:are you're not Jewish. You were there for a play. You know, it
Howard Brown:doesn't matter is bullets are indiscriminate. And I you know,
Howard Brown:I do a lot of work in the interfaith world and in the hate
Howard Brown:world. So I consider anti semitism Islamophobia Asian You
Howard Brown:know, bias, it's all hate. And we have to learn that somewhere
Howard Brown:we don't choose, you know, we can choose to hate, but we can
Howard Brown:also choose not to hate. And so your world got turned upside
Howard Brown:down. I weld you know, two times with stage four diagnosis, it
Howard Brown:comes to a screeching halt. What are you supposed to do next?
Howard Brown:Right? What are you supposed to do next? You lost your dad and
Howard Brown:your son in a blink of an eye. It's really, really incredible.
Howard Brown:So if I can
Mindy Corporon:answer, I first want to answer what do you do
Mindy Corporon:next? And what I will, what I'd like to say is you breathe, you
Mindy Corporon:breathe, you just breathe, okay? Because it's hard to breathe.
Mindy Corporon:It's hard to find your breath, I felt like a building had fallen
Mindy Corporon:on top of me. And I couldn't breathe. And so that is such a
Mindy Corporon:heavy, heavy feeling that we get. And I just, it still comes
Mindy Corporon:to me on occasion. And so I want people to know, what do you do
Mindy Corporon:next. And literally, the first thing that you do is you
Mindy Corporon:breathe. And you just breathe, you just breathe again and you
Mindy Corporon:start breathing. And and then the other thing I wanted to make
Mindy Corporon:sure that you know this, I think that you do you and I completely
Mindy Corporon:share the whole interfaith world. So because they were
Mindy Corporon:murdered by a white supremacist, which it took me probably, I
Mindy Corporon:don't know, maybe four days to understand to understand that
Mindy Corporon:and figure it out. I didn't we didn't understand how this
Mindy Corporon:happened. And so that then clearly we know and we learned
Mindy Corporon:very, very quickly, that he was a white supremacist and was
Mindy Corporon:intent on killing Jews, but but part of my initial healing
Mindy Corporon:process was to find out everything I quote about
Mindy Corporon:Judaism. And while I was finding everything I could about
Mindy Corporon:Judaism, I thought I'm supposed to be Jewish. I didn't I thought
Mindy Corporon:I'm supposed to be Jewish, and I and I talked to some a rabbi, I
Mindy Corporon:talked to many of my Jewish friends. I talked to them about
Mindy Corporon:Jesus, what do they know about Jesus? Because I was raised a
Mindy Corporon:Christian and we had a lot of conversations about that. And
Mindy Corporon:then the middle of that Howard. months, four months into that
Mindy Corporon:five months into that a Muslim boy was murdered in Kansas City.
Mindy Corporon:And his friends wanted me at the vigil, his friend said, can read
Mindy Corporon:Underwoods mom come to the vigil. And I thought, Okay, God,
Mindy Corporon:I'm Christian. I was thinking maybe I'm supposed to be Jewish.
Mindy Corporon:And now I'm going to Muslim boys vigil. So my world was twirling
Mindy Corporon:at best like whirling, topsy turvy. And and I did a, I still
Mindy Corporon:do a deep dive and am very open and and ingratiating to
Mindy Corporon:interfaith conversations and learning about others. And just
Mindy Corporon:like you said, we are not born with hate, we are taught hate,
Mindy Corporon:and the shooter in particular was taught hate, particularly by
Mindy Corporon:his father, I'm not going to pull his mother in I don't know
Mindy Corporon:anything about his own mother. This man was 74 at the time, I
Mindy Corporon:mean, he he, quote, should have known better but didn't because
Mindy Corporon:he was filled with hate he he just had a diatribe of hate. And
Mindy Corporon:the district attorney said to us, we have never looked someone
Mindy Corporon:in the eye, who is more evil than this man. So I have come
Mindy Corporon:face to face with evil. I know it exists. So I wanted to share
Mindy Corporon:breathing, and our and our joint love as the interfaith work, I
Mindy Corporon:thought that was important to just pull in right at that
Mindy Corporon:moment.
