Riveting Broads

On this week’s Riveting Broads’ episode, Molly and Jacqui take a minute to reflect on everything happening in our world due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. With the sudden and devastating loss of Molly’s dad, Don, Molly and Jacqui attempt to to navigate the unimaginable pain associated with grieving and coping through any major disruption in your own way. The broads talk about collective trauma, coping with loss during a pandemic, and how there is no right way to do things right now, so we’re just doing the best we can (and listening to medical professionals’ advice). To support the Kelley Family, friends and loved ones can make a contribution in Don’s name to Harborlight Community Partners, of which he was a devoted supporter and long time board member, or any local nonprofit on the front lines of the COVID-19 Pandemic. IF you have been affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic, you can refer to list this of references and resources for individuals and businesses in MA. Thank you to our front line workers for the sacrifices you continue to make for the greater good and health of our society. Please support them by staying home (if you can).

For this week’s Riveting Broads’ episode, Molly and Jacqui are joined by Dianna Ciruolo, owner and founder of Staffing Studio, a Diversity & Inclusion Consultant from an ally-ship position, speaker, feminist, and author, to talk about the importance of ally-ship and looking outside of the box past your own perspective to see others’ and how you can help them. The three broads explore their individual experiences with altering personal biases. being aware of the barriers some face that others don’t, communicating about privilege, and channeling adversity and luck as vehicle for change. To see the “Life of Privilege” video mentioned in this episode, click here. Also, jokes!

For this week’s Riveting Broads’ episode, Molly and Jacqui are joined by Myozen Joan Amaral, owner and founder of Zen Center Northshore, to talk Buddhist Principles, human suffering, the true meaning of Zen, and what happens when you’re able to ‘be with everything.’ The three broads explore their individual experiences with suffering, preconceived notions of what it means to be ‘zen,’ building communities of support, and how to give ourselves space to find our way. Also, jokes!

On this week’s Riveting Broads’ episode, Molly and Jacqui are joined by Amanda Goedde, disruptor, activist, community manager, inclusivity advocate and wellness influencer, to discuss how to handle being newly ‘known’ on the internet, diversity, inclusion, acceptance and managing anxiety. The three broads talk about feeling insecure online, learning to say ‘no’ to opportunities that take you away from your authentic self, separating yourself from your online presence, and how to establish healthy boundaries with your technology. Also, jokes! For more information on how to attend or support the 2020 Riveting Broads Summit, please visit the following link. We can’t wait to say hello!

TW: Discussions of physical, emotional, and sexual assault. On this week’s special Riveting Broads’ episode, Molly talks to Jacqui about her experience with domestic abuse. Through recounting her relationship, the broads discuss the blurred lines of toxic vs. abusive behavior, mixed with the confusion, manipulation, policing, intimidation and the loss of oneself. Further, they discuss how to validate one’s experience and how to move on from trauma. Or alternatively, how to support someone going through it. NOTE: If you or a loved one are in an abusive situation, you are not alone. We are here and there are resources for you. If you are local to the North Shore, please consider using HAWC as a resource. HAWC provides free services to abuse victims. To understand if what you’re experiencing is abuse, or to start making a safety plan, call their hotline at 1-800-547-1649.

For this week’s Riveting Broads’ episode, Molly and Jacqui are joined by Alyse Grimm, owner and founder of Things to Do in Salem, to talk body image, weight loss, dysmorphia and the common missteps that can happen when commenting on other people’s bodies. The three broads explore their individual experiences with internal and external judgments, comparison, focusing on metrics vs. their levels of confidence and how unsolicited opinions whether positive or negative can have a powerful impact. Also, jokes!

On this week's episode, the broads were joined by Ajna Pisani, psychotherapist and transformative coach, to explore the pervasive misinformation surrounding sex and intimacy.  The three women discuss libido as a life-sustaining energy, body autonomy, arousal preceding desire for women and the challenge to but value of prioritizing pleasure over 'productivity' when it comes to building a solid foundation of intimacy and connection.

