Jan. 3, 2024

TOP SHOWS OF 2023 With Howard Brown

TOP SHOWS OF 2023 With Howard Brown

CELEBRATING 60 SHOWS AND OVER 50,000 DOWNLOADS! In Episode 60 that kicks off 2024 of the Shining Brightly Podcast Show (LINKS IN THE COMMENTS) titled, “TOP SHOWS OF 2023”. I look back at some fantastic episodes that had real impact, gave everyday people a voice and we laughed, cried and learned along the way. True hero and shero stories of struggle, love, hope, resilience, empowerment, survivorship, relationships, business, cancer and more. Every week I worked hard to motivate, educate and inspire the listening audience to SHINE BRIGHTLY A LITTLE EACH DAY FOR OURSELVES, OTHERS AND IN OUR COMMUNITIES TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. Come download, listen, share and review the year in review!

Mentioned Resources

website - https://www.shiningbrightly.com/

Podcast - https://shining-brightly.captivate.fm/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/howardsbrown

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/howard.brown.36

Amazon - https://tinyurl.com/BuyShiningBrightly

About the guest - Howard Brown is an author, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, interfaith peacemaker, two-time stage IV cancer survivor and healthcare advocate. For more than three decades, Howard’s business innovations, leadership principles, mentoring and his resilience in beating cancer against long odds have made him a sought-after speaker and consultant for businesses, nonprofits, congregations, and community groups. In his business career, Howard was a pioneer in helping to launch a series of technology startups before he co-founded two social networks that were the first to connect religious communities around the world. He served his alma matter —Babson College, ranked by US News as the nation’s top college for entrepreneurship—as a trustee and president of Babson’s worldwide alumni network. His hard-earned wisdom about resilience after beating cancer twice has led him to become a nationally known patient advocate and “cancer whisperer” to many families. Visit Howard at ShiningBrightly.com to learn more about his ongoing work and contact him. Through that website, you also will find resources to help you shine brightly in your own corner of the world. Howard, his wife Lisa and daughter Emily currently reside in Michigan.

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Transcript
Howard Brown:

Hello, it's Howard Brown. It's the Shining Brightly

Howard Brown:

Podcast Show. This week, we're doing a year in review top shows

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of 2023. This is episode 60. So thanks for listening,

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downloading, sharing and reviewing what a year it's been.

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I started this podcast as an offshoot of the publishing of my

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book. And to be able to start a movement, to shine brightly, use

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our light, and get out of the darkness, and be able to live a

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life of kindness, and giving and healing, as well as use that

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resiliency and mental toughness to live a good life with hope.

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And that's what we're doing. So I have so many interesting

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guests. It's really been an incredible 60 episodes. And I'm

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gonna highlight a bunch of them. I've got more than a top 10

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list, because some of them actually tied and reviewed them

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with lots of people and my publisher, and the votes are in.

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So we're going to share my screen for those that are

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watching. But for those that are listening, it's okay, I'll be

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I'll be descriptive as far as how that works. So let me share

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my screen. Here we go. And there it is. Yeah. All right. So it's

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just been an incredible experience, interviewing the

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most interesting people, great guests, with great stories of

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either overcoming anything from hardship, to illness, in

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business, and in life and in relationships, and sharing their

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inspiration with the audience and my people. And it's been

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great. I've really enjoyed every minute of it. So welcome to the

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shining, brightly show, 2023 year in review, top shows. So

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we'll go to the slide show. And there we go. All right. So I did

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four solo shows this year. And they were actually really

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important shows. The first show was 18 equals life. Now, it's

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not showing on the screen. But that was just my appreciation

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for my cancer anniversary of being diagnosed. June 16 2016.

