Podcasts about chrysta

Imagine getting a call as a teenager that your mother has gone to rehab and all she's left you is a $20 bill, your little sister, and several pets to take care of. That's only one of the many stories Crysta Bilton tells in her memoir, "Normal Family: On Truth, Love and How I Met My 35 Siblings". Yes, you read that right, along with growing up with her lesbian mother who was an alcoholic cult member, Chrysta discovers her biological father was a serial sperm donor and decides to host a "reunion" with dozens of her siblings. Jennifer dives in with Chrysta to relive her misadventures, past relationships that shape us, and how Chrysta was able to find peace with her mother through her writing. 

In this episode, Coach Chrysta is back to bust three common nutrition myths that might be sabotaging your progress. We're breaking down:1️⃣ Why vodka water/club soda isn't a “healthier” alcohol choice.2️⃣ The truth about “If It Fits Your Macros” and why quality matters just as much as quantity.3️⃣ How “natural” and “all-natural” food labels can be misleading.We dive into how alcohol affects your metabolism, muscle growth, and recovery, why processed foods that “fit your macros” can still hold you back, and what to watch for on ingredient labels to avoid hidden junk.www.redwolfcrossfit.com

In this episode, Chrysta Wilson, founder of Wilson and Associates Coaching & Consulting, shares her insights into the challenges DEI efforts face today. We begin with an overview of how DEI has become a political battleground, examining how corporate and governmental entities are rolling back initiatives and what that means for marginalized communities.We talk about the misconceptions surrounding DEI, how it's often weaponized, and why systemic changes are essential beyond surface-level diversity hiring. She also breaks down the impact of recent policy changes and how they shape workplace culture, leadership decisions, and opportunities for historically underrepresented groups.Key Takeaways:The current state of DEI and its politicization.How DEI efforts have been weaponized and misunderstood.The systemic roots of inequality beyond just hiring practices.The impact of policy changes on workplace culture and leadership.Strategies for moving forward and keeping DEI efforts effective.Timestamps:00:00 Welcome Back and Introduction to Chrysta Wilson01:52 Chrysta Wilson's Background and Expertise03:17 Current Events and Community Impact06:13 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Under Attack09:35 Systemic Issues and Personal Experiences23:51 The Importance of DEI and Meritocracy27:31 Impact on Black-Owned Businesses27:53 Corporate DEI Commitments28:37 Ben & Jerry's and Corporate Values30:10 Costco's DEI Stance31:18 Future of DEI in Companies32:57 Navigating DEI Challenges34:22 Cultural Competency in the Workplace37:51 Adapting DEI Strategies41:29 Emotional Impact on Marginalized Communities47:47 Closing Thoughts and Resources"True DEI work isn't just about hiring—it's about dismantling the systems that created inequality in the first place."If you enjoyed the show and you want to join our community of other women of color who are embracing their voice head over to https://embracingyourvoicepod.com/Connect with Atima on:InstagramLinkedinChrysta Wilson Chrysta Wilson, MPA, PCC, is a DEI expert and organizational culture change consultant who is committed to empowering leaders to create equitable and inclusive workplaces. She is the founder of Wilson and Associates Coaching and Consulting, LLC, a 16-year-old consulting firm, host of the Recipe for Transformation Podcast, and creator of The School For Transformation which houses e-learning programs such as Disrupt Your DEI and DEI Dinner Party.Wilson and Associates: https://www.wilson-and-associates.com/Receipe for Transformation Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-recipe-for-transformation/id1645889391Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to Embracing Your Voice on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts. Leave a review to help us reach more listeners!#DEI backlash, #diversityandinclusion, #workplaceequity, #corporateDEIpolicies, #systemicinequality, #DEI strategy, #leadershipandinclusion

The CBC Turns On Chrystia FreelandBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/radio-baloney-the-richie-baloney-show--4036781/support.

LOL! Chrystia Freeland Thinks Trump Is Scared Of Her!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/radio-baloney-the-richie-baloney-show--4036781/support.

Chrysta Wilson joins Jasmin to explore the power of storytelling in shaping corporate culture and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Learn how to use storytelling to create a more inclusive and engaging workplace environment. Key Highlights: The role of storytelling in corporate culture and professional growth Integrating DEI principles into your stories Personal insight and wisdom from Chrysta Wilson Connect with guest here: www.wilson-and-associates.com www.deidinnerparty.com Connect with Jasmin here: LinkedIn Community Love: Review Our Podcast Listen To Our Podcast On Your Favorite App Our Resources: Our Speaker and Thought Leadership Resources Episode Sponsor: Legacy Scaler®, www.legacyscaler.com Listen Here: Subscribe to the Podcast

In this episode Matt chat's with Coach Chrysta Osborne. Chrysta is the gym's nutrition coach and CrossFit kids coach and she shares her journey into fitness, from her early days in basketball to becoming a CrossFit coach.Chrysta talks about her transition into coaching, and the personal fitness milestones that shaped her path. She explains the importance of metabolic pathways, the significance of habit change, and how the synergy between nutrition and fitness can lead to sustainable results.We go into the emotional aspects of eating, the challenges of maintaining discipline, and how a supportive community can make all the difference. Chrysta provides practical advice on morning routines, the role of caffeine, and the science behind metabolic fire.