On this week's episode, Molly and Jacqui are joined by Meg Grant, educator, writer, radical empath and Director of the Academic Access Studio and Adjunct Professor at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA. The three broads talk about the power of exercising radical acceptance, owning the evolution of one's personal narrative and how it's fine to follow life's 'squiggly line'. Also, jokes! 

On this week’s special Riveting Broads’ episode, the broads take the time to reflect back on a whirlwind six month podcast journey. And what a journey it has been! What they’ve learned, what they’re planning and how they hope to continuously evolve through the Riveting Broads’ platform.

On this week’s episode, Jacqui and Molly are joined by Karen Ristuben, Program Director at the Essex County Community Foundation where she manages the Creative County Initiative in partnership with the Barr Foundation and many other arts funders across Essex County (North of Boston). This effort, over a 5-year period, will invest more than $2 Million in the arts, culture and creative sector. The three broads discuss the role of figurative and literal bridge-building, place-making, arts and culture, creative ‘bridgers’ and creative capital in building rich, sustainable, diverse and alluring community ‘destinations’ that attract and inspire current and prospective citizens. Also, jokes!

On this week’s Riveting Broads’ episode, Molly and Jacqui are joined by Doneeca Thurston, Director of the Lynn Museum and Lynn Arts, to explore Imposter Syndrome, or the tendency to question or justify away one’s own success and how age, race and gender can intertwine to create the perfect cocktail of insecurity. The three broads discuss representation in leadership, how women are taught to shrink themselves in different ways, owning your self worth and expertise and unlearning what success look like in order to clear the way for your own success. Also, jokes!

Jacqui and Molly are joined by Afro Latina activist, Executive Director at Amplify LatinX and founder and owner at Cojuelos Productions, Rosario Ubiera-Minaya, to explore the politics of language, code switching (or the shifting of identity to assimilate into different environments), community activism and leadership development through the lens of the LatinX experience. The three broads explore ambition, trauma, cultural diversity and the power of representation in publicly artistic expression. Also, jokes!

On this week’s episode, Molly and Jacqui are joined by Christine Armstrong, Managing Director of the Transformative Culture Project and Board Member at Miranda’s Hearth to explore the concepts of intersectionality, trauma, identity and dissociation. The three broads discuss how the institutional canon we are taught early on in our educational system, media coverage and power dynamics overall inform how ethnic and racial stories are told - which ultimately informs how many understand only one version of the American experience. Also, jokes!

On this week’s Riveting Broads’ episode, Jacqui and Molly are joined by Kati Nalbandian, Director of Marketing and Creative Development at the Creative Collective, to explore what it means to always identify as ‘busy’, the often shame-laden world of ‘burnout’ as professional women and changing the way we empathize and connect with peers, colleagues and prospective partners. The broads talk about the reality of FOMO in career development and the acceptance that self-care in the form of self-preservation, rest and authentic conversation can become the healthy proxy to answering, “How are you doing?” with honesty and shameless vulnerability. Also, jokes!

On this BONUS Riveting Broads’ episode, Jacqui emcees (Molly was on family vacation!) the Women Builders Panel at the 5th Annual 2019 Massachusetts Tiny House Festival, featuring an inspiring panel of women builders and tiny house owners including Nora Eschenheimer of the Tiny Traveling Theatre, Shorty Robbins of Shorty’s Tiny House Nawaka, Andrea Burns, Brynn Burger of The Mama on the Rocks and Miranda Aisling of Miranda’s Hearth and Aubergine Tiny House. The panel participants chronicle their unique and inspiring journeys as women and homeowners in forming transient communities by building sustainable living solutions, ownership, sexism and thinking outside the box in order to forge your own path. Also jokes! Recording captured beautifully by Jesse Dufault of the Tiny Traveling Theater.

On this week’s episode, Jacqui and Molly are joined by Dawne Shand, the Board Officer tasked with leading the Mass Women’s Political Caucus’ charge on the North Shore of Boston to talk civil disobedience, agency and the importance of women running for office. The three broads talk about building gender parity in communities across the region, socialization of gendered behaviors, the cultural significance of misbehaving women and how Jacqui and Molly are definitely, maybe, someday going to run for office. www,mwpc.org Twitter: @dfshand, @rivetingbroads, @mollymerluzzi

On this week’s episode, Jacqui and Molly are joined by Denise Wallace, Owner and Executive Director at Creative Thinking Leadership to talk about the trials and tribulations of operating while female at the intersection of your personal and professional worlds. The three broads address the complications and perceptions around leadership, the distinction between intention and impact, how tolerance is a particularly gendered expectation and, finally, how periods, fertility, miscarriages, pregnancy, breastfeeding, trauma, adoption, and parenting infiltrate our lives.