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Yeah, June 4 2016. And what happened was, is that I just had

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an appreciation for life. And I've been through a lot, a lot

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of treatment, chemotherapy, side effects, lots of surgeries,

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clinical trials, then went metastatic, and so many people,

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you know, honour so many people that one, get diagnosed, two

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that are still in treatment, and three that are have passed away

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because their cancer burden was too great. And God called them

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to heaven. And this is why I shout at the top of my lungs to

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go get screened. So that was episode 18 also did episode on

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cancer screen week as well. So go get screened for your

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mammography, for your prostate for your lady doctor and

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cervical cancers, colonoscopy through a for colon cancer and

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also lung cancer, and just go be healthy because if you're not

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your optimal self, you you can't lift yourself up and help

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others. As I always say, the next episode was a Father's Day

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episode. It was for all the dads out there, and especially to my

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miracle girl, Amelie. And it's the best job and it's a hard

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job. But boy, is it a blessing to be a dad. And I've just what

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a great episode. So episode 18 was life and then episode

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Father's Day was 31. And you can go back and listen to those

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episodes and just terrific. Good stuff. Episode 42 was done in

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August and it was about getting my chemo poured out. After seven

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and a half years I had this little port inside of me that

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was underneath my clavicle, and it connected to my vena cava.

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And it was how chemotherapy got put into me and it's a pretty

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vital piece so you don't have to poke the veins but Some people

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told me I was crazy because I played basketball a lot with my

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chemo port. And so I would protect myself with my hand over

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my heart and protecting the port. When I felt contact, the

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other hand was protecting the crown jewels. But basketball was

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my happy place. And so when you go through and get knocked down,

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as I always say, you must get back up again and again, learn

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from the darkness, but get back up and survivorship and putting

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Humpty Dumpty back together again, not once, but twice,

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maybe even a third time. I dedicated episode 42 to that,

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and episode 50 They hate me, but they don't even know me. And

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this is a serious episode. Because what's going on in the

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world. It was about hate. It's about how you can choose to

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hate. It's not something that we're born with. It's learned.

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And there's just a lot of hate going on in the world. And it's

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unacceptable to me. And I do a tonne of interfaith work. And I

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think it broadens your culture, the history, foods, religion, of

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learning about other people and understanding them, it broadens

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you and they in turn can learn about you and your culture and

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your religion and your history and your foods and be good

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neighbours. And so with all the hate going on, and the rise of

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anti semitism the rise of Islamophobia. Episode 50 was

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really an important episode. So now I want to change it up just

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a teeny bit and talk about episode 36. Oh my god. I had

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rice and thrive together. And these are my art our sisters and

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Regina Rossi. And it was just unbelievable. Dr. Raquel Stewart

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and these women crack me up. I played a game of she said she

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said they introduced each other and they told something secret

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about themselves. And I'm not going to spoil it for you. You

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have to go back and listen to episode 36. The they are amazing

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energy. life coaches, couples coaches, they will get you back

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on track. Let me tell you, I also got to go on their TV show.

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They were on. Shout out to Blanca and Blanca Perper. She

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has runs a Roku channel with 50,000 subscribers. And it's the

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laws of life channel. Shout out to her and oh my god, these

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ladies, they are my r&r Sisters, I love them. And please go check

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out episode 36. You won't regret it for sure. Now, this one right

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here is one of my earlier episodes. This is when I

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probably had very few audience but a big fan of Kevin Munroe.

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Episode Five is Gratitude is the attitude. He is the gratitude

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guru. I go to his gratitude encounters once a month, he's

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got a gratitude community. And he uses the Mentimeter. And he

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actually surveys, everyone on zoom on how they're feeling

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about gratitude coming in, and how they're going out and you

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break off into breakout rooms. And we talk about empowerment

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and hope and how that positivity can really really change from

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moment to moment, but change your day. Change your

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trajectory, change your work life, change your relationships

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with your kids and your spouse and your friends. So and I wake

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up every morning and I actually say a ritual of gratitude. And I

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say that I am blessed. I am grateful and lucky. And I hope

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to be able to help many people today. And so what a great

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episode I think you're really going to enjoy that as well.

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Okay, the next episode little more serious. But Amanda

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Blackwood. I got introduced her it's episode 26. And it's human

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trafficking and trauma and survivorship. Oh my god, this

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woman has a story. It's unbelievable. And I asked her a

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question on the show in studio. I said, you know, I've never met

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someone that's been human traffic before. And she said to

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me, she said, you probably have you just didn't know it. And

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there was six different types of human trafficking and human

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trafficking. meaning that she suffered was servitude.