Victoria and Stuart follow Chrysta as she and the other fairies try and save the forest from the evil that is Hexxus

It's time to rethink DEI in the workplace with Chrysta Wilson on the Building Better Managers Podcast! Explore how genuine care and emotional intelligence can transform your company's culture and lead to unprecedented growth and innovation. Chrysta's practical framework, LOVE, will guide you through the essential steps of listening, offering support, valuing contributions, and exercising emotional intelligence. This episode is a treasure trove of wisdom for anyone looking to make meaningful change in their organization. Meet Chrysta: Chrysta Wilson, MPA, PCC, is a DEI expert and organizational culture change consultant who is committed to empowering leaders to create equitable and inclusive workplaces.  She coaches leaders to reimagine how they lead and how to better create spaces where people have the opportunity to thrive. She is the founder of Wilson and Associates Coaching and Consulting, LLC, a 16-year-old consulting firm, host of the Recipe for Transformation Podcast, and creator of The School For Transformation which houses e-learning programs such as Disrupt Your DEI and DEI Dinner Party. Chrysta's Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystawilson/ Website: https://www.wilson-and-associates.com/ Do you enjoy our show? One of the easiest ways to help us out is to drop us a 5-star review on your platform of choice! https://ratethispodcast.com/newlevelwork For more information, please visit the New Level Work website. https://www.newlevelwork.com/category/podcast © 2019 - 2024 New Level Work

In this episode of Embracing Your Voice, we had the pleasure of speaking with Chrysta Wilson, a DEI trainer, consultant, leadership coach, and speaker. Chrysta shared her journey from working in government and nonprofits to becoming a two-time entrepreneur and the founder of Wilson and Associates Coaching and Consulting. She also hosts the Recipe for Transformation podcast and has created e-learning programs like Disrupt Your DEI and DEI Dinner Party.Chrysta 's story is one of resilience and dedication to her calling. Despite the challenges she faced, including the loss of close family members and the stress of running a bakery during a recession, Chrysta has always been driven by a desire to shine a light on inequity and empower leaders to create equitable and inclusive workplaces.During our conversation, Chrysta emphasized the importance of self-awareness and emotional intelligence in leadership. She explained how these skills are crucial for creating a culture that is truly inclusive and equitable. Chrysta also debunked the myth of "culture fit" as it is often used to exclude those who challenge the status quo or hold marginalized identities.Chrysta 's approach to DEI work is holistic, focusing on individual, interpersonal, team, and organizational levels to facilitate real and lasting change. She acts as a lighthouse, guiding organizations through the complexities of culture change and helping them navigate towards a more equitable and inclusive environment.This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in DEI work, leadership, and the power of embracing one's voice to create impact. Join us as we learn from Chrysta Wilson's expertise and experience in transforming workplaces and communities.Remember to subscribe to Embracing Your Voice for more inspiring stories and practical advice from amazing women of color. Thank you for tuning in, and keep embracing your unique voice!If you enjoyed the show and you want to join our community of other women of color who are embracing their voice head over to https://embracingyourvoicepod.com/Connect with Atima on:InstagramTwitterLinkedinMore about Chrysta: Chrysta Wilson, MPA, PCC, is a DEI expert and organizational culture change consultant who is committed to empowering leaders to create equitable and inclusive workplaces. She coaches leaders to reimagine how they lead and how to better create spaces where people have the opportunity to thrive. She is the founder of Wilson and Associates Coaching and Consulting, LLC, a 16-year-old consulting firm, host of the Recipe for Transformation Podcast, and creator of The School For Transformation which houses e-learning programs such as Disrupt Your DEI and DEI Dinner Party.Head to DisruptYourDEI.com to access our e-course for leaders looking to build their abilities around culture change and DEI

Chrysta Storm from Swipe Right shares a story of high school romance. The set features a relationship crumbling in a drug store, an optimist expecting love, a surprising rave afterparty, a theatrical agent pushing raunch, and a commitment-phobe talking about faith. The cast features Jeffrey Nickels, Sarah Kylie, Kristine Antonsen, MP Piper, Mark Ableidinger, Winnie Yeung, and Casey Mills. Chris Carter directs.

Proud foodie Coonoor Behal (The Couples Quiz) shares the story of a meal gone wrong, and Chrysta Storm (Swipe Right) plays in with the cast in a set that features high expectations in Trader Joe's, ridiculous expectations ahead of prom, an explorer of mediocrity, a shameless first date, and a little something special from the tax preparer. The cast features Jeffrey Nickels, Sarah Kylie, Kristine Antonsen, MP Piper, Mark Ableidinger, Winnie Yeung, and Casey Mills. Chris Carter directs.

Boss Bish Vibez all day in episode 28 of the Hotbox podcast! Listen in as we talk to Chrysta the creator of Reggae at Sea which set sails on September 30!

