Fenom Podcast

Elizabeth Raymond is Charlottesville born and raised. After attending the University of Virginia for her Bachelors in Psychology and Masters in Education, Elizabeth ventured into the world of entrepreneurship with her mom and sister, as one of the Co-Founders of NoBull Burger, "the true veggieburger". NoBull Burger produces and wholesales veggie burgers to over 400 grocery stores and restaurants throughout the country, all the while spreading the message of “when you eat good, you feel good and ultimately live a happier, healthier life”. This mantra is evidenced by only using real-food ingredients and chef-driven flavor. When not immersed in the many hats of running a business, she spends time working in her community with the Luke J. Raymond Foundation. She, along with her family, created this organization to advocate for mental health awareness and suicide prevention. Elizabeth’s passions encompass the many facets of health and wellness, altogether physically, mentally and socially. She very much enjoys enhancing her life through serving and connecting to others, spending time in nature, practicing yoga, anything involving food & travel, and learning more about this wild world we live in. 

In this episode of the Fenom Podcast I am talking with my good friend, Gina Ward. Gina is the founder of SHIFT2LEAD, a Leadership Development School. She’s a fellow Certified Baptiste Yoga Teacher and Studio owner. Gina’s story has something that I think we can all identify with, her life has been on a constant stair stepper of jobs, titles, accomplishments and approvals from others. She overworked herself in the effort to prove her capabilities and worthiness and I can see so much of my story here, too. Even when an initial diagnosis of Leukemia was given to her, she continued to press on until the illness had to literally knock her out for Gina to make a real shift in her life. This shift has allowed her to lean into her power instead of forcing her way through life. She embraced the less is more mantra that the pandemic has ushered in and found space, clarity and a passion for life that has led her to her life’s purpose- giving tools and techniques to connect people with what is holding them back and put them back into their power. I invite you to listen and see the similarities in your own story and what would it take for you to finally shift your perspective…

Michelline Hall is a Lynchburg Virginia photographer, entrepreneur, and arts advocate.  I came across Michelline when someone shared a post of her “American Woman?” Art exhibit at Lynchburg’s Midtown Outdoor Art Gallery a couple of months ago and I was blown away at her amazing images of stylized portraits of Black and brown women that explore identity and culture. Her 10 photos hang on the side of a commercial building in Lynchburg’s Midtown. Michellin explains, “Art is essential. Representation is vital. Expanding art interactions beyond traditional venues and into wider communities has always been my passion.” This quote perfectly sums up her “why”. In speaking more with Michelline, I learned she is the co-founder and Director of Marketing of Blackwater Branding Agency alongside her husband which opens up the conversation to the importance of pivoting and branding in a pandemic as well as working alongside your husband, raising a family and making time for YOU to live your purpose and passion. Once again, this is why I do this podcast to spotlight an inspirational, phenomenal woman. I hope you enjoy our conversation and catch a piece of Michelline’s spark of life!

Best of Season 1, Part 1 is a collection of the snips and clips of our interviews from the first half of the year by Sarah Trundle, Jennifer Givens, Kristin Watson, Lizzie Clark, Chelsea Wilson, and Chris Steiner. These ladies give so much insight on being a woman- an athlete, a mother, a leader, a partner, a cancer survivor, an entrepreneur, and living their biggest life. Whether you know these emotions or experiences or not, this podcast is to share our truth and knowledge to rise together in sisterhood and celebrate our story. 

On this episode of the Fenom Podcast, I am talking with two of my most accomplished guests I believe I had on here.  Drs. Leigh-Ann Webb and Ebony Jade Hilton are pretty phenomenal women, they are board certified physicians at the University of Virginia as well as professors, consultants, entrepreneurs and authors. These ladies came together out of the concern to address the disproportionate impact COVID19  has had on communities of color. They created the children’s ebook called We’re Going to Be OK, which is a child’s guide for staying healthy, there are writing prompts and actionable steps to help children cope with stress during this difficult time.  We’re Going to Be OK was one of the top five entries in the Emory Global Health Institute’s COVID19 Children’s ebook competition and has been hailed as a great tool for parents and educators to discuss healthy habits as well as talking points to guide the emotions children are experiencing during the pandemic. Leigh and Ebony are powerful, successful humans, they are powerful, successful women AND they just so happen to be powerful, successful black women.  And right now, we cannot ignore the turmoil in our country, in this interview I couldn’t bypass the racial tension, the injustices, the police brutality that continue to play out in our society, as well as the overwhelming affect COVID19 is having specifically on African American and Hispanic communities…I was worried if I could do a good job in leading this discussion, I heard the heaviness and the toil this is taking on both of these women- it’s a lot to unpack, to open up and discuss about how the system has been built- not necessarily that it is broken but that it has been built this way…and we talk about all the things. Actually, they talk, I listen and that is what I encourage all my white folks to do right now… listen, unlearn, reflect and be a part of the solution together going forward. I hope you take away as much as I did from this conversation. 

