Finding Fertile Ground: Stories of Grit, Resilience, and Fertile Ground

Dr. Ronnie Taylor was born to extremely young parents who divorced after a few years of marriage. His mom converted to Mormonism and moved the family to Salt Lake City to start a new life. Unfortunately, the missionary who converted and recruited her failed to tell the church Ronnie’s family was Black. They weren’t exactly welcomed with open arms. His mom worked and went to college full time, and eventually she remarried. Growing up in Utah as a Black Mormon was tough. Ronnie moved out when he was 17 and tried to build a life for himself, but he kept getting targeted by police. “In my life to date, I've been pulled over by the police about 55 times and I've been beaten by the police five times. Also been arrested over a dozen times.” Ronnie cashed two checks for $300. He didn't have the money in his bank account, but he thought he could just pay the money back and it would be okay. He didn't think the penalty would be that severe…but it was two felonies with zero to five years jail time. He was sentenced to three years, probation, 178 hours of community service, and 6 months house arrest. He also had to pay the restitution and a fine. Soon he found himself falling into a never-ending series of bad situations that kept getting worse, and he was only 20 years old. “And if you can't get a job or vote or all these other myriad of consequences that come from a conviction, then you're largely excluded from society as a whole. Being in that situation was much harder because it meant years of job insecurity and financial insecurity…And if you can't make money, you just can't participate in life in many ways.” The only solution he could find was to move out of state and lie on his job applications. While living in Rhode Island, Ronnie met his wife Kerala and they moved to Washington DC. “She says I romanticized living in DC, but I remember really enjoying it partially because it's a mostly Black city. We used to call it Chocolate City. It was the first time in my life where I lived in an environment where I was just not special. I was just a normal, everyday person who got to walk around and not have to deal with a lot of the things that I have to deal with. There was also the reverse where, being in a predominantly Black environment that people think I act too white. I don't fit in anywhere." He went into paramedic school and tried to get his record cleaned up. Eventually he had to pay a lawyer to get his record expunged. Ronnie realized he didn’t want to be a paramedic his whole life so he went to George Washington University and graduated summa cum laude while also working full-time. Ronnie’s doctorate program brought the family to Portland, OR. He earned his doctorate in occupational therapy and now he’s on track to become certified as a hand therapist. Listen to the podcast to hear about growing up as a Black Mormon, how he turned his life around, and what life is like today. Please drop me a line at marie@fertilegroundcommunications.com or on social media to let us know what you thought about this episode. I help professional services firms avoid BORING and boost employee engagement, productivity, and readership. I translate technical, complex, and lackluster language into accessible, dynamic, story-driven text. Get known in your industry through outstanding thought leadership content. Walk your talk through outstanding, effective communications with your employees and clients. As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police.

Dr. Melissa Jenkins Mangili is a neuropsychologist and medical school faculty member who has reinvented herself as a fashion and fitness model. Her life began with grit and resilience. She and her three siblings were was raised in poverty in rural Maine by a single quadriplegic mother. “The nice thing about being from a small town is that everybody knows each other…and rallied to help us. (My mother) couldn't drive at first. She had to relearn how to drive and get an adapted car. Eventually we were able to build a wheelchair-accessible home…and she was able to drive independently…as we got older, we were able to help more.” Melissa had her first job at age 9, with a paper route. By age 12 she was working 50 hours a week babysitting during the summer. She worked at McDonald’s in high school and as a second job during college summers. In spite of the hardships, she had a happy childhood. “…the experience made us closer and happier in a lot of ways, because even though things were tough, we were in it together. We all had a common mission of taking care of our mom and taking care of each other and doing everything that we could to contribute to that common mission…we became very close and we learned how to be very self-sufficient. We're all very successful as adults.” Thanks to her intelligence and hard work, she graduated second in her college class. That’s just the start of her educational journey. She camped across the country to California for graduate school because she heard education was more financially accessible there. Then she worked her way through UCSD. Fast forward to her academic career and private practice as a neuropsychologist. Until recently, Melissa taught at Brown University medical school. During the “great pause” of COVID, she took a sharp left turn and become a fashion and fitness model. “I think it is radical to step in front of a camera and do it as yourself, not with artificial enhancements or extreme workout regimens or any of that kind of perfectionism, but just to step in front of the camera or out on a runway and model, as a not-25-year-old model and be visible and represent our generation.” She loves advocating for more diverse representation in modeling. Melissa is also enjoying the freedom from not having to fit into the conservative norms of academia. She’s embracing her reinvention as a model! Melissa is currently featured in Model Billboard magazine and has been on the runway in Rhode Island, New England, and New York fashion weeks. To see her portfolio or hire her for modeling, check out her Instagram page. Please drop me a line at marie@fertilegroundcommunications.com or on social media to let us know what you thought about this episode. I help professional services firms avoid BORING and boost employee engagement, productivity, and readership. I translate technical, complex, and lackluster language into accessible, dynamic, story-driven text. Get known in your industry through outstanding thought leadership content. Walk your talk through outstanding, effective communications with your employees and clients. As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

