Episode 212: Advocating for Kids Without "a Voice," with TeamChild's Christina Sorenson
Release Date: 01/28/2025
Episode 226: The Power of Sharing Your Story, with Sara Connell
Brilliantly Resilient
“The very thing you’re afraid to say is often what will inspire someone else to keep going.” ~ Sara Connell, Best-selling Author and Founder of Thought Leader Academy Have you ever thought about writing a book but believe you have nothing to say? For those of us living "ordinary" lives, it's easy to feel our stories have little meaning beyond our own lives. Yet Sara Connell holds the opposite to be true. As founder of the Thought Leader Academy and a 5x Bestselling author, Sara knows that even everyday stories can have profound impact. In fact, the experiences that test us...
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Episode 225: How to Reset When Achievement Feels Empty, with Dr. Toni Warner
Brilliantly Resilient
“We get addicted to achievement because it’s how we prove we matter.” ~ Dr. Toni Warner, Certified Trauma Therapist and Author of Achievement. Do more. Be more. Check off more boxes. UGH. Most women feel the need to achieve, which is not a bad thing in itself. But when that need keeps us spinning, working, accomplishing, but still feeling drained, and unfulfilled, somethin' ain't working. Dr. Toni Warner’s has walked the walk, achieving by all of society's standards but feeling something missing. Her work centers on redefining success for high-achieving women as she...
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Episode 224: How to "Graduate" into a Joyful, Fulfilling Retirement, with Author and Retirement Expert Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons
Brilliantly Resilient
“The happiest people in retirement are the ones who stay curious.” Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons ~ Retirement Transition Expert, Former Attorney and Author of When you began your work life, do you remember thinking about retirement? For many decades, retirement was the 65-year-old's goal: the end of the "job" and the entry into leisure and relaxation until...um...the end??? Too often, though, the relaxation didn't materialize--at least not in the way it was intended, especially for those who not only enjoyed working, but whose work life seemed to define them. Too many retirements...
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Episode 223: I Went Back to Therapy, And Here's Why--with Mary Fran Bontempo
Brilliantly Resilient
“Please don’t assume you’ll just talk yourself out of dark places. Help is there—and there’s a reason for it.” ~ Mary Fran Bontempo: Brilliantly Resilient podcast host and author of "" This week on the Brilliantly Resilient Podcast, I’m getting personal. I recorded a solo episode about something we all face—but rarely talk about: knowing when it’s time to ask for help. Lately, I’ve felt overwhelmed, anxious, and just plain out of juice. So I did something both difficult and powerful—I went back to therapy. In this episode, I talk about how I knew it was time, why...
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Episode 222: How to Redefine Success, with "No Half Cakes" Podcast Host and HeartCore Growth Founder Jim Sabellico
Brilliantly Resilient
“I was standing there in front of this half-eaten birthday cake realizing like... what am I doing? This is not success.” Founder and Podcast Host How do you define success? Most of us are or were under the impression that success means money, status, and stuff--all obtained through a brutal amount of work and time. Jim Sabellico thought so too. At least until the night his wife had to relight the candles on his six-year-old son's half-eaten birthday cake so he could sing Happy Birthday to his boy. Jim missed the family moment because he was "busy working." Men have generally been...
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Episode 221: Why your 20's Suck and What to Do About It with Kate Berski and "30 Phobia"
Brilliantly Resilient
"The 20s are not the best days of your life. It is a myth that needs to be busted.” ~ Kate Berski, Author: Ah, to be 20 again, right? After all, the 20s are supposed to be the best time of our lives, right? Not so fast. Kate Berski, author of notes that despite the myth, the 20's are a "tumultuous decade" full of self-doubt, unhealthy comparisons and societal pressure. Saddled with a demanding timeline that prescribes benchmarks that "should" be achieved, Kate recognizes that the To-do list for 20-somethings is not one-size-fits-all. She advises young people to take the...
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Episode 220: How to Reset, Rise, and Scale Your Business, with Ivy Slater, Author of "Best of the Best: Lead Boldly, Scale Rapidly, Create Your Legacy"
Brilliantly Resilient
“Great leadership starts by leading with a mindset that's scalable—being willing to see things bigger. What would this look like if...?” ~ Ivy Slater, CEO of Slater Success and Author of What does the word "scalable" mean to you? If you are an entrepreneur, or work with an organization seeking to build (aren't we all?), the word "scalable" should motivate and inspire. Yet, "scalable" also holds some weight, and can be intimidating. Slater Success CEO and author Ivy Slater reminds us that all businesses are scalable. And if the word intimidates, Ivy says, “Scaling is intimidating to...