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She got into a very difficult marriage, and she was trapped.

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And she actually had to play a trick on this person and to get

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her freedom. It's such a captivating episode. And it also

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talks about other types of of trafficking as well. We've heard

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about traffic, tracking sex trafficking other ones as well.

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So episode 26 is a little more serious, but she's such a

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resilient woman, and a lot of respect for what she went

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through and what she conquered and what she overcame. And this

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is what the show is all about, is learning about that. So

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Alright, next episode that I wanted to feature episode 28. Oh

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my god. Linda. Oh, my God. She's absolutely incredible. She

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interviewed 20,000 people. And then it was like, I think a

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computer interview process, I hope because it would have taken

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her forever. And her episode and what it's why it's best to date,

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like a caveman is really, really important about relationships.

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And, you know, does the bad boy always win? Right? What's the

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you know? Can the geek get a date? It's just unbelievable.

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She's so experienced. She's a published author. She's a

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corporate trainer. She's a coach. And it's it was a great

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episode is unbelievable. of dating scene a little bit of a

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little bit more from the men's perspective. And so, go check

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out episode 28 why it's best date like a caveman. I think

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you'll, you'll really enjoy that as well. Well, here's here's

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someone that I'm truly inspired by Nim stat, go all in. This is

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a woman that moved here from Thailand with nothing,

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absolutely nothing. And she has built a very, very cool

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business. She is a book publisher. Also, she is a TEDx

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trainer. She's done a TEDx. She's actually published a whole

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bunch of books. And she runs the go all in fest a couple times a

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year, which are speaking about inspiration. And it's truly

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amazing. She has a Book Awards, which I won, shining brightly

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won the most inspirational book of the year. And I got an award

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and a beautiful trophy, and very proud for that. But also, she

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has her own TV show. And so I went and flew to Phoenix,

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Arizona, and she put it out on ABC TV 15 In Phoenix, and then

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we were able to broadcast it out. And I did a 30 minute show

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with her when my book came out what a great interview, she was,

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oh my god, she's like Oprah on the couch. It was incredible. I

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really enjoyed it. And she's a very passionate, smart

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businesswoman. And really, really incredible. So check out

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episode 23 called go all in only way to go. And I actually have,

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there's like four women in a row that are going to feature. This

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is right now in a row, and they happen to be Asian women. And

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this next one is episode 37 by Sheena Yep, Chan, direct from

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outside of Toronto, Canada. And she published a enormous book

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called The Tao of self confidence. And her stories of

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Asian women. And being able to and what they were brought up to

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and expected to do was not to be able to step out, not to be

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bold, not to actually use the courage and get out there and

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lead. And it's a really impressive book. I've read it. I

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interviewed on it. She's now signed on to do a book too. She

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has a great publisher, Wiley, and she speaks everywhere and

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coaches women about how to take charge of their lives and to be

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able to lead with confidence and incredible book incredible

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person. check out episode 37 chinny chin I think, great

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episode, great episode. Oh, my goodness, and then we actually

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have Sabrina runback episode 17 Now, this is one master

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connector. The expert connector is the name of the episode and

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she teaches you the four C's of networking and coaching. This is

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a former you know clinician in biology. She knows how to

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network like no other expert networker. She will teach you

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the four C's of connection, about making that quality

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connection and actually how to grow those connections and turn

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those into revenue. And great podcaster as well. Great

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speaker. Check out Sabrina run back in episode 17. You'll learn

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a lot, for sure. Oh, and then we have my friend and there's

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actually I'm showing a picture of ReadOn in studio. She's in

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Montreal, I think as well. So I guess we're in a Canadians. Were

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in the Canadians a little bit about there. But I'm wearing my

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shining brightly sunglasses. She's sharing some inspiration

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of the hummingbird. Now, the hummingbird was her sister that

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passed away, it gives her a lot of inspiration. She is

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absolutely a relationship expert. The episode 49 is what

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is true love. And she is very spiritual. Her energy is

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amazing. And she is able to consult with people about how to

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prepare for their first date and their 10th date and be able to

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navigate the dating scene and the relationship scene. And I

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have to tell you, I'm following a column of hers right now. This

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is actually, you know, shows you how people are authentic. You

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know, my guests are. She's actually publicly speaking about

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her breakup right now. And she's in heartbreak right now. And

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being able to tell people about that is really something that's

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incredible. So if you follow her on socials redawning, and on

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Facebook and on Instagram, I think she might even be a tick

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tock and also, of course, LinkedIn. So what is true love

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for dating advice? Great show. You I think you'll love it.