Vernita L. Bowe is a survivor. As a smaller-than-average child, she experienced bullying in school. When she grew up she married the wrong man and wasn’t able to get out of that marriage for 24 years, three kids later. Parenting has been about huge loves and losses for Vernita. Her middle son landed in prison, and four years ago her oldest son Byron died in a car accident. “You really don't wanna bury your children. But what I've learned is all of the promises are gone…all of the things that you and he were gonna do together…and all of the things that he wanted to do with his life. All gone…and let me tell you something. People say that you should get over a loss and I just wanna say this for the listening audience: You never get over a loss. You learn how to live beyond it. But you never really get over it.” After Byron died, the griefs kept coming. Byron’s godfather and Vernita’s mentor died, and then her mother…next she and her father contracted COVID at the same time and ended up in the hospital, both on ventilators. Unfortunately, Vernita’s dad passed away while she was still on the ventilator. In spite of the great griefs she has suffered…or because of them…Vernita has embraced life and is living it to its fullest! She recently got a passport and took her very first airplane flight! That’s just the beginning of the living and traveling she has planned for herself. Please drop me a line at marie@fertilegroundcommunications.com or on social media to let us know what you thought about this episode. I help professional services firms avoid BORING and boost employee engagement, productivity, and readership. I translate technical, complex, and lackluster language into accessible, dynamic, story-driven text. Get known in your industry through outstanding thought leadership content. Walk your talk through outstanding, effective communications with your employees and clients. As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

Happy Pride! What better month to launch this fun episode and celebrate a wonderful queer story. Growing up in Germany, when Nicole moved to the U.S. as a teen she never felt like she fit in. Then she joined the military during Desert Storm, and she ended up playing Taps for 600 funerals of her colleagues. That nearly broke her. She married a man before coming out as gay, and her dad and sisters rejected her. Around the same time of that rejection, her beloved mom—the only family member who truly embraced Nicole for who she was--suddenly died at the age of 51. When COVID hit, Nicole and her wife took a wild cross-country trip in an RV. They experienced discrimination and many, many vehicle troubles. (Who knew buying a brand-new RV would turn out to be such a headache?!?) Then when they returned to Southern California, she landed a job reporting to a toxic boss who had a history of discriminating against queer people. She’s now in a much happier place, working at Toast, where she feels completely affirmed and embraced. Nicole more grit and resilience than I even expected before I interviewed her! I loved listening to her colorful, varied stories of her life so far. If you want ideas on where to travel in the U.S., I highly recommend Nicole’s Instagram page, @chocoandchaitourtheus. Please drop me a line at marie@fertilegroundcommunications.com or on social media to let us know what you thought about this episode. I help professional services firms avoid BORING and boost employee engagement, productivity, and readership. I translate technical, complex, and lackluster language into accessible, dynamic, story-driven text. Get known in your industry through outstanding thought leadership content. Walk your talk through outstanding, effective communications with your employees and clients. As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Cheryl Parks, sales and mindset coach. Cheryl works with my business coach, Liz J. Simpson, and has provided me invaluable advice and confidence boosts as I reboot my business. Cheryl and I immediately connected, and I was especially lucky to meet her in person in early March, since the Big Money Movement coaching program happens all on Zoom and social media. It was a delight to delve into her background and discover how many ways our lives overlap and connect. I was surprised to discover that Cheryl has not always been a confident, outgoing, and self-assured businesswoman. At one point she was so shy she wouldn’t ring the bell to get off a city bus. “I became so shy. People they'd say, oh, I know you from, and I would say, no, you don't know me. I know you don't know me. You probably know my cousin. You probably know my sister. There were so many times Marie. I was just shrinking and shrinking and shrinking. I literally stayed in my room.” After a successful corporate sales career, Cheryl now has a growing sales and mindset coaching and consulting practice. She trains leaders and founders to sell in their own unique voice without being salesy or scripted. Before she turned 30, she found herself as a shy single mom of two. She realized her shyness was going to derail all of her dreams, goals, and plans for life. She created a plan and took intentional action steps to march herself out of debilitating shyness and into a successful corporate sales career, which lasted for over 25 years and $25M in sales. “There's still a shy part of me…but for the most part I'm in control of the shy girl and say, ‘okay, you gotta be quiet for a minute because I have some things I have to handle.’ So the great part is just being in control of that and not having the shy girl overwhelm everything else.” Cheryl’s greatest passion is helping people who don't feel they have a voice discover their unique style and voice. Every day it amazes her that she stands out front: visible and proud to be her! Please drop me a line at marie@fertilegroundcommunications.com or on social media to let us know what you thought about this episode. I help professional services firms avoid BORING and boost employee engagement, productivity, and readership. I translate technical, complex, and lackluster language into accessible, dynamic, story-driven text. Get known in your industry through outstanding thought leadership content. Walk your talk through outstanding, effective communications with your employees and clients. As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