In this episode I am discussing a topic that has been weighing heavily on me as a mother, business owner and leader in my community.  I was listening to a talk a woman was giving recently, disussing  her struggle with roles of women today versus what she grew up hearing. She said as she was growing up there was always this common way of thinking that women were to be the grease and not the gasoline to the big machine of life. That phrase- the grease and not the gasoline was a huge aha for me. This is what I have felt in my life and where I am struggling right now during this pandemic. I am the grease, can I also  be the gasoline? Should I also be the gasoline? Or does this throw us all back to just greasing the wheels? More importantly, as I’m raising my children, 2 girls, 2 boys, what do tell my girls? How do I direct and guide my girls to be and do anything they put their minds to- or do I tell them like it is…if you have a family you’ll have to change or give up everything you think you are.

In this episode of the Fenom Podcast I am talking with Bridget Baylin, the Director of M Health for The Seraphic Group. M Health provides online education tools for learning how to foster the body’s intrinsic healing abilities. They have an integrative care clinic here in Charlottesville called the M Clinic.She is also an Ayurvedic Health Counselor at the Clinic and provide workshops and classes on Ayurveda. In each of these episodes there is a different theme that emerges through the conversations. And this episode is no different. Bridget discusses how she found Ayurveda and how it is applicable to everyone to find their true nature and how to see where we are out of balance.  In Bridgets own life journey she found her own imbalance with her realization that she was not doing something she truly loved while she was working at the US Capitol when the events of 9/11, the anthrax scare and the DC shooter took place and put it all in perspective for her.  This is why I love her story. She reached out and found another way, another path that has led her to this point in life, in line with her calling and doing what lights her up but also gives her space.

In this episode of the Fenom Podcast I am talking with Kendall Barger a a nurse in the medical intensive care unit at the University of Virginia who has been working tirelessly over the last 3 months with Covid 19 patients. I’ve known Kendall for a couple of years now as she has helped work the front desk at my studio, FlyDog Yoga. If I could clone her, I would. She’s a “What else can I do?” kind of worker, which is a rare character trait to find these days. Her work ethic can be traced to her upbringing with two parents who instilled in her a deep sense of faith, community, gratitude, and service to others which you can see plays a foundational role in who Kendall is as a person. In speaking with Kendall about being on the front lines of the global pandemic we are currently in she speaks humbly about “just doing her job” but it is her selfless service and compassion to her patients and their families that takes it beyond just a job and more into being an exceptional human being.

In this episode of the Fenom Podcast, I am going back to my Alabama roots with my former Daphne High School classmate, Nikki James Zellner.  I always knew her to be a high perfomer- she was smart, friendly, creative, outgoing and I knew she was going to do big things in life…we went our separate ways and found our separate hardships and curve balls in life and reconnected when we found both of our journeys ending up in Virginia.  Her early career had her launching 15 lifestyle magazines working behind the scenes to create written and visual stories to captivate audiences. In her 30’s she married into the military and stumbled upon the Milspo Project, a nonprofit helping military spouse entrepreneurs which empowered her own entrepreneurial spirit.  Nikki is  now the Founder of Where Content Connects. She’s a Content Strategist who empowers women visionaries + leaders to use their personal experiences + authentic voices to express themselves, connect more deeply to their audience and change the world. Nikki has recently taken on the role of activist pushing for legislative change for carbon monoxide sensors in schools and daycare in Virginia (and on a national level) after her own scare with carbon monoxide poisoning at her childrens daycare. She’s on fire now, with a book in the works, a entrepreneurs content planning workbook and master class for social media as well as creating her own Chronic Achievers podcast spotlighting various women leaders as they deal with chronic illness.

In this episode, Eliza gives a quick check in on the state of things in Week 9 of our quarantine with COVID 19.  She talks about the ups and the downs, the ins and the outs we are all experiencing right now. Someone recently left a positive review comment for this podcast the other day which made Eliza appreciate being acknowledged and feel "seen".  The emotional energy she felt led her to ask if it is possible that we can put our gratitude out to those that make a difference by inspiring or supporting us or others in the world.  Could we create a circle of gratitude- what we put forth into the world energetically would come back to us. 