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Episode 219: How to Navigate AI and the Changing Job Market, with Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek
Brilliantly Resilient
“My work directly acknowledges that anxiety (around AI) and talks about what actions we can take to take care of ourselves, our families, our communities, during a time that’s high opportunity but also really high volatility.” ~Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek AI Expert and Author of: Your AI Roadmap: Actions to Expand Your Career, Money and Joy" Are you afraid of AI? Artificial Intelligence has long been the stuff of science fiction, with the "artificial" becoming real and taking over the world. Yikes. But AI is here to stay, and according to AI expert, Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek, there...
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Episode 218: How to "Live with Courage and Become an Everyday Leader" with Ash Beckham
Brilliantly Resilient
"The hardest thing you've ever done is the hardest thing you've ever done. And it is no easier or harder than the hardest thing I've ever done.... Hard is hard." ~ , Everyday Leadership Coach, Inclusion Activist, TEDx Speaker and Author of Ash Beckham believes that the hardest thing you've ever done is valid simply because it was hard for you. Her approach encourages people to strip away comparison around struggle and instead recognize the commonality of the human experience--we all struggle. When we remember that whatever we are doing in relation to others, we are...
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Episode 217: Building Resilience Through Acceptance and "Owning Ataxia," with "A Good Calamity" Author, Jay Armstrong
Brilliantly Resilient
"Lasting resilience begins with acceptance. For me, acceptance is an every day prayer." ~ Jay Armstrong Author of Are you struggling to accept something hard in your life? Are you even thinking about acceptance, or are you still fighting the hard truth? Jay Armstrong was diagnosed with ataxia (a degenerative disease of the brain and nervous system) in 2013, shortly after the birth of his youngest son. The disease affects Jay's movement, balance and speech, among other things. Jay notes that accepting his disease has been a challenge, but one that has helped him build lasting...
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Christina Sorenson was in 15 different foster care homes from ages five to fifteen. Separated from her sister and eventually adopted at age fifteen, Christina has made it her life's work to provide legal and supportive aid for children and young adults in foster care.
An attorney at TeamChild in Seattle, WA, Christina has thoughtfully incorporated her own life experiences into her mission, bringing compassion, empathy and insights into the struggles of those in a foster system that frequently denies them a voice.
Being a "foster kid" is often deeply traumatic, and this trauma can have a lasting effect, especially on a child. According to Christina, statistics show that kids in foster care experience PTSD at twice the rate of veterans who served in active combat. Having little to no personal agency to fight for themselves, kids in foster care can be further traumatized and therefore must rely on others to step in to advocate for them.
Creating a supportive tribe is one of the bedrocks of living a Brilliantly Resilient life. As adults, we can cultivate relationships on our own, but it is our personal responsibility to assist and protect the young people in our communities who may have no one to help their voices be heard.
Community engagement is essential to healthy lives both as individuals and as part of a group. One of the simplest ways to engage, according to Christina, is to become an empathetic listener and respect the voices of our children, thus becoming part of the solution.
Tune into this week's episode of the Brilliantly Resilient podcast to learn more about Christina's important work and for tips about how to get involved. Be sure to listen for these additional bits of Christina's Brilliance:
- Integrating it (my experience) into my identiy now as a part of who I am is exactly how I can bring that lived experience and perspective and empathy...it allows me to listen to others and their experiences in a different way.
- I try to bring in the general public by story telling. I thought I could do it through the science and the research, but nothing changed. I had to figure out how to do it and it's through telling the stories of these kids.
- The number one way to make sure a child will have resilience or succeed is if there is someone who deeply cares about them. And it doesn't have to be the same person all of the time. I remember at different times different people deeply caring about me. Resiliency does require community action.
- I needed the safety net of a community because as a child, sometimes the step you take is right off a cliff.
- We want resiliency to have a destination but we have to realize it is an ongoing journey.
- We need to give children the space to talk about the things happening to them and laying a foundation of trust. And we need to affirm their reality and what's happening in their lives.
Reach out to Christina at: [email protected]. Let's be Brilliantly Resilient together!
XO,
Mary Fran