Michele Heyward is a civil engineer who built the U.S. power grid. Now she's a tech startup founder building the future of work at PositiveHire. Michele grew up in rural South Carolina in a three-bedroom house full of kids. She had four siblings. She describes herself as the weird kid, really good at math. Encouraged to pursue science and engineering, she went to engineering camp 30 years ago at 13 years old. “But what really got me sold on engineering was when I was 12, a Category Five hurricane hit South Carolina and my mom's younger sister and her family live near Charleston where the hurricane hit...They had a newer brick home that was destroyed during the hurricane while they were in it. I couldn't understand: how could a home that new be destroyed by something called a hurricane? And that's how I literally got interested in civil engineering and decided to major in it.” She learned about people who had designed an indestructible egg-shaped home on the coast, and she thought, “How do you build a home or structure like that? It really started me into the path of civil engineering.” After working in the corporate world for many years, Michele got tired of being “the only.” “Something that is really common, unfortunately, is the ‘only’ experience for a lot of Black, Latinx, and indigenous women in STEM. What I mean is you're the only one, you're the only Black woman. You're the only Latina engineer on your team, group, department, company. For years out in construction, I was the only Black woman engineer. I was only Black woman, period…so many other women quit.” Michele stayed at her her previous environmental engineering firm for 12 years. “I told myself somebody else is going to come who doesn't have the wherewithal to do what you've done this amount of time by yourself being the only.” Then she received a message from God that said, “you're not supposed to be here.” “I cried. I'd been through so much being the only, but it was time for me to go and build out something else…now it's time to go execute. It was time for me to go put in the work.” Michele founded a company, PositiveHire, that connects Black, Latinx, and Indigenous women who are experienced scientists, engineers, and technology professionals to management roles. “As a Black woman engineer I've seen companies complain they can't find diverse talent, when their real issue is retaining Black, Latinx, and Indigenous talent in STEM. The issue isn't a pipeline problem but the lack of responsibility that management teams have in creating workplaces which will retain and attract Black, Latinx, and Indigenous talent.” Michele and I had a fruitful discussion about what it’s like working in spaces run by white men and how important it is to change the culture of a company before focusing on recruiting people of color. We also talked about how to write inclusive job descriptions and postings that bring in diverse candidates. Please drop me a line at marie@fertilegroundcommunications.com to let us know what you thought about this episode. I help professional services firms avoid BORING and boost employee engagement, productivity, and readership. I translate technical, complex, and lackluster language into accessible, dynamic, story-driven text. Get known in your industry through outstanding thought leadership content. Walk your talk through outstanding, effective communications with your employees and clients. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

When Gresh was a kid, his military dad worked overseas for a year and this English major/entrepreneur started a family newspaper to keep his whole family up to date on what was going on. His first business was born! This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Gresham Harkless, Jr., founder of CEO Blog Nation and Blue 16 Media, and host of the I AM CEO Podcast + CEO Chat Podcast. Gresh graduated from Howard University and Georgetown and has interviewed more than 1,000 CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners, including me! Life hasn’t always been easy for him, though. He graduated in 2009 during the economic crisis and felt like he did all the things he was supposed to do to position himself for success. But he had to learn it all on his own, because each of the companies he went to, he lacked mentors. With layoffs and tearing his achilles tendon, he felt like a ship lost at sea. Gresh is a wonderful, warm human being and I enjoyed hearing about his life journey and how he ended up building two successful businesses at such a young age. Listeners, did this episode inspire you? I’d love to hear from you. If you have any questions or have an idea for a guest or topic I should cover, drop me a line at marie@fertilegroundcommunications.com. I help professional services firms avoid BORING and boost employee engagement, productivity, and readership. I translate technical, complex, and lackluster language into accessible, dynamic, story-driven text. Get known in your industry through outstanding thought leadership content. Walk your talk through outstanding, effective communications with your employees and clients. As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Chantal Cox, a special educator, author, speaker, and Transformation NeuroCoach™. Chantal lives in Wichita, Kansas, now but she grew up all over the world. Her birth dad is Mexican, but her mom remarried when she was three years old. Her adopted dad was in the army, so the family moved every two years. They lived in several states as well as Panama, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands. Chantal