"Setting Sail to the Rhythms of Reggae: A Journey with Chrysta Pennick, the Visionary behind 'Reggae at Sea'"Emerging from the echoing silence of a two-year global pandemic, Chrysta Pennick felt the stirrings of an audacious dream. Chrysta set out to create an unparalleled, immersive experience—Reggae at Sea. Born from an eternal love for soulful chords and buoyed by the public's yearning for harmonious gatherings, Reggae at Sea promises to be a floating utopia for music enthusiasts.Picture this: It's 2021, and the world is holding its collective breath, yearning for a reprieve. For Chrysta, confined within the walls of uncertainty like the rest of us, it was a period of introspective dreaming. These dreams began to crystallize into brainstorming sessions with close friends and family, filling many an evening with animated conversations and fervent planning. The initial scribbles on pieces of paper started to evolve into a palpable vision, fueled by this newfound collective enthusiasm.Fast forward to December 2022. Chrysta returns from a soul-searching trip to Cancun, where she attended “Closer to the Sun”—an event she has frequented for three consecutive years. Empowered by her transformative journey, Chrysta obtained her business license under her vibrant stage name, propelling her creative venture, Daisy DeVine Productions (DD Productions), into the realm of reality. Having produced tantalizing burlesque shows across Los Angeles County for over half a decade, she felt a magnetic pull to pivot into the domain that had always been her first love: music.But Chrysta didn't just want to produce another music event; she wanted to curate a transcendent experience. As a seasoned globetrotter attending eclectic music festivals such as Reggae Rise Up Florida, Dry Diggins, and Cali Vibes, Chrysta meticulously gathered the finest elements from each to weave into her unique tapestry of Reggae at Sea. The concert cruise would not merely be an event; it would be a crescendo of unforgettable moments and sensory delights.Today, Reggae at Sea is not just a gleam in Chrysta's eye—it's an impending marvel. A symphony of thoughtful planning and relentless passion, the event will make its grand debut on September 30, 2023, in Marina Del Rey. The hand picked lineup is headlined by the Long Beach Dub All Stars and includes Tomorrow Bad Seeds, Lakedub, Ms B Royal and VTA420 with acoustic sets. The DJ for the night is DJ Mets.So, as we stand on the brink of experiencing the maiden voyage of Reggae at Sea, one can't help but feel the palpable buzz in the air. Chrysta Pennick, the maestro behind this nautical extravaganza, has lit the beacon for a new era of musical exploration. We wait with bated breath for the anchor to lift and for Reggae at Sea to set a course into musical history.

How I Met My 35 Siblings with Chrysta Bilton

I've been talking about how much Mental Healthcare in Colorado is lacking for nearly ten years. I've been talking about how it's pretty much avoided in conversations here, altogether. You don't hear people discussing therapy. You certainly don't hear people recommending it or discussing the need for more services - unless you're talking to me. Or to today's guest on The Be Ruthless Show. Chrysta Bairre is a Colorado Native who shares my perspective on Colorado and it's below par Mental Healthcare. She also happens to be a new friend and someone I'm so unbelievably grateful to have connected with - personally and professionally! Chrysta Bairre is a career coach, speaker, and author of the book, Beautiful Badass: How To Believe In Yourself Against The Odds. She engages and inspires on stage, speaking to employees and business owners on banishing burnout, overcoming impostor syndrome, and managing mental health in business. Chrysta has presented to audiences of 300+ at Ignite Denver, Boulder Startup Week, Fort Collins Startup Week, Northern Colorado Women's Small Business Conference, General Assembly Denver, Aurora Chamber of Commerce Women In Business, and more than 100 other events and organizations.Chrysta coaches women who want more from life and business. Her clients increase their income $10K or more, while also increasing their impact-- so they confidently say no in business, stop overgiving (and giving and giving and giving), and find greater peace and happiness in and out of the office. Chrysta is also the founder of She Goes High, a 1,600+ introvert-friendly member women's leadership community in Northern Colorado. She Goes High hosts more than 30 events per year to support women leaders in taking up their space in the world and leaving their legacy.Her book, Beautiful Badass: How to Believe in Yourself Against the Odds, shares stories and lessons from overcoming poverty and depression in this guide for women who want to take command of their destinies and no longer fall prey to the hardships and setbacks that previously defined them. You can connect with Chrysta at https://liveandlovework.com/ Buy Beautiful Badass: How to Believe In Yourself Against the Odds https://a.co/d/j1IQ1e9 Vote for us in The Best of NoCo 2023 here: Services / Counseling Services Samantha Ruth - Griefhab  Recreation and Entertainment Local Podcasts The Be Ruthless Show' Networking She Goes High If you're not part of the Griefhab Community, join us here:https://www.facebook.com/groups/griefhab7/ To join Team Ruthless, learn more here:https://samantharuth.com/team-ruthless To connect, reach out anytime: sam@samantharuth.com

Kate and Oliver are joined by two siblings who didn't know the other existed until they were adults: Chrysta Bilton, author of "Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings" and Evan Scott. They share their incredible story, discuss nature vs. nurture, forgiveness, setting boundaries, and much more.Executive Producers: Kate Hudson and Oliver HudsonProduced by Allison BresnickEdited by Josh WindischMusic by Mark HudsonThis show is powered by Simplecast.This episode is sponsored by:Helix (helixsleep.com/sibling)Sakara (sakara.com/sibling)