Howard Brown:I appreciate that. Thank you for sharing that as
Howard Brown:well. And, you know, I have a whole chapter in my book on
Howard Brown:interfaith relations. And I actually look at it from an
Howard Brown:openness of getting to know the other culture The food's the
Howard Brown:history, though. It broadens you, okay. But many people close
Howard Brown:that off. They want to live in a in a closed loop or a closed,
Mindy Corporon:we call it a shtetl or a lower, it's safe,
Mindy Corporon:but they want to live where it's safe. I
Howard Brown:know. But that's not the world we live in. The
Howard Brown:world we live in is made up of all sorts of people of different
Howard Brown:colours and origins and backgrounds and ethnicities and
Howard Brown:religion. I think it makes it more interesting. So you're an
Howard Brown:iron. Yeah,
Mindy Corporon:you're right. It's safe isn't the right word.
Mindy Corporon:I meant comfort. Like say like, I wouldn't feel comfortable.
Mindy Corporon:They want to people want to stay where they're comfortable.
Mindy Corporon:They're comfortable. So I didn't I know when we use the word safe
Mindy Corporon:that nowadays people are like, Oh, was there a live shooter?
Mindy Corporon:You know, I mean, our world define defining the word safe is
Mindy Corporon:difficult. I should have said people want to stay where
Mindy Corporon:they're comfortable. And they want to be around people that
Mindy Corporon:make them feel comfortable. And so that is usually what we look
Mindy Corporon:like. We want to be around people that we look like rather
Mindy Corporon:than people around that we don't look like or we don't understand
Mindy Corporon:their foods or their cultures. And and I put myself into many
Mindy Corporon:people's homes and many people's places of worship Hindu, Muslim,
Mindy Corporon:Sikh, to find and Jewish to find out more about people when that
Mindy Corporon:happened. And so the foundation that we opened, was initially
Mindy Corporon:called Faith always wins. And it was an interfaith foundation and
Mindy Corporon:isn't interfaith, it still is an interfaith Foundation. We just
Mindy Corporon:changed the name to seven days. So I know well, we can talk
Mindy Corporon:about that. Let's talk about that. No, but it was all about
Mindy Corporon:interfaith the first four years. I mean, everything was
Mindy Corporon:interfaith, everything. Yeah, well,
Howard Brown:I want to hear just a little bit because we
Howard Brown:don't have all the time in the world. But just to take a little
Howard Brown:bit about how you put the pieces back together again, as best as
Howard Brown:you could. And then tell me about what you've been doing
Howard Brown:this, I want to hear about the seven days foundation, I want to
Howard Brown:hear about workplace healing. So let's let's dive into those
Howard Brown:those areas. So putting
Mindy Corporon:the pieces back together, we put pieces back
Mindy Corporon:together, but it doesn't look the same. Right? It's a totally
Mindy Corporon:different mosaic. And I should say, I think it's important that
Mindy Corporon:I say, We, my husband and I and our our younger son, who is now
Mindy Corporon:21, he was 12. When this happened, he was 12 years old.
