Lead with Grace, The Podcast

Drawing from present and past story, host Karina examines our "seemingly meaningless" communication moments that we have daily. How can we be more aware of our own subtle communication, quick comments, and unintentional messages? How can we respond to those unintentional communications moments from our past that may have limited our growth? Download the Reflections journal pages at leadwithgrace.com in the blog post to guide your communications and mindset reflection process. Episode ends with a blessing to have you uplifted, refocused, and re-centered to continue on your everyday leadership. 

Host Karina reflects on an old favorite pair of pants that she once loved. Although these are from nearly twenty years ago now, a recent question in a staff meeting to share an embarrassing moment brought the memory back fresh. Maybe this old love has something new to teach her yet. The reflection episode ends with brief journal prompts on mending and a prayer and blessing. All are welcome.     "Mending" journal prompt e-book resource gift linked here at the end of the post. 

Published parenting and nature writer and writing instructor Angela Anagnost-Repke shares the profpound impact nature has had on her, her children, and her writing students. Life's unexpected challenges, including the pandemic, prompted for her new career and mindset shifts that hold important lessons for us all. This summer season and beyond, let's return to nature to heal and just be. Anagnost-Repke offers simple nature-appreciation strategies for ourselves and the young people in our lives too! Together, we can embrace change with grace...naturally.     

Spring is in the air, and during this season of change, how often do we find that our warm weather bodies and warm weather wardrobes aren't what we remembered them or hope them to be? This conversation with wardrobe stylist, entrepreneur, and top 25 style podcast host Jennifer Mackey-Mary can help our minds and our wardrobes embrace change with grace and improve our own Everyday Style. Here, we rethink the idea of makeovers and transformation and instead tap into love, acceptance, and embrace the windows of opportunity that may only be a good pair of pants away!  

English/theatre teacher and communications coach Karina Nelsen challenges her long-held belief that high expectations produce high achievement and excellence. Based on her work in creative contexts and with oppositional and adult learners, she offers a distinction that has helped break through limitations these expectations can unexpectedly create. Ends with a moment of refective practice and prayer. All are welcome.   A whole new season 3 of conversations with everyday leaders, leading right where they are with everything they are, is in the works! Subscribe so you don't miss an episode! 

English teacher, theatre artist, type A, and INFJ host Karina Nelsen discusses how judgment can limit our growth and connection with others. Speaking from her own struggles,  she reflects on alternatives and strategies to surrender judgment. Ends with a moment of reflective meditation. All are welcome.   

Writing Teacher and Theatre Director host Karina Nelsen reflects on her own struggles with anxiety, her experience with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and how a focus on verbs can help our writing and our lives. This meditative reflection ends with practical tools and a prayer from theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. All are welcome.  

This first episode in the solo "Reflections" series explores the mental battle in allowing stillness in our lives, revealing a realization of its simple importance. This brief meditative episode encourages listeners to reflect on their own moments of stillness and ends with a moment of prayer and grace. All are welcome.  Music by Lesfm by Pixabay 

Health/ Life Coach and holistic healing practicioner Jen Tollefson shares her journey from loss to personal healing as she refined and combined her passions to help others through her company Rejuix. In this conversation, she shares various healing practices for mind, body, and soul including leading a 5 minute EFT and meditation session at the end of the episode. From the power of the feminine to rebuilding life after loss, to setting practical affirmations, you will come away from this conversation feeling a bit more energized and hopeful.   more information at Rejuix.com and leadwithgrace.com  

Previously serving in the US Army, Tiffaney Styles is an active promoter of health, fitness and overall wellbeing in mind, body and spirit. She is a VP of Sales and volunteers on the board for Camp Sweet Life, which helps encourage emotional healing and connection for young people with Juvenile Diabetes. As a survivor of an eating disorder and mother of three, she openly shares her journey to break the stigma around mental health, to help people seek help and to provide HOPE to those who are struggling.    

The Lead with Grace Bookclub reads and discusses Emily and Amelia Nagoski's best-selling book Burnout.  Jenny and Karina share laughs, personal experiences, and practical strategies they used based on the book.  Grab a beverage and pull up a seat in this circle of conversation. Then join the private Facebook group to connect with everyday leaders just like you leading right where they are with everything they are.   

Conversation with Atina Diffley, organic farmer, public speaker and author of the 2013 Minnesota Book Award winner, Turn Here Sweet Corn: Organic Farming Works--a memoir based on Atina’s life running the Gardens of Eagan organic vegetable farm. Her advocacy has addressed the pressures of suburban development, and she successfully led a legal and citizen campaign against the notorious polluters, Koch Industries, to create an Organic Mitigation Plan for organic farms in Minnesota.  In this conversation, author, speaker, and organic farmer and advocate Atina Diffley shares her spiritual connection to the land, the importance of listening, community benefits of organic farms, her work fostering collaboration amongst organic farmers, and the opportunity we all have to be educators of impact. She explains the importance of community to her successful legal and citizen campaign again Koch Industries to create an Organic Mitigation Plan to protect organic farms in Minnesota and beyond.  The trial story begins at the 1 hour mark, not to be missed! more about Atina Diffley at https://atinadiffley.com    

This conversation with Dawn Anderson and Suzanne Rutt, community volunteers leading the Montgomery Kolacky Days Royalty Ambassador Program, explores the importance of volunteerism, small talk, community festivals, and growing leaders. As community event organizers throughout our country can attest, 2020 was a challenging year demanding creativity, new ways to connect, and also new appreciations for the meaning of these ways to build and strengthen community bonds.