Is your DEI work leaving you feeling exhausted?Ongoing exhaustion related to work is termed “burnout” and is characterized as chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. DEI work is a long-game and requires careful design, diverse resources and deep support to yield meaningful results. In episode 4 of A Recipe for Transformation, Chrysta Wilson speaks to the high risk of burnout for people leading DEI work, how to recognise it, and what needs to change to protect against it, highlighting:Folks engaged in leading DEI work are at at a higher risk of burnout due to the combined challenges of leading culture change, policy change, human behavior modification and systems changeLearning to recognise burnout; the emotional, somatic and behavioral symptoms to watch forThe 5 key things DEI leaders need in order to protect them from burnoutThe critical importance of organizations creating DEI metrics to maintain engagement in DEI effortsDEI leaders need more ongoing support, both personally and professionally to do the long-game work of DEI"Those of us who are leading DEI are even more susceptible to burnout. The reason is because there are unique challenges that come from leading this interdisciplinary type of work where we're having to look at culture change, policy change, human behavior modification and systems change.” Chrysta WilsonS2 E4, A Recipe for Transformation www.RecipeForTransformation.comConnect with Chrysta:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystawilson/https://www.instagram.com/wilsonandassociatesconsulting/

Do you feel lonely being a DEI leader?Social change requires more and more people to step up and lead in order to create a critical mass. We need collective action. We need networks of support and skillsharing. We need coaching and mentorship, ongoing training and a network of peers. DEI champions should not have to feel like they are doing it alone.In episode 6 of A Recipe for Transformation, Chrysta Wilson speaks about creating a movement of outcomes focused leaders through bringing people on the DEI frontline together, highlighting: How learning communities create accelerated change through cross-pollination, building relationships and sharing resources Why learning is enhanced when we learn both from experts and peers The diverse skill set needed by DEI leaders and the challenge of getting comprehensive training for all these skillsThe magic of the collective flow state and how it creates impactWhat happens at the DEI Dinner Party and how it meets the complex needs of the DEI learning community by collapsing time “The reason why learning communities like the DEI Dinner Party are so powerful is that when we come together we activate what's called the “collective flow state”. When this collective flow state is activated, our awareness is heightened and our ability to move into action is accelerated. Our ability to make connections to concepts bigger than ourselves is now possible. Our mental and physical performance goes through the roof. AND, being in this flow state is associated with a sense of wellbeing and increased happiness.” Chrysta WilsonS2 E6, A Recipe for Transformation www.RecipeForTransformation.comConnect with Chrysta:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystawilson/https://www.instagram.com/wilsonandassociatesconsulting/

Do you have goals for DEI in your organization?It's time to stop thinking of DEI as values and instead think of them as outcomes and conditions that we want to create. To create effective change we need to know where exactly we're headed and what that looks like so that we can create actions that will lead to that outcome.In episode 5 of A Recipe for Transformation, Chrysta Wilson explores the key shift needed in DEI work at this time and offers us tools for implementing a more tangible DEI procedure, highlighting: Knowing the language is not enough; organizations need a united vision for what they want to create and tangible goals to be able to assess effectiveness The 3 foundational questions organizations need to answer when stepping into DEI workThe party analogy; moving from vision to outcomes and developing concrete goalsThe “best guess”; analyzing the gap between present reality and the DEI vision and creating targeted activities to create the desired changes The 3 questions that help create actions with tangible DEI outcomes "If you do DEI activities without a vision, without clear outcomes, you're missing out on a real transformation. If you don't have a clear goal or vision for DEI, how will you know what you're working towards? Dream up your future state. What would diversity look like? What needs to change? And what needs to be created?” Chrysta WilsonS2 E5, A Recipe for Transformation www.RecipeForTransformation.comConnect with Chrysta:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystawilson/https://www.instagram.com/wilsonandassociatesconsulting/

Chrysta Bilton, author of Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings, joins Julia to discuss her book.  Get ready for an exhilarating story. Chrysta shares what life was like for a child born of a lesbian mother and her father, who donated sperm for a living.  Her family was bold, sometimes dysfunctional, and anything but traditional.  Chrysta tells her story in a truthful, enlightening, engaging, and sometimes funny way.  You'll hear about alcoholism, shame, lies, schizophrenia, cryobanks, self-perception, nurture versus nature, and how Chrysta navigated through it all to become a successful wife, parent, sibling, adult, and an author worth reading.  Don't miss this captivating episode of Stork'd.    IN THIS EPISODE:   [02:52] Chrysta Bilton provides an overview of her book  [05:25] Chrysta's sperm donor was misled by her mother and became a serial sperm donor for many children  [07:03] All of the players in this book come from different perspectives on their truth [11:54] Chrysta discovers her father struggled with schizophrenia and discovers she has many siblings. She has developed compassion for her father [16:41] Chrysta struggled for ten years, dealing with her upbringing.  She worked hard to analyze her circumstances, the mistakes she was making, and how to walk away from destructive behaviors [19:51] How her siblings relate to their “father” and each other [23:28] Advice on what to tell a child conceived by a donor. Nurture versus nature and how her parents' backgrounds form who they became  [31.25] Chrysta shares her views on the pros and cons of cryobanks and the obligation they have to women [35:39] Chrysta tells how the book came about, how she parented her sister, and her self-evaluation  [45:30] What is the definition of a family   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   Avoid emotional pain for a child conceived by a donor. Instead, tell them the truth about their conception.   Be emotionally healed before starting a family, whether it be traditional, single parenting, or a sperm donation. Children deserve your best self. Change and heal and make better choices.  Forgive your parents and stop blaming them for everything wrong that happens in your life.   RESOURCE LINKS:   The Book:  Normal Family   Chrysta Bilton - LinkedIn    Chrysta Bilton - Instagram   Chrysta Bilton - Twitter   Stork'd - Facebook    Stork'd - Instagram   Stork'd- YouTube   About Chrysta Bilton:   Chrysta Bilton is an American author who lives in Los Angeles, CA, with her husband and two children. Normal Family is her first book.