On this episode of the Fenom Podcast I am talking with a good friend of mine, Lisa Shelton, she’d definitely one of those people I can carry on a conversation with for hours on end.  Her journey in life thus far has had many twists and turns at her own doing. She grew up in a very traditional, conservative home where she sought the approval of others and strived to be the best despite her actual interest in it. By her early 20’s she began to strike out on her own path by starting her career as a Physical Therapist that spanned over 20 years in numerous settings from outpatient rehab to dementia care.  But she found her true calling when she began working with the fascial system with the chronic pain population and quickly realized that she was a myofascial release/craniosacral therapist at heart.  The desire to explore fascial treatment to its fullest potential prompted Lisa to become a licensed massage therapist so that she could open her own practice outside the confines of the PT world.     Lisa opened the doors to her private practice in 2011.  Her continued passion to understand the healing process has led Lisa to study astrology and yoga.  She incorporates both into her treatment sessions.  She has pursued these passions while also being married and raising two boys. She enjoys learning and exploring all areas of healing so that she can continue to marry her allopathic medicine background  to her more newly acquired holistic appreciation of health. A conversation with Lisa is never boring and this episode really spotlights listening to the call of who you are and who you want to create yourself as.

In this episode I wanted to change things up and do a short series of 3 interviews from the frontlines of women entrepreneurs in the Restaurant and Service industry here in Charlottesville, Virginia. Each interview Ive ever had, there always seems to be an overarching theme and that was exactly what unfolded in each of these interviews- family, community, comfort and love which we undoubtably need at this time. Our small businesses are the backbone of our community-we are the first you go to for PTA fundraisers or to sponsor youth sports, we employ so many people in our area and work with numerous other local vendors and businesses. Simply put, the character of a city relies on the strength of our small businesses. These phenomenal women are putting everything they have into making sure their business can pivot and continue to serve Charlottesville through these unprecedented times.  Originally, I was going to have them all in one podcast and I have since decided that I wanted them to have their own spotlight.  In this episode I am talking with Kelsey Gillan, one of the co-owners of Found.Market which is a whole family affair. Her brother is the Kitchen Manager, her sister is the Office Manager, her mom is the retail/purchasing manager, her dad is the facilities Manager and delivery driver and Kelsey is the Wholesale Manager and in charge of Communication. Found is a kitchen, eatery and marketplace in the Belmont neighborhood of Charlottesville. They have a wholesale production of their Little Things Shortbread which is the BEST cookie you’ve ever had- hands down. They also have homemade foods to eat-in or take to-go. Their marketplace is full of gifts and knickknacks from independent makers around the U.S. Their pivot during this pandemic first had to do with supporting their family’s need and reconfiguring their entire online inventory for pre-order and curbside pick up and their shortbread orders have tripled as people have found out how they are the perfect consumable gift to friends and family near and far.  Times are tough but the Gillan family is more resilient, creative and determined to thrive.

In this episode of the Fenom Podcast, I wanted to change things up and do a short series of 3 interviews from the frontlines of women entrepreneurs in the Restaurant and Service industry here in Charlottesville, Virginia. Each interview I've ever had, there always seems to be an overarching theme and that was exactly what unfolded in each of these interviews- family, community, comfort and love which we undoubtably need at this time. Our small businesses are the backbone of our community-we are the first you go to for PTA fundraisers or to sponsor youth sports, we employ so many people in our area and work with numerous other local vendors and businesses. Simply put, the character of a city relies on the strength of our small businesses. These phenomenal women are putting everything they have into making sure their business can pivot and continue to serve Charlottesville through these unprecedented times.  Originally, I was going to have them all in one podcast and I have since decided that I wanted them to have their own spotlight.  In this episode I am talking with Ashleigh Abrams co owner of Moe’s Original BBQ on Ivy Rd and Water St. Moe’s has been Cville’s home for Alabama Style BBQ and southern sides for going on 5 years in June. Before this pandemic they had dine in, to go, a food truck and an extensive catering service and have had to pivot to just curbside pickup with boxed lunch catering and family dinner to go packs all at in affordable price. Ashleigh’s insight into making her livelihood work in whatever way possible while also juggling being a preschool teacher and parent to her two young boys during this lockdown shows her strength of character and love for her community and family.