Nikki Bettcher Erickson is a Mom, Wife, Educator and Freelance Theatre artist and arts advocate living in Rural, West Central Minnesota. She works as a special education teacher and has a Master of Science in special education with a focus on Autism Spectrum Disorders. Through her work in all of these areas, Nikki connects people, from young to old, and contributes to the building and celebrating of her community through the arts. Erickson offers practical strategies on grant writing, words of encouragement, service learning, theatre for social justice, collaboration amongst artists, and appreciation of neurodiverse perspectives.

First in the series "Building Community in Grace," Minnesota  Mermaid owner and educator Jemma Wahl helps others young and old alike step outside their comfort zones to experience the Minnesota lake life she loves. With a collaborative and positive mindset, Jemma Wahl shares ways we all can connect with nature, support our local communities, and find ways to integrate passions together in order to find fulfillment and meaning in our lives. For more information visit https://mnmermaid.com and https://leadwithgrace.com. 

The Lead with Grace book club is our new six-book adventure to support the connection of everyday leaders, leading right where they are with everything they are. Here we’ll gather together and read books and share conversations in the area of personal development, faith, communication, and leadership. Each month’s book will center around a theme important to the work we do here --Mindset, Communication, Collaboration, Connection, Self-Care, and Faith.   Our first month’s theme launches in April, with the launch of the second season of the Lead with Grace podcast. We have a new line-up of great conversations with everyday leaders planned for Season 2, but let's expand the conversations through our connections together in the book club.  For April, we will read and discuss Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski. We begin with self-care Grab a friend, grab a copy of Burnout, and join the circle of conversation! Remember, small steps, wrapped in lots of grace! visit leadwithgrace.com to connect 

Dean of Students Glenna Stone shares her strategies for navigating intense conversations with students and parents. Learn how to begin tough conversations, better hold people accountable for their actions, and get to the underlying factors of challenging behavior. This veteran teacher and licensed administrator shares her mindset of listening, walking along side those she serves, and the personal competitiveness and hard work she learned from her educator parents. 

Long-time 911 Dispatcher Krystal Ludgate shares the story behind her life's work as a reliable voice we turn to in our community in intense times. We talk communication strategies, mindsets to deal with stress and negativity, as well as a practical method to "dispatch" during life's problematic moments. This cheerleader for first responders explains the importance of encouragement, being real, and getting space to regroup.  

Choral conductor, educator, and artist Renee King shares how her world travels changed her view of herself and her world and how that is reflected in her art. King talks about leadership and building confidence, empathy, and understanding and shares how she navigates her own moments of risk taking, transition, and exploration. 

Graduating from high school on the same day as Bobby Kennedy died, Master Teacher, Theatre Director, and Speech Coach Carol Ottoson dedicates her life to service through her thirty-year teaching career. We circle together to hear how she builds relationships with students and colleagues, creates connections through her spiritual gift of hospitality and an open heart, and honors her parents' legacy in small and large ways. Mentor to so many and now to you, Carol Ottoson.   

English Educator, Speech Coach, and Leader of Student Leaders reflects on how his own experiences of tragic loss shape the way he finds purpose in the present and strength through his "Tomorrow" mindset.   This Star Wars and superhero fan reflects on life lessons of Joseph Campbell's work, the importance of collaboration, and continuous growth cycles. Show Theme: "Easter Season" by Pressmaster, Royalty Free Music, Purchased through AudioMicro    

In the first in the series, Surrounded by Grace, future co-host Mackenzie Madsen talks about leading an integrated life of purpose. As an English educator, public speaking coach, community leader of young people, and small business owner in the area of wedding and party planning and decor, Mackenzie shares her unique path as an everyday leader, willing to embrace new adventures.     Show Theme: "Easter Season" by Pressmaster, Royalty Free Music, Purchased through AudioMicro

Join us, two everyday leaders, led by a spirit of grace, working to lead right where our feet are planted. Here we’ll circle together for conversations with leaders from all backgrounds and hear their stories. We’ll see how intentional lives are led and dive into the tools, mindsets, communication methods, collaborative strategies, and self-care that make it all possible. The whole story of leadership is vast. For every success, there are moments of doubt, and for every experienced CEO there is a young entrepreneur with an idea they just can’t keep to themselves. We’re excited to share the experiences of seasoned and emergent leaders in their own words, and, maybe, unleash the future leader within you. Hosted by Karina Nelsen and Mackenzie Madsen, two educators, public speaking coaches, and more. Full bios at leadwithgrace.net. Show Theme: "Easter Season" by Pressmaster, Royalty Free Music, Purchased through AudioMicro