You can also check out this episode on Spotify!Family dynamics are complicated—but what happens when you learn that you have dozens (and possibly hundreds) of siblings? When writer Chrysta Bilton's mom decided to build a family as a gay woman in the early 80s, she employed a sperm donor. This man also played a role in Chrysta and her sister's life as “dad.” But he continued to donate to other women—in secret—for almost 10 years. Chrysta learned this shocking truth from an article in the New York Times. On this episode, Chrysta joins Dr. McBride to discuss family secrets, shame, her unconventional coming-of-age story, and how all of this affected her mental and physical health. Chrysta's critically acclaimed memoir “Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings,” is available now.Join Dr. McBride every Monday for a new episode of Beyond the Prescription. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or at lucymcbride.com/podcast.Get full access to her free weekly Are You Okay? newsletter at https://lucymcbride.substack.com/welcomePlease be sure to like, rate, review — and enjoy — the show!The transcript of our conversation is here!Dr. McBride: My family is everything to me. I think a lot about how they're like me and they're not like me. And there are many ways they're not like me, that they're so lucky not to be like me. And there are things that I've inherited from my parents that I'm grateful for, and there are things that I would maybe tweak a little bit. But I think all of us need to recognize how much we have in our genetic profile that we take for granted sometimes, and then [00:00:30] how much we're capable of change even though we may think we're just genetically programmed to be, you know, forgetful or not ask for directions when we're lost. I guess my point is it's good to reflect on where we came from, it's good to reflect on where we're going, and it's good to kind of sketch out in our minds where we fit in our family dynamic because that informs a lot of our daily health habits, the way we think, the way we feel. And today's guest is [00:01:00] such an important example of someone who's reflected deeply on what it means to be part of a family that became a lot bigger than she ever knew. Hello, and welcome to my office. I'm Dr. Lucy McBride, and this is "Beyond the Prescription," the show where I talk with my guests like I do my patients, pulling the curtain back on what it means to be healthy, redefining health as more than the absence of disease. [00:01:30] As a primary care doctor for over 20 years, I've realized that patients are much more than their cholesterol and their weight, that we are the integrated sum of complex parts. Our stories live in our bodies. I'm here to help people tell their story, to find out are they okay, and for you to imagine and potentially get healthier from the inside out. You can subscribe to my weekly newsletter at lucymcbride.substack.com [00:02:00] and to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. So, let's get into it and go beyond the prescription. What defines a family? What are the ingredients for healthy family relationships? What happens to us mentally and physically when family secrets are kept, and then when they are revealed? These are some of the important questions Chrysta Bilton explores in her critically acclaimed memoir, "Normal Family: [00:02:30] On Truth, Love, and How I met My 35 Siblings." In it, Chrysta describes how she learned that she has dozens, if not hundreds of siblings, the offspring of sperm donor Number 150 from the California Cryobank, and how she has reckoned with her past to better understand herself, what is nature, what is nurture, and how she cares for her mental and physical health. Chrysta, thank you so much for joining me today. Chrysta: Thank you so much for having me. I really admire [00:03:00] what you're doing with this podcast. I'm so grateful to be here. Dr. McBride: I appreciate that. And I wanna start with your mother who sounds like a real character. I mean, I kind of loved her from the minute I learned about who she was. She was a lesbian in the early '80s, desperate to have a family when a lot of sperm banks wouldn't even let gay women participate. So, tell me what she did. Chrysta: Yeah. They wouldn't allow gay women or single women for that matter. So, it was a different time. I think we forget how [00:03:30] far we've come, at least in certain parts of the country, in terms of homophobia. But in the '70s and '80s, even '50s and '60s, when my mom was growing up, everyone was closeted at that time. When she decided she wanted to have a family in her 30s after getting sober from drug addiction and, you know, dealing with a whole host of other stuff from her chaotic upbringing, what she wanted more than anything was to have this family. But she didn't know a single gay person who had had kids. You know, she knew women who were in marriages who were maybe on the side exploring their sexuality, [00:04:00] but she didn't know a single person who had set out to do this out in the open. And, you know, I describe a comical journey that she has to trying to find a father or, you know, a sperm donor for her kid. She starts with this place called the Repository of Germaninal Choice, which in the early '80s was this...basically this traveling salesman type man with a briefcase who she'd read about in the "LA Times" or "The New York Times" who'd come to your home with a binder filled with what he called, like, Nobel laureate sperm donors. And you'd flip through these [00:04:30] anonymous men with no pictures and she picked a mathematics prodigy. And that was gonna be my sperm donor. And she tried to get pregnant and she didn't. And then she got spooked and hired a PI to get a photo of this would-be mathematics prodigy. And this very unattractive professor photo came back and she was like, "You know what? I need to know the father of my kids and I want him to be good-looking." These were her criteria for what she wanted. So, she went on this manhunt and my very handsome model, musician, actor, [00:05:00] man who would become my father walked into a hair salon in Beverly Hills and she was like, "That's it. That's the one." And she took this man to lunch and paid him $2,000 to give her sperm. And I refer to him as my dad, not a sperm donor because after that initial transaction, my mother realized that, you know, she was filled with shame about going about having a family in this different way. And she felt like maybe she was depriving me of something by not giving me a dad. So, she then paid this [00:05:30] man