Shaina Allen is a bold, visionary Director focused on telling stories that bridge perspectives and create impact. She is the co-founder of Evergrain Studios. Shaina’s first independent film The Rebound won the Kaiser Permanente Thrive Award and numerous Audience Awards and Jury Awards in it’s festival run, it has been used in multiple research studies, and was distributed on Netflix. Her latest credits include co-director of a new docu-series in production titled Moving Minds, Director of Photography on a docu-series titled "Superminority" currently in post-production, and a short documentary titled "Wolfpack" following an all-veterans wheelchair basketball team. She has spoken on stages across the country, including Yale University, and was named one of Creativ Magazines “15 Women Who Wow”. Shaina grew up at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and graduated cum laude from James Madison University with a degree in Media Arts & Design with a Digital Video & Cinema focus and minors in Film Studies and Anthropology. Her mission is to create art with impact, while building community and enjoying the journey. I have had the good fortune of knowing Shaina for years now and she has shown me that we all have the opportunity to be in pursuit of our dreams, joys and passions.  It won't always be easy but with hustle, grit and a little bit of luck, we can all be the creators of our own story. 

In this episode of the Fenom Podcast I am talking with Lizzie Clark the owner of Hot Yoga Charlottesville.  We are talking on the state of our community in the midst of this pandemic and how we came together as two of Charlottesville’s leaders in yoga to be one of the first in our area to shut our studios down and take them online while trying to juggle our young children during a lockdown. Lizzie is the youngest of three and split her time growing up in Northern Virginia and then moved right outside of Chicago. She attended and played soccer at Sewanee and majored in Geology. She chose her major so she could spend her days outside hiking and being in the beautiful nature that surrounded the campus. She used her major to become a legislative aide to a senator on Capital Hill doing Environmental and Energy Policy as well as Agriculture. After going through September 11th and the anthrax scare that followed, a couple of months later, Lizzie realized this environment was toxic to her wellbeing. Her cousin was moving to Charlottesville and Lizzie decided she needed a change of scenery and made the move with her. Lizzie has been a practitioner of yoga since high school and her interest deepened while working in DC to help her maintain her sanity. She began practicing Bikram method in the basement of a Mexican restaurant of all places, and she was hooked. When she moved to Charlottesville she noticed the lack of yoga studios and decided to open Bikram Yoga Charlottesville, she went to LA for a 9 week Bikram Yoga intensive and came back to open her studio in 2004 which became overwhelmingly successful.  This is what is so inspirational and something I strive to incorporate in my own leadership from Lizzie is that she has owned a yoga studio for over 16 years and has seen recessions, marriages, childbirths, rebranding, renaming, moving locations, being right at the center of the Charlottesville riots and now having to shut her studio down indefinitely but she remains a pillar of strength, perseverance and a bright light that helps to navigate the darkness and uncertainty of these times. Lizzie rallies her teachers and her students to go with the flow and make the most of what is right here for you and that is what draws us all to her and makes her a phenomenal woman and leader.

In this episode of the Fenom Podcast, Eliza discussed how this pandemic is affecting her business and family. She talks about the hard pivot she and her husband made for FlyDog Yoga in fully developing their live stream and on demand classes to keep the studio going during this time but to provide a space for their community to stay in connection with our community to have familiarity and accountability to keep moving and breathing.  Eliza talks about 5 things that she has focused on to stay productive through this time- Emergency funds, Planning for the worst, Pivoting, Community, and Gratitude.

In this episode of the Fenom Podcast, Eliza gives us a basic Here and Now meditation to help ground us, give us clarity and space to make room and see the possibilities and opportunities that allow us to create a new way of being. 

In this episode of the Fenom Podcast I am talking to Lisa Goldstein, Lisa is a Board-certified Nurse Practitioner who has worked in a variety of in-patient and out-patient settings for the past 25 years. She has a Bachelors of Science from Syracuse University and a Masters of Science from the University of Southern California and will be pursuing her post-masters certificate in holistic nursing. She has spent her career working in women’s health, critical care and education with her primary focus on wellness and whole body healing. Lisa’s own journey through breast cancer and the mitigating effects of treatment, has allowed her a perspective of care, compassion and commitment that she delivers to all of her patients. During her own treatment, she utilized holistic and integrative care gaining her perspective of what it feels like to be a patient seeking treatment beyond traditional health care practices. I am so excited to speak with Lisa today as she is such an remarkable example of thrivivor of breast cancer- she didn’t just survive it, she didn’t let it define her, she allowed herself to thrive and to really examine what makes her come alive and to serve others with this experience. As luck would have it being a patient also gave her a new career at the MClinic, an integrative health center where patients and practitioners are engaged as a collaborative team to uncover the root cause of a patient’s disease to achieve lasting health outcomes. Lisa creates a respectful environment for collaboration between the patient and other health care providers in order to develop a comprehensive treatment plan, realizing a level of health patients never thought possible.