was born a shy, timid introvert. Being the new kid every two years was traumatizing but forced her to get some coping skills. Being the only brown-skinned person in her family created some difficult conversations each time the family moved. “Here's the Cox family. Who are you just standing with this family? When we lived in Panama, people assumed I was Panamanian, but when we lived in Washington, DC, we lived in a high Pakistani, population so people assumed I was Pakistani. And in Wyoming people assumed I was Native American. That caused some different things in my head, some different stories to be created that I latched on to and became part of my identity… that I don't fit in anywhere.” Chantal struggled with anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. “I was very pessimistic, very much the glass is half empty. What's going to go wrong next? Life was not happy. If there was something good that happened, I tried really hard to find the bad in it. I just lived in this space and then the low self-esteem and self-worth led me to be in not great relationships because you attract what you put out.” Soon after she began working as a special ed teacher, her high stress levels led to her developing an autoimmune disease called alopecia areata, where her immune system was attacking her hair follicles, causing bald spots. Not long after that, she found herself in an abusive marriage. “I attracted people who treated me the way that I felt I deserve to be treated. And so that led me to being married to a man who was not very nice. It started with some control and then emotional, manipulative abuse, and eventually went into physical abuse towards the end.” She left on her 30th birthday and moved back to Wichita, where her support system of family and friends supported and loved on her. “My dad stepped in and took over all communication. I've never seen or spoken to my ex-husband again. And that is a huge blessing. My sister let me stay with her until I got up on my feet.” Chantal now helps women experiencing life transitions create a new vision for themselves, reconnect with their passion and purpose, and turn their transition into their triumphant transformation. Check out her book, Create a Life You Love: 10 Healthy Habits to Transform Your Life Now, and her podcast. Next week on the Companies That Care podcast, I interview Kim Malek, cofounder of Portland’s famous Salt & Straw ice cream, which now has 25 locations and growing! If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe to hear our next episode. I help professional services firms avoid BORING and boost employee engagement, productivity, and readership. I translate technical, complex, and lackluster language into accessible, dynamic, story-driven text. Get known in your industry through outstanding thought leadership content. Walk your talk through outstanding, effective communications with your employees and clients.

This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Devin Tomiak, founder of The Biggies Cards. After losing her youngest brother Grant to suicide 7 years ago, Devin Tomiak became driven to understand resilience--in particular, how to build resilience in kids. As a mom of two young boys, her preoccupation had a unique urgency. She created The Biggies cards, an innovative, research-based take on conversation cards designed to spark fun discussions about BIG social emotional concepts with elementary-aged kids. Devin grew up with two loving parents and two younger brothers. She felt close to her brothers and had a happy childhood…which made what would happen later feel even more shocking. When Grant was 28, he took his own life. He was a highly accomplished chef at such a young age. “Everything on the surface looked amazing and normal, so when he died it was mind-blowing, not just for our family, but for all who knew him. He was opening his own restaurant with some incredible partners. It was his dream and he was being funded…it’s still hard to digest.” Grant had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis several months before his death. “When he died, I had a son who was 2-1/2 and I was pregnant with my second son. So as I'm grieving I was also mummying. So as I'm trying to make sense of Grant's death, it was in the framework of my kids…and how do I prevent something like this from ever happening again? Because when you feel like the world is a certain way and people like Grant don't die by suicide…and then all of a sudden they do…it kind of undermines your sense of security and stability. It’s like an existential blow.” Devin dove into researching how to prevent suicide and landed on the importance of resilience. Resilience stood out to her because it helps us manage our day-to-day mental health, and it can also be taught to kids. “During this time it occurred to me that if we could talk to our kids about many of the social emotional concepts that make a person emotionally intelligent and resilient, that was a start. That was something actionable parents and teachers could do to strengthen the resilience of their kids. And so of course, these conversations had to be approached in the right way if they were to resonate.” Devin enlisted the help of a dear friend and community psychologist Amy Engelman, and they went to work creating a deck of conversation cards called The Biggies Cards. The objective is to help give parents and teachers an easy way to build resilience in kids. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe to hear our next episode. Marie Gettel-Gilmartin, founder and principal of Fertile Ground Communications LLC, is a writer and marketing communications consultant who loves to take the pain and stress out of writing for her clients. She specializes in making the complex clear, using dynamic, accessible language to explain and communicate important issues. She positions her clients as experts in their fields and helps them communicate about pressing issues. Writing communications that boost employee engagement and thought leadership, she also coaches leaders and executives on how to strengthen communications and leadership. She loves to connect people and resources or solve seemingly impossible problems.