to play a role in my life and I knew him as dad. Dr. McBride: And he promised her at that time that he wouldn't donate sperm to anybody else, that you and your sister Kaitlyn would be the only offspring, yet he was making a living off of donating his sperm. Tell me about the moment that your mom learned about him not keeping that promise. Chrysta: Shortly after the hair salon transaction, she made him swear he would never do this for anyone else. And at the the time, he was just like, "Of course," because it's not like [00:06:00] women were coming up to him at hair salons on a daily basis and, you know, lesbian women asking him to father a child. But then it became more apparent why she was so adamant about this because shortly after that she took him to the California Cryobank, which was just starting at this time, to be tested for STDs and to test his sperm count. And he saw a bunch of men walking in and out of donation rooms and he was like, "Oh, now I understand. It's because she was gonna bring me here and she knew I'd get ideas." And he did. So, while he was [00:06:30] playing dad to us, he then donated to the California Cryobank for almost 10 years, 3 times a week. I think he was one of their most prolific sperm donors. And we did not learn about this until I was in my 20s. And through a wild series of events that I document in the book, my mother discovered it from a front-page story in "The New York Times" featuring my dad with his arm around one of these half-biological siblings. And it was a big story at the time because he was [00:07:00] one of the first anonymous sperm donors to "come out" and welcome all of his biological children to come meet him. So, yeah, that started a real nervous breakdown for my mother who, I think, already had a lot of shame around our family that was so different to the other families around us. But this was too different, I think, in her mind. Dr. McBride: And how long was it between that 2005 New York Times article where his story was revealed and you finding out that this man who is your father and not really always present in your [00:07:30] life but part of your life had fathered these other children? Chrysta: So, my mother decided that she would never tell us this story. And by the way, after "The New York Times" story, like, this was a huge story. Suddenly, you know, "60 Minutes" was calling to have my dad come on, and lots of newspapers were coming to interview him. There was a documentary film crew from Canada who were gonna document the story. So, I don't know how my mom thought she could keep this from us forever, but she did. And the only reason she finally sat down with me and my little sister to tell [00:08:00] us was because, again, through just a bizarre series of events, it turned out that I was most likely dating my half-brother, which I guess is, you know, what happens when sperm donation is that unregulated. That's the fear. It just happened to happen in my actual life. Dr. McBride: And so, that brought the conversation to a head. You had to know and she told you. Chrysta: That's right. Yeah. And that was a lot to unpack because she had never told me that she'd paid my father to have me. I was told that they were best friends who had had a kid [00:08:30] together, and she'd also never told me that he'd been financially incentivized to play the role of dad. So, even though she didn't say all that in that initial conversation about the siblings, it just alerted me to the fact, which I already in my gut knew that there was just so much more to the story of my conception and upbringing than my mother had told me. So, yeah, the book is a bit of a mystery because it's tracking me as I unpack what the real story was, if that makes sense. Dr. McBride: And so, what do you think holding [00:09:00] that secret in your mom's body and mind did to her? I mean, how did that affect her everyday life? Chrysta: You know, my mother was someone who had a lot of secrets, which of course stemmed from having a lot of shame. And beyond just the secret of my conception and the true nature of my mother and father's relationship, it turned out that there were quite a few really big life events that I didn't know about my mother. Like, I didn't know about her traumatic childhood, I didn't know about a couple really [00:09:30] heavy things that she had gone through. Shame is just such a powerful emotion. I think that's a big theme in my book, shame, because I inherited a lot of shame from my mom. You know, she was ashamed of being gay. I was ashamed of having a mother who was gay. She was ashamed of...you know, there was some suicide and some other really heavy stuff in her family history and alcoholism, and she was ashamed of all that. So, you know, the problem with keeping secrets is then you can't really be close to people because you're presenting a false self and you're not really your whole self. Yeah, [00:10:00] the book is sort of me mirroring that journey to being false. And then ultimately I wrote a book about it, so I guess it's all out in the open now. But yeah, I don't know, shame and secrets, it's a topic that I'm very interested in. Dr. McBride: Yeah. And I think shame is an almost universal experience that we all have and it does so much damage. And I think it propagates this notion that we need to keep things under the vest and we need to keep secrets. But the secrets perpetuate the shame and the shame perpetuates the secrets. And so, the treatment, if you will, is coming [00:10:30] clean and being honest about who we really are and showing up as ourselves and daring to be vulnerable, which isn't easy if you've experienced trauma in your life as it sounds like your mom did as a youngster. Chrysta: Yeah, that's absolutely right. You know, there's another piece of it too. So, the shame perpetuates the secrets and the secrets perpetuate the shame, but then also close you off to other people that you can only heal through those relationships, and I think through revealing those parts of yourself and then being loved in return, which, of course, you have to then have [00:11:00] healthy relationships to find that. I feel like people who have a lot of secrets and shame also sometimes seek out more unhealthy connection. Dr. McBride: So, you're a parent, Chrysta. I think sometimes as parents we struggle about what we should reveal to our kids about our past, our own struggles. I mean, I think some parents think that we should just cover that up and not talk about how hard things were because we don't wanna give our kids ideas, like telling your child that you smoked as an adolescent