On this episode of the Fenom Podcast I am talking with Coach Chris Steiner-Wilcoxson, the head coach of FIU softball, a mother of 3 and a force to be reckoned with. I grew up in the next town over from Chris and witnessed first hand her tenacity and passion she had in any sport she played.  I had the privilege to play with her on some travel ball teams as well as Auburn University’s softball team. Out of college Chris began her coaching legacy as a head softball coach with high school softball teams and quickly progressed into college, first at Reinhardt University and then Auburn University at Montgomery where she won a National Championship and various National Coaches awards. Chris went on to test her coaching ability by  building up the softball program at Alabama State University where she led them to 2 conference championships and set every single record as a head coach. She was the first in school history to amass over 400 college wins and over 500 career wins. Recently she has made the step to coach Division 1 softball at FIU in Miami Florida to further prove her prowess as a head coach. She splits her time in Florida and Alabama as she and her family work out logistics in supporting her dreams while she dedicates her free time to being a mom to her children. I have watched Chris at a distance and have been truly amazed at her passion for the game of softball and her dedication as a mother.  She inspires me to continue to pursue life and live it full on.

In Episode 7 of the Fenom Podcast, Eliza discusses being in Flow.  We can all relate to being stuck in various tasks, concepts or phases of life.  Corporations, entrepreneurs, athletes, writers, artists, mamas, grandmamas and even YOU benefit from being in a flow state of mind and corporations and athletes spend big money in trying to enhance this state of mind.  Flow was first coined as a lifestyle noun in 1990 by a Hungarian Psychologist who found 4 phases of Flow and wrote about how humans want to turn avoid and avoid conflict, struggle and stress but these are exactly the adversities we need to seek out and continue to put ourselves in front of to learn how to overcome our fears and rewire our brains to learn to find flow in any task.  Eliza introduces tools and techniques she implements in all her classes, trainings and programs to teach her students how to change their thought process when they feel stuck. 

In this episode of the Fenom Podcast I am talking with Jennifer Givens, she is a UVa Law School Associate Professor, on the General Faculty at UVA law and the Director of the Innocence Project Clinic. Previously she worked as an assistant federal defender in the for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and as a senior staff attorney with the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center, where she represented death-sentenced inmates in post-conviction proceedings. An off hand comment in a 9th grade Political Science class about how she’d “make a good lawyer,” launched Jennifer on her path of representing and serving others in, arguably, one of  their most trying times. She went straight to law school at DePaul College of Law after finishing her undergrad at Furman and found her niche after working for criminal defense attorneys who represented death row inmates in their appeals. She began working as a staff attorney out of law school and went on to become an Assistant Federal Attorney in Philadelphia where her professional career flourished. She met her now husband at 38 and had to make the complicated decision every professional woman is faced with - family or work. She decided she would make the most of her career and with the support of her husband they have figured out what works for them and their son. I have known Jenny for years and her “can do” energy is infectious whether it is in taking classes at my studio or out serving the greater community or into the class room she has the unique ability to see past obstacles and focus on what is actually possible.

In this episode of the Fenom Podcast, Eliza reads her chapter for the book she contributed to, Practice: Wisdom of the Downward Dog.  In her chapter, Getting Lost: A Homecoming, she discusses what it feels like to be lost within ourselves? Eliza explores how our journey in life is a series of ups and downs. She has discovered that getting lost is just as important as being found and that the practice of yoga provides space to tune in and listen to who we are and who we want to be. Which is a great essay but she did not realize the challenges that would lie in the year that followed.  From tearing her rotator cuff, to biopsies, to plantar fasciitis, to weight gain all while she had to stand in front of people teaching yoga classes did she have to learn to stand in her own power and embrace who she was at that moment and focus on what she could do instead of what she should do.  