This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Mahlena-Rae Johnson. Mahlena was born in Arkansas but grew up on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Mahlena is a speaker, comedian, author, and communication expert for introverts. After graduating from the School of Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University, earning her MBA at the University of Southern California, and working a variety of jobs, she felt her potential was being wasted in Los Angeles. She discovered other Black American women were living their best lives outside of the United States. So she and her husband began looking for the best place to relocate, and then the 2016 election happened. Their move plans accelerated dramatically. In 2018 they shed most of their belongings and moved to Canada with their kids to start their lives over completely. As we discussed on the podcast, racism and sexism of course still exist in Canada…but Mahlena and her family are happier, healthier, and less stressed out and will soon become Canadian citizens. Mahlena actually found living out of a suitcase to be freeing. We talked about living in Canada, how she serves introverts, her decision to adopt, and dream boards…plus a little Grey’s Anatomy. Here are some articles she wrote about dream boards: How I created my family from scratch: Mahlena's Dream Board storyHow to Build Your First Dream BoardSave Time and Save Money: The Top 5 Ways your Dream Board will help.If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe to hear our next episode. Marie Gettel-Gilmartin, founder and principal of Fertile Ground Communications LLC, is a writer and marketing communications consultant who loves to take the pain and stress out of writing for her clients. She specializes in making the complex clear, using dynamic, accessible language to explain and communicate important issues. She positions her clients as experts in their fields and helps them communicate about pressing issues. Writing communications that boost employee engagement and thought leadership, she also coaches leaders and executives on how to strengthen communications and leadership. She loves to connect people and resources or solve seemingly impossible problems. As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interviewed Barbie Liss from Toronto, Canada. Barbie is an anti anti-aging coach who guides women as they heal their wounds and shed shame around aging. Barbie found her own fertile ground through a traumatic incident. Her daughter was raped at age 21. Barbie had to work through her own secondary trauma while supporting her daughter. They both entered into a restorative justice process with her daughter’s attacker. According to restorativejustice.org, “Restorative justice views crime as more than breaking the law – it also causes harm to people, relationships, and the community…restorative justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by criminal behavior.” Restorative justice is rooted in traditions from the First Nations people of Canada and the United States and the Maori of New Zealand. I’d never heard about restorative justice before, so I was fascinated by Barbie’s story and how it helped everyone heal. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe to hear our next episode. Marie Gettel-Gilmartin, founder and principal of Fertile Ground Communications LLC, is a writer and marketing communications consultant who loves to take the pain and stress out of writing for her clients. She specializes in making the complex clear, using dynamic, accessible language to explain and communicate important issues. She positions her clients as experts in their fields and helps them communicate about pressing issues. Writing communications that boost employee engagement and thought leadership, she also coaches leaders and executives on how to strengthen communications and leadership. She loves to connect people and resources or solve seemingly impossible problems. As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, it was a joy to interview Julie Allen again. I had the honor of interviewing Julie earlier this year for my Companies That Care podcast. During this interview, Julie shared her 15-year battle with eating disorders. She was in and out of treatment during her entire teenage years and into her early 20s. Her breaking point was a rape at 18 that took her eating disorder to a whole new level of self-hatred and lack of regard for her own life with an attempted suicide. She has been in recovery for a decade now and is passionate about dismantling diet culture and stigmas around mental illness. She has found her fertile ground as CEO of a body-positive, self-love promoting, women-empowering clothing boutique, Mary Rose NW Boutique. She also founded the Mary Rose Foundation, a nonprofit that helps fund treatment for people struggling with eating disorders. She speaks openly about her own struggles with eating disorders, PTSD, and mental illness to inspire hope for those who are hurting. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe to hear our next episode. Marie Gettel-Gilmartin, founder and principal of Fertile Ground Communications LLC, is a writer and marketing communications consultant who loves to take the pain and stress out of writing for her clients. She specializes in making the complex clear, using dynamic, accessible language to explain and communicate important issues. She positions her clients as experts in their fields and helps them communicate about pressing issues. Writing communications that boost employee engagement and thought leadership, she also coaches leaders and executives on how to strengthen communications and leadership. She loves to connect people and resources or solve seemingly impossible problems. As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Mike Ganino, a storytelling and communication expert, podcaster, and public speaking coach. He’s also husband to Phil and dad to Viviana, who was born at 29 weeks gestation in Mexico during