might give them an idea that they could smoke. When actually I think being honest and open with our [00:11:30] kids helps them feel less alone and helps them feel less shame because they too have ups and downs and struggles. And I wonder how the secret keeping in your family when you were being raised, how that affected your mom's parenting. Like, if you look back on how you were parented, can you see the traces of the secrets being held? Chrysta: Absolutely. I mean, there was so much going on beyond just the shame and the secrets. My mom also struggled with probably a mood disorder [00:12:00] and also severe drug and alcohol addiction. And so, even if I didn't know what was going on, it was clear that I was a parent to my mother from a very early age. And even if she said she wasn't drinking, it was still clear that things were insane. I just didn't understand the cause. So, I guess that's out of the bubble of just speaking about the shame and the secrets. But I definitely think that it was only as an adult and understanding both of my parents, like, their full story and biography, that I was able to [00:12:30] get over a lot of the resentment I had about some of the more dysfunctional ways that I was raised, and also find it's not as much forgiveness but just, like, so much compassion for both of them. Because I think when you understand people's stories, you just can't help but have compassion because everyone's been through things that shape them in some way. Dr. McBride: When your mom told you about the sperm bank donor at 150, what was your initial reaction? Anger, resentment, confusion? I mean, what went through your mind? Chrysta: You said earlier, you had said... What [00:13:00] I loved about the book is that, you know, I cried, I laughed and I was like, I think those were my two emotions. I didn't know if I should be completely overwhelmed and start hysterically crying or if I should burst into tears of laughter because it felt like growing up me and my little sister had been through so much. You know, my mom was involved in many pyramid schemes, so life was very boom or bust. We were on the verge of homelessness multiple times. She had her drug addiction up and down. She also had all these relationships with women who would come in for a few years and then leave. So, family was [00:13:30] so complicated to us already. It was just like, if this was going to happen to anyone we knew, of course, it would be us that potentially had hundreds of brothers and sisters because the universe has a great sense of humor and they just wanna throw one more thing at us, I guess. But yeah, I think at the time I was at a very fragile and vulnerable state because I had just gotten over an eating disorder. I was quitting drinking because I realized that I think I just had a biological propensity towards alcoholism and so I wanted to cut that as a possibility [00:14:00] early on. So, I was just doing a lot of healing work and this was just one thing too many to deal with at that time. So, I just shut the door on it and sort of pretended that it wasn't a thing for almost 10 years. You know, also, my father had become homeless at that point and that was a whole other thing emotionally to deal with for me. So, yeah, it was just too much at that time. But then once it was a different time in my life and I was in a better place, then it came back in a really interesting and powerful way. Dr. McBride: So, what allowed you to go [00:14:30] from kind of compartmentalizing it and sort of walling it off in your mind, this whole other life you potentially had, to inviting your siblings, the ones who were known, to, like, a family reunion? I mean, that's a big leap. Chrysta: That's a big leap. Yeah. I think just a lot of emotional maturity and also being in such a different place. You know, I'd had kids at that point, I had a loving partnership, I had really healed things with my mother [00:15:00] in many ways. So, I think that I was just like, you know, you can grow in stages, I think, and take on different challenges at different times. And I think it was just, "Okay, all the other areas of my life were pretty settled. Maybe I can look at this now." But also it was the way that one of the siblings came into my life. No one in my family was interested in art, but I really was. And I'd wound up after college where I'd studied writing, I'd wound up going to this tiny little art school in Italy called the Florence Academy of Art. I only [00:15:30] discovered that school through a random set of events. And it's like Renaissance painting. It's not exactly, you know, oil painting, it's just not really something that a lot of people you've encountered in life go to study. And one of my half-sisters studied there right after me as a coincidence. And that was just such an incredible coincidence. And, you know, we had all the same friends and we were so alike, but it was one of those sliding doors. Genetics is more powerful than nurture. It [00:16:00] was so much, it was so much to think about that I was... And she had grown up, you know, across the country in a very different family and we dressed the same, we had the same gardening books. So, when she reached out to me as opposed to other times when I'd been contacted by siblings and just sort of ignored it, I was like, "Wow, this is pretty crazy. Okay. I'll have one sister, one extra sister. I can get to know this one woman because we have so much in common and the universe has put us in this interesting situation." And then [00:16:30] what was fascinating to me is she had grown up thinking that the father who had raised her was her biological parent. And it was only through taking a DNA test on ancestry.com that she learned that she had a sperm donor. And I document some of her psychological experience with that in the book. But what was fascinating was that her attitude towards this larger biological family was so profoundly different from the attitude I had taken. Like, I thought, "Oh, this is one more thing to feel ashamed of and this is [00:17:00] so weird and strange." And for her she was like, "I have always been an only sibling, I always wanted a sister. And, oh my god, now I have dozens of sisters, maybe hundreds of sisters. And my life was so boring and this is just the most exciting thing that's ever happened. It's like a lifetime movie. This doesn't happen in real life," you know? So, she was excitedly getting to know all of the siblings that she could track down. And I was just confronted with such a different attitude towards the whole thing that [00:17:30] it occurred to me, "Oh, I