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Well, moving on. All righty. Well, this is a very special

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friend of mine. This is Jenny marks. And I call her Jenny hope

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monks.

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She runs a foundation and she's a cancer survivor. She's a TEDx

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speaker. She's a cancer coach. And she runs a foundation called

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all about hope. I mean, she's she's really an angel. She gives

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little kids hope the bear that have a speaking message in it.

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She able raises money for people, families that have kids

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with cancer that need help and financial assistance. And she

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runs a huge network out in the west coast, San Luis Obispo, and

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I met her early on in my cancer diagnosis. And she sent me a

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bear. So I'm gonna reach over for a second and show you guys

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hope the bear I didn't have them right with me now. Now we got

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back on camera. This is hope to buy you're done. I gotta change

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the battery. But she left me a beautiful message. And she is

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very special friend of mine. And you got to have hope. Hope is

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the fuel that gets us through those tough times. And so are

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you a hope maker? And she says, Are you a heartbreaker? Be a

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homemaker, be a good friend. But hope is very important. It's how

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I actually had survived cancer twice. And I set out those

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short, mid and long term goals. And it's it's just incredible.

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So check out Jenny marks. Are you a homemaker, homemaker,

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Episode 32. Oh, this is special. So moving on. Episode 22, my

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friend or REIT, Rambler. She's down in North Carolina,

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originally from Israel, and she is a life coach extraordinaire.

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Oh my god, she's so organised. She's actually been my coach.

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And she wrote a book called the box of life. Now, when you

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really think about things, you know, you only you don't even

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get 140 characters on your tombstone. If you analyse what

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your life is about, right, and how you lived your life, and she

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always says that you can actually keep track of that, you

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know, digitally, metaphorically or physically put items in a box

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that represent the most important parts of your life.

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They can be pictures, they can be art. I don't think you want

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to put in food because I think it'll mould but you're really

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talking about what your legacy is, and how you want to be

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remembered. What a great book. So great speaker, great coach.

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And you'll love the book, a box of life. So check it out episode

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22 and and think about your legacy, I think very, very

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important part of doing things as well. Okay, now here's from a

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little inspiration here. So Episode 52, Keith bow ring. This

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is recent. So but eight episodes ago, and I was introduced to key

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from John Rappaport a really good, my brother from another

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mother, friend, and Keith. He's incredible. So it took about 18

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months. And he got diagnosed with frontal temporal dementia

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FTD. And he is literally losing his mind. They don't know when

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but eventually he will not be able to speak. And he started

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stuttering and slurring a little bit. And it took a long time to

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get diagnosed. Actor Bruce Willis took three years to get

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diagnosed with this very rare disease. And he came on my

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podcast for the first time going public ever. It's a very

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powerful episode. There's a frontal temporal lobe dementia

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Foundation, and he's a big part of that. And he's getting the

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word out for the people because it's very difficult. And he in

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the episode he talked about actually, not knowing and then

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also not revealing it to people at work and all that. But his

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wife was noticing that he was being more forgetful, slurring

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his speech, stuttering and then finally went to the doctor, but

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it took a long time. Such an inspirational episode.