The Riveting Broads are joined by Julie Flowers, At-Large City Councillor and Reverend at the First Baptist Church in Beverly, Massachusetts to talk about the complications of coming back to live and work in your hometown. The three women explore anxiety projection, levels of authority, how success is gendered and the nuances of self-acceptance in the face of imposter syndrome. Also, jokes! P.S. DON’T FORGET TO VOTE IN YOUR LOCAL ELECTIONS TOMORROW!

In the studio this week, Molly and Jacqui are joined by Salem City Councillor and Candidate for the 6th Congressional District of MA, Lisa Peterson, to talk about how intentional & purposeful leadership styles are viewed through a gendered lens and the false dichotomy between passion or drive and “like-ability”. The three broads talk about finding your purpose, the impossible, unattainable vision of what ‘acceptable’ leadership looks like and some helpful tips on how to tangibly measure your life’s direction in a non-scary, inspiring way. Also, jokes! For information on how to support her campaign, check out: www.lisapeterson2020.com

The broads are joined by Juls Donovan, owner and chief creator at the breakthrough handcrafted, knitware shop, Salem Style, to talk about language, performative humility, gendered communications, the emotional labor of punctuation and the burden of ‘existing’ as a woman in the world. Molly, Jacqui and Juls tackle the important topic of imposter syndrome - and how it manifests in asserting ourselves as women in the world. The three women unpack the stories society tells us about strength, power and language — and aren’t sorry about it. Also, jokes!

The broads are joined by Senator Joan Lovely to explore the importance of feeling ‘heard’ as a constituent and the ‘politics’ (pun-intended) of power dynamics in leadership, political representation, legislative influence, social media and advocacy in maintaining a healthy relationship with government. The three unpack how vital healthy dialogues with and consistent access to government officials can enact positive, tangible results in enhancing both our local and national conversations. Additionally, Molly, Jacqui and Senator discuss the implications of ‘uneven’ gendered expectations for women in politics. Also, jokes!

In the studio this week, Molly and Jacqui are joined by Miranda Aisling, founder of Miranda’s Hearth, BevArt and the Big Massachusetts Tiny House Festival, and all around stellar human, to discuss traditionally gendered spaces, community art programming, the low bar that is set for women in most professional arenas and the opportunities available to flip the script on what success looks like. Through the lens of the creative economy, the three broads talk about the power behind being underestimated, knowing when and how to share your story and how women can literally and figuratively create a narrative where they control the ending. Also, jokes!

Jacqui and Molly are joined by Arjana and Kristina Makoci, co-owners of the dynamic life coaching business, Regulate Yours, where they help a full range of individuals identify their goals and reach their dreams. The four broads talk about their shared experience as young, female entrepreneurs, healthy relationships, society’s fixation on the ‘next phase’ and how important it is to find work that is about ‘who’ you are vs. ‘what’ you do. Also, jokes!

In the studio this week, Jacqui and Molly are joined by Kristen Morrell, registered dietician, nutritionist and expert in functional medicine, to explore the polarizing arguments surrounding government-mandated vaccinations for children, associated public health risks, functional medicine, holistic health and the trials and tribulations of speaking up at the risk of controversy.This episode marks the first time that the broads intentionally tackle a topic that all three women approach from different but interrelated perspectives — and that is centered on an emotionally-charged and extremely complex issue that is continuously evolving.The Riveting Broads’ platform is intended as a safe space to ask questions that you might be hesitant to address in everyday life. The hope is that by forcing a conversation around something deemed ‘risky’ in social contexts, we can all have a more productive dialogue across the board.Also, jokes!