Mindy Corporon:And we look back at time that we lost, not only because my dad
Mindy Corporon:and Reed were murdered, I mean, I mean, that is the catalyst, so
Mindy Corporon:we lost them. But we also lost so much. Alright, so we lost
Mindy Corporon:their lives, and then we lost so much. And so to help our son
Mindy Corporon:Lucas, thrive, he was kind of surviving, but to help him
Mindy Corporon:thrive, we had to make significant life changes, and
Mindy Corporon:significant life decisions. And so we put the pieces back in a
Mindy Corporon:different mosaic is what we have done. And so to talk about seven
Mindy Corporon:days, so our foundation was originally called Faith always
Mindy Corporon:wins. And it was named by a Jewish man, a Jewish friend of
Mindy Corporon:mine, who was originally on our board of directors. His quote to
Mindy Corporon:me was, Mindy, every time we talk, you have said you, you are
Mindy Corporon:surviving because of your faith. And so what if we named the
Mindy Corporon:foundation faith always wins. And so we named that foundation
Mindy Corporon:faith always wins. And then just a deep dive and, and more
Mindy Corporon:pragmatic, because I'm very pragmatic, about four to six
Mindy Corporon:years in, we still were not quite raising the funds that we
Mindy Corporon:wanted. People say, oh, I want to learn about that. I want to
Mindy Corporon:know about interfaith, but they don't find it, they do not find
Mindy Corporon:it, you know what they find, they find kindness, they find a
Mindy Corporon:kindness, which is if you're inclined to someone who isn't
Mindy Corporon:like you, that could almost look like interface. But if you don't
Mindy Corporon:call it interface, and you call it kindness, it's just easier to
Mindy Corporon:fund it. And the corporation's won't find something that says
Mindy Corporon:faith in it. They have bylaws that say they won't find faith,
Mindy Corporon:it took too long for us to talk about the story about who we
Mindy Corporon:were. So we changed it Howard to seven days and seven days means
Mindy Corporon:seven days, make a ripple change the world. So can you be kind
Mindy Corporon:for seven days? Okay, can you be kind for seven days, and that's
Mindy Corporon:been our mantra from the beginning. We also we teach
Mindy Corporon:kindness, our specific mission statement is we overcome hate by
Mindy Corporon:promoting kindness, through education and dialogue. And it
Mindy Corporon:took, I don't know, three strategy sessions to get to that
Mindy Corporon:several different years, different board members. And
Mindy Corporon:it's amazing, it's just it really has been a fantastic
Mindy Corporon:journey to meet and greet and get the breadth of seven days
Mindy Corporon:into for sure our region, our Kansas City region, and then now
Mindy Corporon:we're in about 13 other states. And what that means is when I
Mindy Corporon:say we're in 13, other states, we offer grants to schools,
Mindy Corporon:middle schools, high schools and elementary schools who want to
Mindy Corporon:have a kindness club, or they want to have a kindness walk. So
Mindy Corporon:we have applications on our website for that. We focus on
Mindy Corporon:the youth, Howard, because when you and I were younger, I know
Mindy Corporon:adults said to you adults said to me, youth are going to change
Mindy Corporon:the world. You kids, you guys are going to change the world.
Mindy Corporon:And you know what, Howard, you and I we believed them? Yeah, we
Mindy Corporon:did. We did I believe them. And look where we are you and I are
Mindy Corporon:making a difference in the world? Well, when we look at our
Mindy Corporon:youth now, people are complaining about them. They're
Mindy Corporon:complaining about how much they're on social media. They're
Mindy Corporon:complaining about what they're wearing, or what they're not
Mindy Corporon:wearing. I mean, just people are complaining, you know what they
Mindy Corporon:are, they are also who's going to change the world. So we focus
Mindy Corporon:on the youth and we give them a chance to play in events. We
Mindy Corporon:give them a chance to make do activities. We mentor them in
Mindy Corporon:philanthropy. We mentor them in what does it mean to be kind and
Mindy Corporon:we are helping them learn to be kindness influencers. So that is
Mindy Corporon:what has morphed and transformed from the very first day to the
Mindy Corporon:foundation now called seven days.
Howard Brown:That's beautiful. Take me into just a teeny bit
Howard Brown:about workplace healing as well.
Mindy Corporon:Thank you workplace healing. So in the
Mindy Corporon:middle of running a seven days as the executor, and President,
Mindy Corporon:I did that for nine years, and writing the book that the
Mindy Corporon:healing a shattered soul. And I just want you to hold the book
Mindy Corporon:up one more time because you have it and I want to show
Mindy Corporon:people. Okay, so you can see my Silhouette really well, but you
Mindy Corporon:can't see the background of the book yet. Hmm. Hold it really?