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Incredible man, just full of full of heart and energy in

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check it out, check out episode 52 losing my mind with Keith bow

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ring. All right, Episode 43. There is no why. So this one was

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one of my hardest episodes I ever did. Because Ashley, the

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mom and caregiver, and Michael, I think is age 19 At the time of

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his diagnosis of of cancer, blood cancer, and the Kramer's

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make this unbelievable couple and pair. And what it did was it

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took me back 34 years to my mom, Nancy Brown, and me and when I

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was diagnosed, but I was diagnosed at age 23. And the

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amount of love they have for each other and the world and

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helping others is incredible. Right now, I believe he's

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suffering from a little bit of graft versus host disease after

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transplant. And it's caused him a tonne of side effects. So he's

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taking meds and all that hopeful that's working out I got to

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check in with him. And what an incredible strength of a single

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mom with three kids. She lost her husband to cancer. So she's

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a widow, and just so much strength in this episode. And it

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just reminded me so much of me at age 23 with my mom taking me

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to every single appointment, every blood transfusion, every

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chemo appointment, even to the stepping stones support groups.

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I mean, we're joined at the hip and I saw them too. And so

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unbelievable episode, I think you'll really learn a lot about

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an incredible young man. Incredible mom and their

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relationship and it mirrors my mom and Nancy Brown. Shout out

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to you mom, and check out episode 43 with Ashley and

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Michael Kramer. There is no why. Oh, wow. Next episode 51 This

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was incredible. So oh my god. The bones are incredible. They

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did Carl is he's a madman. And Melissa they're incredible

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couple. She basically dragged his ass to the hospital. Okay,

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because he was having a grand mal seizure. And he's now live

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to tell about it. He has so much energy just pure power. So

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episode 51 Surviving purely out of spite. All my God he rip rip

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tater chip. It's all energy that is a you know from start to

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finish. Carl is incredible. She's incredible. They ended up

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you know, he had chemo he had surgeries. And he's alive to

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tell about it. And he gets in these ice baths. And it's

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actually shocks his body shocks his brain. And he's a miracle

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walkin just like me just like key. Just like Michael Kramer a

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lot of miracles in what I'm talking about in the podcast. So

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just you got to tune into that one because it's incredible,

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high octane episode. There's the there's the warning there

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episode 51 Surviving purely out of spite. Wow, really cool.

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You'll like that one. Okay, heading down the homestretch

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here. I will tell you that I met this woman when I was going

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through chemotherapy. Her name is Maggie cook one G. And you

Howard Brown:

can check her out at Maggie cook.com. Her story blew me

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away. So, Episode 16. Your purpose is you. This is an

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orphan from Mexico. I think she would take ketchup packets and

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spices and call it salsa and make it for the kids in the

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orphanage. At least that's my side of it. And as she grew

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older, the older kids take care of the younger kids. And she was

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really good at basketball. She's a point guard. That's why we

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love each other. Because I'm a basketball point guard and she

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loves hoops. I don't think she plays much anymore, but I do.

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And she got a scholarship to East Carolina, played hoops and

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graduated. And unfortunately, she didn't have family so she

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became homeless. And I think she started making her little catch

Howard Brown:

ups in spice salsa for the homeless crew. This just tells

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you the person she is she got someone who loaned her $800. And

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she made salsa and started like a little bit of a catering

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business. And she I think approached over 100 Folks, she

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was kind of catering parties, and finally Whole Foods, took an

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appointment with her and loved her salsa. And she went from

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making a small amount to a lot of salsa. And as karma would

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have it and hard work. Campbell's Soup Company bought

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out. Maggie cook for a big dollar amount. And she's got

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this incredible story. And she is a woman CEO, a minority CEO.

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She went back and adopted these kids and save them from the

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cartels in Mexico. How incredible is this? So she's an

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author. She is a speaker. She runs a speaker mastery class. I

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know a bunch of her students shout out to Rachel rose. And I

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think very Kenzi as well. But incredible speaker came on my

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show early on. And I want to be speaking with her because she

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makes the big bucks. She's an incredible corporate trainer

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speaks all over the place. And Her story's amazing. And she's

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just a humble, amazing person. And I love Maggie cook and I

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gotta bring her back for a second episode. Actually, I'm

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that's what I'm gonna do I think so check out episode 16. Your

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purpose is you and check out Maggie cook.com with one G and

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learn with all the amazing things that she does. All right.