In this week’s episode, Molly and Jacqui are joined by Lisa Ann Santin, owner of The LASS Wardrobe, style coach and host of The Wardrobe Muse podcast, to talk about the dynamics of intergenerational power. The three broads talk ageism, sexism, professional taboos, having the guts to build non-traditional relationships and to set the right boundaries to give yourself the space to stand in your power -- no matter where you are.

Molly and Jacqui are joined by Cara Hutchins, owner of Communications Ink, to talk Ann Friedman and Aminatou Sow’s concept of the Shine Theory, or “an intentional investment, over the long term, in helping someone be their best self—and relying on their help in return” as viewed through the lens of womanhood. The three explore how the Shine Theory has manifested in their own lives, how envy, competition and insecurity can ravage personal and professional relationships and the true value of women supporting women in building collective change movements. Also, jokes!

On the 5th anniversary of the Ice Bucket Challenge, Molly and Jacqui are joined by Nancy Frates, entrepreneur, international speaker and mother of Pete Frates, the founder of the viral sensation and international phenomenon that changed the face of ALS research. The trio talk about gender dynamics in personal and professional relationships, the incredibly simple but transformative power of kindness, social media and philanthropy and how authentic personal connections can be the key to building momentum.www.alsa.org | www.spotfund.com | Team FrateTrainAlso, jokes!

In this Riveting Broads episode, the ladies speak with Christy Murfitt, vice president at Imprivata, a leading software company in the healthcare space, about being a breadwinner, planning (or not planning) for the tragically unique dynamic of the stay-at-home dad, the different recharge languages we speak and how to set healthy and sustainable boundaries at work and at home. Also, jokes!

Molly and Jacqui are joined by Daybar Gaye, founder of the acclaimed @eatdrinknorthshore_explore account on Instagram and co-host of the Eat Drink North Shore podcast, to talk about what battles are worth picking when it comes to race. The three women explore the inherent value (and potential risk!) in having uncomfortable conversations in hopes of becoming a better, more empathetic person. The three women address emotional labor, privilege, who can or cannot use the 'black card' and the difference between assimilation and appropriation, in the context of racial identity. Also, jokes!

In the next episode of the Riveting Broads podcast, Molly and Jacqui speak with Sarah Parker of Razia’s Ray of Hope, a non-profit organization centered on rebuilding communities and educating young women in Afghanistan. Prior to joining Razia’s Ray of Hope in 2017, Sarah served as director of the Council of Women World Leaders in Washington, DC, among other inspiring roles. The three women explore cultural expectations, geocentrism and the changing role of women in communities around the world. Jacqui and Molly learn how changing preconceived notions of power and education can transform the way one can survive this complicated world. Also, jokes!

Hosts, Molly Merluzzi and Jacqui Richard, are back with the next episode of their podcast, Riveting Broads, featuring Julia Campbell, activist, influencer and non-profit social media marketing expert, at Julia Campbell Digital Marketing. The three women unpack the broad strokes of feminism and the inherent obstacles that they have encountered in tackling those issues in social and professional environments. With a focus on coping mechanisms and self-awareness related to privilege and agency, Julia, Jacqui and Molly maneuver their way through scenarios that we all come to terms with in our everyday lived experiences.Also, jokes!

Hosts, Molly Merluzzi and Jacqui Richard, are back with the next episode of their podcast, Riveting Broads, featuring an inspiring and vulnerable conversation with Jenny Pullen, co-founder and baker extraordinaire of Good Night Fatty’s in Salem, Ma. The three women explore the complexities of navigating trauma and the challenges one encounters when trying to maintain mental and physical stamina in times of hardship. They look through the lens of social media, perception and the illusion of reality we all curate on-line, and find common ground in prioritizing mental health. Also, jokes!

Hosts, Molly Merluzzi and Jacqui Richard, launch the long-awaited (up for interpretation?) episode of their podcast, Riveting Broads, featuring a raucous and enlightening interview with Megan DeFranza, PhD. Megan, Jacqui and Molly reflect on the approach to women's autonomy within the Evangelical faith with a thoughtful and critical eye. All wax poetic on the conflicting ideals of conservatism and religion with the intent to explore identity, difference and bridging the gaps between religious and agnostic critics.Also, jokes!