the first stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. I loved hearing Mike’s life story, starting with growing up poor and getting diagnosed with diabetes as a kid. He also shared about coming out as gay in college and finding what he was meant to do in the world. And as a preemie mom myself, I was fascinated to hear Mike’s story about being a NICU parent in another country and during a pandemic. We also talked about the challenges and rewards of being entrepreneurs. Mike hosts the Mike Drop Moment podcast and is a published author. He has been named a Top 10 Public Speaking Coach by Yahoo Finance, a Top 30 Speaker by Global Guru, and California’s Best Speaking and Communication Coach by Corporate Vision. He’s a trained actor and coach from the world-famous Second City, Improv Olympics, and Upright Citizen’s Brigade. In addition to his track record as an executive in the hotel, restaurant, retail, and tech industries, Mike’s worked with organizations like the Disney, American Century Investments, American Marketing Association, and UCLA. Check out Mike’s beautiful new website and his free masterclass. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe to hear our next episode. Marie Gettel-Gilmartin, founder and principal of Fertile Ground Communications LLC, is a writer and marketing communications consultant who loves to take the pain and stress out of writing for her clients. She specializes in making the complex clear, using dynamic, accessible language to explain and communicate important issues. She positions her clients as experts in their fields and helps them communicate about pressing issues. Writing communications that boost employee engagement and thought leadership, she also coaches leaders and executives on how to strengthen communications and leadership. She loves to connect people and resources or solve seemingly impossible problems. As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Nura Elmagbari, a Muslim-American mom, wife, scientist, educator, nonprofit leader, activist, and community leader. I met Nura several years ago through my church, Spirit of Grace. Nura was our guest preacher for Mother’s Day, spoke on an interfaith women’s panel, brought her teen daughter to our youth group and talked about Islam, and emceed an immigrant storytelling event. Nura came to the United States as a child when her family escaped from Libya. They had to adjust to the American way of life with no support, and her mother gave birth to her baby brother shortly after they arrived in Greeley, Colorado. Now Nura has a master’s degree in human biology and is principal of the Islamic School of Portland. She has founded several nonprofits to aid Muslim children, immigrants, and refugees. Nura has fought racism and prejudice all her life. She learned nobody was going to give her a chance to succeed so she had to create it for herself. And now she provides support to refugees arriving in the United States, the kind of support her family never received. She explains why she loves Islam, one thing she wishes Islam didn’t forbid, why she believes Islam supports feminism, and how she has a patent for a drug she helped develop that will change the medical world and addiction to opioids. Next week on the Companies That Care podcast I interview Veronica Arreola, who is a widely published professional feminist, mom, and writer who has been working to diversify the STEM field for over 20 years. In her work at the University of Illinois-Chicago, Veronica works to ensure a supportive campus environment for Latinx students studying science. We spoke about how companies can attract and support Latinx and other employees of color in the workplace, especially in STEM environments. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe to hear our next episode. Marie Gettel-Gilmartin, founder and principal of Fertile Ground Communications LLC, is a writer and marketing communications consultant who loves to take the pain and stress out of writing for her clients. She specializes in making the complex clear, using dynamic, accessible language to explain and communicate important issues. She positions her clients as experts in their fields and helps them communicate about pressing issues. Writing communications that boost employee engagement and thought leadership, she also coaches leaders and executives on how to strengthen communications and leadership. She loves to connect people and resources or solve seemingly impossible problems. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Paula Dunn, who was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. Paula is my first Australian guest, and my first with a cleft lip and palate like me. On her first day of school, Paula was bullied by her classmates and when she told the teacher, she was called a tattletale. The bullying stunted her academic abilities and self-esteem during primary school and filled her with anxiety, stress, and depression. As immigrants to Australia, her parents told her the best way to set herself apart was education. Paula’s Greek mom only had one year of education. Paula applied herself to her education, going from the bottom of her classes to landing in the top 10% in the state for biology and music. She went onto graduate with a master’s of science with honours. Now she has found her fertile ground by applying what she learned in her life by working with teenage girls as a resilience expert, author, and cognitive scientist. She helps them create confidence to conquer life! Paula lives by this mantra: “It’s not how you start off in life that counts; it’s how you choose to live it.” Next week on the Companies That Care podcast, I interview Heather Younger, a best-selling author, international speaker, consultant, adjunct organizational leadership professor, and facilitator who has earned her reputation as “The Employee Whisperer.” If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe to hear our next episode. Marie Gettel-Gilmartin, founder and principal of Fertile Ground