Mindy Corporon:Behind you. Yes, I know. That's what I want to show the
Mindy Corporon:background is this painting, right? So I, when someone sees
Mindy Corporon:the book, they're gonna say, I saw that somewhere else, it's
Mindy Corporon:gonna be the painting behind me. So I dived into writing,
Mindy Corporon:healing, a shattered soul to really work on healing. Again, I
Mindy Corporon:journal, I wrote, also many feelings and emotions and
Mindy Corporon:specifics about what happened. So I had the foundation and I
Mindy Corporon:was writing the book, and the book was, you know, kind of in
Mindy Corporon:process, but at the same time, Howard, shootings kept
Mindy Corporon:happening, people kept losing other people, I was back at
Mindy Corporon:work. And I realised that no one knew what to do or say for me,
Mindy Corporon:and that I was helping them along the way. I was training
Mindy Corporon:them on what to say and when to say it. And then many people in
Mindy Corporon:my network are in the C suite. Because I was a co founder and
Mindy Corporon:owner of a wealth management company, many of the people when
Mindy Corporon:I went to events, you know, I was, and I'm just don't mind
Mindy Corporon:going up and saying hello to anybody. So I met a lot of
Mindy Corporon:people in the C suite. And they would come to me in on in live
Mindy Corporon:events. And I would say, can I talk to you about my employee
Mindy Corporon:whose husband died, like, okay, and I realised that there's a
Mindy Corporon:huge gap, that we have HR resources, we have employee
Mindy Corporon:assistance programmes, but we don't have training on when
Mindy Corporon:someone really has a significant life disruption, cancer, stage
Mindy Corporon:four cancer, how do you talk to someone who has stage four
Mindy Corporon:cancer, right? If you're thinking, Oh, my gosh, stage
Mindy Corporon:four cancer, this person may die? What am I going to say to
Mindy Corporon:them? Right? What am I going to say? And so you, I know have
Mindy Corporon:helped people talk to you. So I experienced this horrible
Mindy Corporon:tragedy. And I realised that I was helping people talk to me.
Mindy Corporon:And workplace healing was born, I wanted more empathy in the
Mindy Corporon:workplace, I wanted leaders to understand that they could take
Mindy Corporon:a role, they could have some responsibility, and take a role
Mindy Corporon:in re engaging employees and helping employees along the way.
Mindy Corporon:And so workplace healing was born in 2018. And, and now it's
Mindy Corporon:a, we have a software, I'd laugh because I never thought I would
Mindy Corporon:own a software company. So that's kind of why I chuckle
Mindy Corporon:about it. But it was consulting. And now it's human interaction.
Mindy Corporon:And it's innovative technology. And it's an empathy
Mindy Corporon:implementation tool for companies. And that's, that's
Mindy Corporon:what we're working to do is help companies help their Grievers
Mindy Corporon:get back into the fray of work.