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Well, this episode was one of my top episodes of the year. Now,

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when you actually listen to this episode, it will be on January

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3. So we'll be already into the new year. And I will have

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crossed 50,000 downloads. I started in February of 2023. And

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so the show is picking up huge steam, huge momentum. And this

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episode has sort of just been the top Episode Episode 47. A

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lot more. Absolutely incredible story. I met her at a networking

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event online on Zoom. We were in the same breakout room. And I

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found her story so compelling. I reached out to her. And I was

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her first podcast episode ever, where she was going to share a

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story I know she's writing a book. And the episode is called

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incarceration to inspiration equal sign justice. All right,

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the highlights of the story and we are wearing sunglasses on the

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show in studio. And she shined brightly Oh my god. So she tells

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a story of being a young impressionable fashion designer

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in Canada, and she was asked to go to Panama. And while in

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Panama, she was asked to take home a suitcase. Well, hopefully

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you know where this is going. And she did it even though she

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probably knew that it was the wrong decision. And she brought

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to the airport, a suitcase as a drug mu and that suitcase ended

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up having cocaine in it. And she didn't speak the language. But

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she got busted at the Panama airport, coming back to Canada

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and She spent 81 months in a Panamanian women's prison. Now

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when she tells that she's getting off of a bus, you know,

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with handcuffs, and women are in jeans and a pink T shirts and a

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curlers in their hair out in the yard. And she, she went to

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prison, and she speaks about life in prison. She thought

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she's gonna get her butt kicked. She ended up becoming like a

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fitness instructor, she learned the language, she was able to

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give a very inspirational speech. That means she got off

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campus off the off the prison yard and got to do that. I think

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even our parents got to come down and see her. And after 81

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months, she got parole, but she couldn't leave the country just

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yet. And so she got placed with the founder of Burt's Bees,

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chapstick type stuff, and or lip balm. She's not chapstick. And

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she met a man. And she got pregnant. And then when her

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parole came up, she got booted out of the country. And she

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moved back to I believe Vancouver, British Columbia,

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Canada. And she had a baby. And she named that baby justice. How

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fitting right? And so baby justice must be three or four

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years old now. And I know she's travelling in a little bit right

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now. But really incredible story. Really incredible story

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of Absolutely. Making a mistake paying for it and trying to turn

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your life around and make something for her and justice.

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And hopefully she'll see her fiance i believe or boyfriend

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and someday soon, but incarceration to inspiration

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equals justice. Awesome, my number one episode for downloads

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of the year. And, and listens. And so I wish a lot more all the

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best, check her out on Instagram, on Facebook or on

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LinkedIn as well. And just a while just a while. So that's my

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top episodes that I wanted to share with you. I'm gonna stop

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sharing the screen now. Come back on camera and tell you what

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it's a pleasure. I've really enjoyed having my own platform.

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And my guests are not famous stars, although I think I'm

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gonna attract some really cool people, celebrities and sports

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stars and others. But these are everyday people that are telling

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their story. And I'm sharing their and their story and them

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with the world and my audience and really great life lessons,

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amazing life lessons. And I want them to shine brightly and share

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their light with you my listening and watching audience

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as well. And so I'm going to put on my shining brightly glasses

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right now for those that are listening. So I've got metallic

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white glasses on and I am shining my light back to you.

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And I want to tell you that I am so grateful for those that are

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listened to me and are starting to listen to me continue to

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listen to me every Wednesday starting at 4am Eastern time

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whenever the new episodes popped. I've got some great ones

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coming up. And so join me in 2024 to keep shining brightly.

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Because if you shine brightly for yourself, for others, for

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our communities, it makes the world a better place. keep

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shining brightly. And thank you check out shining brightly.com

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Come check out my speaking and the paid speaking gigs, lots

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more of their podcasts. Also my book selling really well my

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memoir shining brightly. And also this podcast can be found

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there every week on a feed and also my advocacy, my advocacy

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for entrepreneurship. My advocacy for mentorship is

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leadership and my service work in the cancer world. Also the

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interfaith world. So from me to you go make the world a better

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place. We all get knocked down in life. But it's our job to get

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back up again and again. Shine brightly, always