Communications LLC, is a writer and marketing communications consultant who loves to take the pain and stress out of writing for her clients. She specializes in making the complex clear, using dynamic, accessible language to explain and communicate important issues. She positions her clients as experts in their fields and helps them communicate about pressing issues. Writing communications that boost employee engagement and thought leadership, she also coaches leaders and executives on how to strengthen communications and leadership. She loves to connect people and resources or solve seemingly impossible problems. As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Lily Shaw, a powerhouse actress, an expert writer, and an award-winning motivational speaker who was rescued and inspired by the make-believe world of cinema at the age of 7. When Lily was just starting out, her first Hollywood agent told her, “if you only had the right look, you could be Sandra Bullock.” Despite this subtle racism, Lily had some initial success as an actress of color in Hollywood. But none of her talent and skill and hard work seemed to create lasting success. The #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter movements woke her up to the ways racial and gender discrimination had stifled her voice and presence. Lily is demanding to be treated equally, with dignity and respect, and to be valued for her talent. She is choosing roles where women are empowered and where different voices are celebrated. As a first-generation Indian American and the first woman in her family to step away from tradition to pursue a creative profession, Lily has been a powerful voice for women’s empowerment since childhood. She is using her grit and resilience to find her fertile ground, standing for social justice and equal representation. As an intuitive and conscious speaker, she leads by example and inspires audiences to use their voice, own their gifts, and become who they were born to be. lives. Lily is on a mission to spread a message of self-empowerment and share her life story in a way that inspires people to turn their pain into their superpower. Next week on the Companies That Care podcast, I interview Ross Ching of Mama and Haapa’s here in Portland, Oregon, a zero waste shop. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe to hear our next episode. Marie Gettel-Gilmartin, founder and principal of Fertile Ground Communications LLC, is a writer and marketing communications consultant who loves to take the pain and stress out of writing for her clients. She specializes in making the complex clear, using dynamic, accessible language to explain and communicate important issues. She positions her clients as experts in their fields and helps them communicate about pressing issues. Writing communications that boost employee engagement and thought leadership, she also coaches leaders and executives on how to strengthen communications and leadership. She loves to connect people and resources or solve seemingly impossible problems. As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Tracey Osborne from Dallas, Georgia. After bouncing around in various locations during her childhood, Tracey got sexually assaulted by her live-in boyfriend the night of her senior prom. It was not her last sexual assault, and soon she found herself in and out of several domestic abuse situations and getting married several times. Tracey shares how she identified her fear of abandonment and broke the cycle of abuse. She also realized she had an addictive personality, so she gave up alcohol. Tracey bounced around in a wide variety of jobs while parenting her four daughters. She found her passion to work as a trauma release coach, but she found it extremely difficult to charge women money to help them with their healing. Now she has found her fertile ground by founding the Global Association for Trauma Recovery, guiding survivors on their journey to move past their past and become the empowered women they are supposed to be. The association is dedicated to providing low-to-no-cost trauma support for survivors and their families, aiming to facilitate change by spreading trauma-related awareness to create a trauma-informed world. Tracey also hosts the Releasing Trauma Podcast, supporting women in their healing and bringing them the tools they need to create lasting self-transformation. She wants to make the world a better place, so her girls never have to go through what she has survived. Next week on the Companies That Care podcast, I interview Mallorie Dunn of Smart Glamour in New York City, an ethically made, inclusively sized, customizable clothing line that focuses on accessibility (size + price) and accurate representation. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe to hear our next episode. Contact us if you can use some help with your writing, editing, communications, or marketing. With 30 years of experience in the environmental consulting industry, I am passionate about sustainability and corporate citizenship, equity & inclusion, businesses that use their power for good, and doing everything I can to create a kinder, more sustainable, and just world. We help organizations and people discover what makes them special and help them share that with the world. As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