Chelsea Shine Wilson is a College Basketball Analyst for ESPN and Raycom Sports. Chelsea is a former UVa Women’s basketball star and played under both Debbie Ryan and Joanne Boyle. She graduated from UVa with a degree in Sociology but it was an internship at Newsradio WINA that piqued her interest with sports radio and broadcasting. In 2013 Chelsea began her work as a color commentator for ACC Women’s Basketball as well as working for the Virginia Athletics Foundation.  Chelsea met and married former UVa baseball player Tyler Wilson and this is where her story gets really interesting. Tyler continued his baseball career from college as he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles, he played in the Minors until he got the call to make his major league debut with the Orioles.  While Chelsea supported and cheered on her husband she continued to pursue her broadcasting dreams and aspirations. In 2018 Tyler signed with the Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization and Chelsea also found out she was pregnant- with TWINS!  In that first season abroad Chelsea gave birth to her twin boys in South Korea. This is what is so remarkable, to me, Chelsea has continued her work in Broadcasting as an Analyst for ESPN, splitting her seasons with Tyler while they both dedicate themselves to raising their boys in a very non-traditional set up.  Ultimately it is their amazing relationship of support and team work that speaks so loudly of their character and of their faith. I am thrilled to be able to discuss this fantastic journey Chelsea has set out on because I know this phenomenal woman is destined for big things in life! 

Oh the places Kristin Watson’s legs have taken her!  On Episode 3 of the Fenom Podcast I am speaking with Kristin, she is the owner of Purvelo - a rhythm based indoor cycle studio with 4 locations in Charlottesville VA, Auburn AL, Chapel Hill NC, and Athens GA. Growing up she was the youngest on the block and her scrappy personality had her keeping up and playing all the sports with her older brother and the neighborhood boys.  Soccer was her life until 7th grade when she joined track and field which changed the course of her life.  She received a full scholarship to WVU where she looked for a college that was both artistically advanced as well as a top tier in athletics. She pursued her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ceramics and a minor in Art History and even studied abroad in China to complete her degree. I cannot wait to discuss this more. Kristin met her husband Peter Watson in college, she moved home and became a teacher and coach at her alma mater. Kristin and Pete’s relationship have taken them to 8 different states/countries and sometimes even living apart due to their different career paths but they made it work to support one another’s personal goals and endeavors.  Kristin opened Purvelo Charlottesville in 2015 with 3 other locations that soon followed. She looks to double that by 2022. She is also putting her artistic talents to use by creating her own line of clothing from concept to production to go along with her branded pieces of merchandise from preexisting brands. By the summer of 2020 she will have a Purvelo e-commerce store where you can get all of your branded Purvelo gear. As I know firsthand, studio ownership is not easy. Simple decisions can make or break you. How you manage your time on the minute details and create a vision for the big picture? How you build a community and hold the standard? We are talking all about that and more! 

In episode 2 of the Fenom Podcast we are talking with celebrated Charlottesville painter Sarah Trundle. Her paintings are rooted in abstraction, her many layered paintings range rom bold, geometric, brightly colored abstracts, to serene, monochromatic, minimalism. Her style explores the relationship between order and chaos, simplicity and complexity which makes patrons of art take pause and gain a deeper understanding of her work. This is a gift that all great artists have- the ability to stir something deeper within us.  But the journey to get here was not as clear cut and straightforward as it seems. In fact, her gift and passion is a fairly recent discovery.  Sarah grew up just outside of Philadelphia. While she was always creative, her first love was riding horses and rode in horse shows on the weekends.  Sarah went on to attend and graduate from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire where she majored in Psychology. Her first job out of college was as a teachers aide for an Alternative School in Washington DC. This job solidified her decision to get her Masters in Social Work. Sarah worked as a therapist, married her college sweetheart and had 3 children.  She discontinued her work as a Therapist after her second child was born and relished the opportunity to stay at home and raise her children.  Once her youngest began school, Sarah had more time to dedicate to herself and she decided to take oil painting lessons. Painting gave her a chance to clear her head, pursue a new hobby and, she found out, she was good at it. Her passion for her new hobby was sparked. She took lessons for years and then went on to participate in art shows with other budding artists and was taken by surprise when she received her first offer from someone to buy one of her pieces.  Now her artwork is represented by several galleries nationwide and she is honored to have her work in numerous private and public collections internationally.  I am excited to talk with Sarah today and explore how we are always in creation of who we are. Our life is just as many layered as her paintings but how do we see the opportunities that that may lead us to another path and listen to the call that we can always be something more.

In the first episode of the Fenom Podcast Eliza Whiteman introduces herself and discusses her "why" in creating this podcast. She discusses her life early on and pivotal moments that have created the foundation that she relies on today. Eliza talks about being an athlete, a military spouse, a mother and being a small business owner of FlyDog Yoga in Charlottesville, Va. Perhaps the biggest gift of her life was walking into a yoga class and learning how to hold herself up all on her own.