Howard Brown:And you're still teaching kindness. And I'm still
Howard Brown:what you call courageous kindness, which is your which is
Howard Brown:your tagline as well. So I want to take this to a real life
Howard Brown:right now. Because we here in Michigan, we had a high school
Howard Brown:shooting, there's been many, the Oxford high school shooting,
Howard Brown:which and I will actually just honour by reading the names
Howard Brown:Madison Baldwin, Tate Meyer, Hannah St. Juliana, Justin
Howard Brown:shelling, they were killed, there was many more that were
Howard Brown:wounded. And I have to tell you that that hit home because it's
Howard Brown:only about 45 minutes away from where I live, it affected so
Howard Brown:many people. And I, I know that I think you even called with the
Howard Brown:Uvalde school shooting, they called on your expertise there
Howard Brown:as well. And I know you might have spoken to some folks down
Howard Brown:there, and there's just somebody to mention. And then just
Howard Brown:recently, and I know that you've are now in Florida and not in
Howard Brown:Kansas City, but that's your home base, but just at a
Howard Brown:celebration for the Super Bowl at the Kansas City Chiefs that
Howard Brown:in your hometown. Basically, there was a shooting and these
Howard Brown:are younger kids shooting and many injured in one death. And I
Howard Brown:just I'm kinda again numb, you know, it's just that where's the
Howard Brown:the world gone? And on all this violence and, and just it just
Howard Brown:really hurts me because I live in the world of cancer. And I
Howard Brown:know that 53,000 People are going to die from colorectal
Howard Brown:cancer in the US this year. doesn't make it any easier. But
Howard Brown:the shootings? God,
Mindy Corporon:it couldn't be stabbed. Yeah. The shootings
Mindy Corporon:could be prevented. That's the right word that you use the
Mindy Corporon:right word. The shootings could be prevented. Yes, and you thank
Mindy Corporon:you for mentioning the students names Who who passed from the
Mindy Corporon:Michigan shooting that you're talking about? Lisa Lopez Galvin
Mindy Corporon:lost her life. In Kansas City. There were 1,000,001 million
Mindy Corporon:people at the Chiefs parade. 1 million people there, and 22 to
Mindy Corporon:23 other people were injured. And as you said, many of them
Mindy Corporon:children, and I don't, I don't know their names and I wouldn't
Mindy Corporon:read them off because they're minors and their and their
Mindy Corporon:living and they they deserve what privacy they do want. But I
Mindy Corporon:do know that Children's Mercy hospital had children who had
Mindy Corporon:gunshot wounds, from age six to age 15, age six, and, and it is
Mindy Corporon:preventable and looking at the murderer who murdered my dad,
Mindy Corporon:and my son and Terry Romano. So there were three people
Mindy Corporon:murdered. So I said that he shot at other people at the JCC. And
Mindy Corporon:then he drove in his car and he went to Village Shalom, and he
Mindy Corporon:shot it to more people and murdered Terrell Amano. So the
Mindy Corporon:three of them lost their lives that day, so he had been taught
Mindy Corporon:hate. Now, I thought, this is something really interesting. I
Mindy Corporon:thought, after dad and Reed and Terry were murdered, that when
Mindy Corporon:people murder or use a gun to to injure someone they must hate.
Mindy Corporon:And I was corrected very quickly by a mother, who is the she runs
Mindy Corporon:the chapter of mothers in charge in Kansas City. And, and her
Mindy Corporon:group focuses on helping people. Right after there's been a
Mindy Corporon:shooting, they go down and help, especially if there's a student
Mindy Corporon:involved, but I think they go down for every shooting in
Mindy Corporon:Kansas City. Unfortunately, they're very busy. So it's
Mindy Corporon:called mother's in charge. And she said to me, I don't know
Mindy Corporon:maybe eight to nine months after the murders, I was getting
Mindy Corporon:invite, you know, could I come? Speak at this? Could I come to
Mindy Corporon:this? Could I do this? So in the, you know, nine months to
Mindy Corporon:two year timeframe, I met her. And I said something about?
Mindy Corporon:Well, you know, they everybody that murderers hates, and she
Mindy Corporon:said, Oh, no, they don't hate. She said her son was murdered
Mindy Corporon:for a watch. There was no hate. There was I want that. Greed.
Mindy Corporon:They don't know how this man who murdered her son didn't know how
Mindy Corporon:to have a conversation or just be angry about something or just
Mindy Corporon:want something and realise that he couldn't have it. He wanted a
Mindy Corporon:watch that her son had. And he came in and shot her son and
Mindy Corporon:took the watch. He's she said there was no hate involved. And
Mindy Corporon:that just really threw me for a loop. And so I don't know who
Mindy Corporon:the juveniles are at all, that have that have been arraigned
Mindy Corporon:for the most recent shooting in Kansas City. But the
Mindy Corporon:conversation that's happening amongst many, many people right
Mindy Corporon:now is students in our area need more? Not just parental but
Mindy Corporon:parental and adult interaction parental and adult guidance.