Trigger warning: This episode contains some racist and adult language This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Daniel Sartin. Daniel is just a bit younger than my oldest son, but he’s survived a lifetime of trauma and difficulty. Born into the foster system, he got adopted and raised by a relative. He was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness even though he is queer, which resulted in deep shame about his sexuality. And then there’s just living while Black. Daniel shared stories about his childhood and upbringing. He also shared vulnerably about his incredibly toxic and narcissistic first romantic relationship. This is not the stereotypical macho white guy with a submissive, terrified wife. In Daniel’s relationship, his ex-boyfriend actually called him the n-word on several occasions. Finally, Daniel could take the abuse no longer and he escaped the situation. In spite of what he’s faced in his life, he is upbeat and optimistic…and committed to dedicate his life to helping other people. He has founded a nonprofit called Happy Havens, which aims to create a permanent housing situation for houseless people around the Portland area. Next week on the Companies That Care podcast, I interview Kim Sundy, Kellogg’s director of corporate sustainability, on the Companies That Care podcast. Kim is living proof that you can get paid to change the world. I had no idea Kellogg was such a forward-thinking, innovative, and values-driven company. You won’t want to miss this conversation! If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe to hear our next episode. Contact us if you can use some help with your writing, editing, communications, or marketing. With 30 years of experience in the environmental consulting industry, I am passionate about sustainability and corporate citizenship, equity & inclusion, businesses that use their power for good, and doing everything I can to create a kinder, more sustainable, and just world. We help organizations and people discover what makes them special and help them share that with the world. As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

If you like what you hear or read, visit my Fertile Ground Communications website. This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Terri Kozlowski. She is a proud Native American warrior of the Athabascan, Tlinglet Tribe and Raven Clan. When she was just 11 years old, her mother sold her for drugs and shut her out on the streets of Albuquerque, New Mexico. After many years of trying to process what had happened to her through therapy, Terri has learned to transcend her fears. She believes that life experiences or abuse may instill fear and break the connection with our authentic selves. Author of Raven Transcending Fear and host of the Soul Solutions podcast, Terri shares the lessons she has learned from her spiritual journey. Now she inspires and supports others who are struggling with fear. Next week I interview Lara Smith from Dad’s Garage theater in Atlanta, Georgia, on the Companies That Care podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a rating and subscribe to hear our next episode. Contact us if you can use some help with your writing, editing, communications, or marketing. With 30 years of experience in the environmental consulting industry, I am passionate about sustainability and corporate citizenship, equity & inclusion, businesses that use their power for good, and doing everything I can to create a kinder, more sustainable, and just world. We help organizations and people discover what makes them special and help them share that with the world. As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. Fertile Ground Communications LLC is a certified women-owned business enterprise, disadvantaged business enterprise, and emerging small business.

As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. If you like what you hear or read or would like to see photos of Leslie, visit my Fertile Ground Communications website. This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I reflect back on the last 13 months. My little podcast is now one year, one month old after starting on July 6, 2020. I’ve interviewed over 70 amazing individuals. I’m grateful to my guests for letting us have a little glimpse of their lives. As I describe this podcast in a nutshell, it’s about people who have gone through a shit ton in their lives and have survived, resilient, on the other side. I recently watched the documentary “The Octopus Teacher,” about a man who befriends an octopus in the ocean. Craig Foster is a free diver, who dives without a wetsuit or oxygen. He is able to hold his breath for up to 6 minutes. The movie, and the friendship he develops, is miraculous and exquisite. At one point the octopus has one of her arms bitten off by a pajama shark. She retreats into her den, traumatized, stunned, and in pain. Eventually she comes back out, with a tiny new arm. Over the course of three months, the arm completely regenerates itself. Watching this exceptional part of the story, I realized: the people I have interviewed on my podcast are like octopus. (For you word nerds like me, the plural of octopus is not octopi; it is octopus.) So many of them have been deeply traumatized in one way or another: from political strife, racism, illness, sexual assault, homophobia or transphobia, childhood abuse, xenophobia, body shaming, anti-semitism or Islamophobia, substance abuse, death of a loved one, or sexism. They have grieved losses and hurts deeply, but found a way to rise up again. They have regrown their arms and regenerated their hearts. For whatever reason, they have developed backbones and resilient spirits, and they are stronger than ever before. I’m fascinated by this incredible resilience, and I’m aware that it does not come naturally. Some people seem to have higher-than-average levels of resilience, while others need to actively cultivate it. How can one person experience horrible abuse and hardship as a child, not knowing love and affection, yet emerge as a positive, upbeat, and resilient person? While another person could feel slighted as a child, but overall have a good life, yet they end up feeling cheated and sad? I’ve discovered that I love interviewing Black women. I find that they are so real, honest, and direct, and in spite of the fact that they have no real reason to trust me, a white woman, they are incredibly open and authentic. I guess it’s because of all they face in life…they simply have no f-bombs left to give. I admire that quality so much. For more information about the people I mention in this episode, go to my website and look for Finding Fertile Ground podcast tab.