Mindy Corporon:And, and yes, there is, you know, how did they get guns and,
Mindy Corporon:you know, getting guns out of their hands and all of that, but
Mindy Corporon:there's also why would anyone that age even want a gun, if
Mindy Corporon:they had enough adult, you know, engagement that was really
Mindy Corporon:helping them find a different path.
Howard Brown:I think it's education that you know, giving
Howard Brown:them mentorship and guidance so that they they know boundaries.
Howard Brown:It's a complicated, and it's a whole nother episode that will
Howard Brown:have you back on and we can dig deep on and all that. That's
Howard Brown:heavy, it weighs heavy on me. I want to actually turn our from
Howard Brown:our conversation and put on our sunglasses. We're going to shine
Howard Brown:the spotlight on you now Mindy. And I want you all look at those
Howard Brown:glasses. Those are hot. All right. But I want you to tell my
Howard Brown:audience how they can best get a hold of you. And then I want you
Howard Brown:to leave, leave with a little inspiration of a quote or a
Howard Brown:story or lesson and then kick the show back to me to close.
Mindy Corporon:You know what Howard? I what I want to say is,
Mindy Corporon:you know for inspiration. I watched the sunrise for
Mindy Corporon:inspiration. I think about my son's quote, my son's quote is
Mindy Corporon:live life to the fullest and never give up. He had that quote
Mindy Corporon:on an Instagram page or whatever social media he was using at the
Mindy Corporon:time. I had no idea. So I always say live life to the fullest and
Mindy Corporon:never give up. Because we don't know when our last day is.
Mindy Corporon:Nobody knows. And I don't want to waste one minute of one day I
Mindy Corporon:am living life for my dad. I'm living life for my son. I'm
Mindy Corporon:living life for myself. And I'm living life to help others do
Mindy Corporon:the same. live life to the fullest and never give up. So
Mindy Corporon:Howard brown I'm moving it back to you. Thank you so much for
Mindy Corporon:having me. I'm shining brightly because you shine brightly well.
Howard Brown:I appreciate that. You missed one thing. How should
Howard Brown:people get in touch with you?
Mindy Corporon:Oh, Howard, I always forget about that part.
Mindy Corporon:I'm sorry. I was thinking so much about the quote. How should
Mindy Corporon:people get in touch with me? Well, Mindy Corporon, mindy Corp
Mindy Corporon:or O N, it's super easy to find me LinkedIn. seven days is
Mindy Corporon:SEVENDays.org. That's our foundation. So it's dot org. And
Mindy Corporon:workplace healing is workplace healing spelled out workplace
Mindy Corporon:healing.com. I'm on Facebook. I'm on Instagram, but I really
Mindy Corporon:don't know how to use Instagram. I need a tutorial. But LinkedIn
Mindy Corporon:is great. And I would love for people to get hold of me through
Mindy Corporon:you because I'd like us to stay connected. Well,
Howard Brown:they can certainly contact me I'm going to include
Howard Brown:your links in the show notes and also on social media posts and
Howard Brown:all that. And please, if you want to learn and take a deeper
Howard Brown:dive into Mindy's story, and learn how to use courageous
Howard Brown:kindness in the world, healing a shattered soul. It's on Amazon,
Howard Brown:you can find it on her website and her link pages as well.
Howard Brown:Mindy, thank you for being here and sharing part of your story
Howard Brown:and how you've chosen to make the world a better place. And
Howard Brown:that's what shining brightly, you know, means means to me.
Howard Brown:I'll give again, a shout out to front edge publishing and read
Howard Brown:the spirit amplify you my podcasts house. And I just you
Howard Brown:get a hold of me at shining brightly.com This has been such
Howard Brown:an amazing episode. And please consider downloading listening,
Howard Brown:sharing and reviewing. And if we choose to shine brightly, just a
Howard Brown:little bit each day, which we have today, Monday for
Howard Brown:ourselves, and then go lift up others and our communities and
Howard Brown:our neighbourhoods and the world. We will all be in a
Howard Brown:better place. So thank you. Thank you for being here.
Mindy Corporon:Thank you, Howard.