could have that attitude. At any point, I could just choose to see this completely differently." And that was really powerful. So, I did. So, I sort of just took her lead and, you know, she suggested, she's like, "Why don't we do a family reunion?" And I was like, "Okay. I'll host it. I'm big sister, it's appropriate." Dr. McBride: That's amazing. I mean, when you were gathered around with all of your different half-siblings, what were the similarities among you? What were the threads that were, like, undoubtedly [00:18:00] genetic and biological? Can you think of any? Chrysta: Yeah. Well, to start with the physical similarities are uncanny. Physically, I take more after my mother, but my little sister Kaitlyn looks exactly like our dad. And I would say that maybe 80% to 90% of the siblings look exactly like my dad. So, you know, anyone who came over that weekend, it was like an episode of "The Twilight Zone" because when we were just all standing next to each other, we just all looked like siblings. But there are a lot of us. You know, beyond the physical, we all have a different [00:18:30] mother and we all shared completely different upbringings. But still just as a scientific case study of all these people who come from the same sperm donor, it's fascinating. The great majority of us have ADD, which, you know, I know is proven to be already a very biological thing. So, that manifested in, you know, the first night we went out to a restaurant, all of our phones are always at 1%. We're very spacey, we lose things all the time. I'm sure somewhere in this conversation I'll trail off. So, as we're leaving the restaurant, the waiter comes running after [00:19:00] us with, like, four sets of keys, three phones, two purses. And it's this hilarious moment of, "Oh my god, this is just bizarre." Dr. McBride: And this is family. Chrysta: And this is family. Yes, absolutely. And it's been pretty cool. Since coming out with the book, I realized that there's also this whole community, it's called the NPE community, which is the Not Parent Expected. I didn't even know that was a community, but it is. And it's people, you know, who were adopted and never told, or who had a sperm donor and [00:19:30] were never told. Again, I think the origin of never telling is often rooted in shame. But those kids gain a lot from knowing about their biological origins. And even just seeing in my sibling group, the kids who were never told, they described things about themselves that they could never relate to their biological family that confused them or made them feel out of place, and then just knowing the information, looking in the mirror, and seeing a different person. So, that wasn't my experience. I knew [00:20:00] my father, but that's such fascinating psychological material to work with. Dr. McBride: Yeah. I mean, in medicine, you know, we talk about nature and nurture, right? We talk about what is inherited, what is fixed, and then what is environmental, situational. And, you know, when you're trying to help someone become healthier in some way, you always try to kind of tease apart what is something you can't control and what is something you can. And what's so interesting in hearing you talk right now is, you know, you had these, like, [00:20:30] fixed commonalities, like, these facial features, maybe hair color, maybe even ADD, which I think is nature and nurture, but it's a lot of nature, and then there are these experiences that you had that were completely different. Some of you were told from the beginning that you had a sperm donor and some were not. And the psychological impact of that on people's health is huge. And that's really where I would as a doctor, if someone was struggling with, like, addiction or disordered eating and having had that background, I would [00:21:00] suggest they lean into that sort of nurture part because that's where you can reclaim some sense of agency and control over your story, or what you tell yourself about where you came from. Because I think the...as you outline in your book, for you and for your siblings, the dishonesty, which I don't think was intentional, but the withholding of the truth really does so much harm to people, when I think in your mom's case, she was just trying to protect you. Chrysta: Yeah. I think in a lot of these parents' [00:21:30] cases. You know, I think at the time, we talked about we've come so far, you know, now there are books, you know, whether it's a gay family raising a kid or a single parent. Like, there are specific books where you can start introducing those ideas in sweet age-appropriate ways from very early on. But none of that material existed back then. And often these sperm banks were advising parents not to tell their kids. And, you know, there's all kinds of fear like where it's the case of a heterosexual couple and the man is infertile, I think there's shame in that. And so, [00:22:00] you know, "Will this child not love me the same if they think that I'm not biologically connected to them?" And so, I have so much compassion for the reasons why the parents didn't tell the truth. That's not shared by all of the siblings. Sometimes there's a lot of anger around it. Dr. McBride: I'm sure. But to me, that's sort of the varsity head space if you can get there, is like I'm sure you've experienced some anger and frustration towards your mom. I mean, that would be kind of weird if you didn't. I think we all have that and I think my kids are probably stewing at me right this minute as we speak for some reason. But anger then can [00:22:30] become curiosity which can become understanding, and that can lead to empathy and compassion. And that's where I hope I am with my parents, and I hope we can all get because I think, you know, as parents we're doing the best we can and we sometimes think that withholding information is the right thing to do when actually kids are more perceptive and intuitive than we sometimes give them credit. Chrysta: Yeah, absolutely. But I also think it's, like, of course, everything's age appropriate. Like, if you're [00:23:00] really stressed about something that you don't want them to take on, it's not necessarily something you wanna share with them at, you know, a certain age, of course. But yeah, these bigger things and especially as they are ready to deal with them or understand them, I think it's helpful to connect with your kids in that way. But, you know, I don't know, I have a seven-year-old and a five-year-old. I'm sure once I have teenagers, it'll be a whole other... Dr. McBride: Yeah. I mean, I think you're right, it has to be age-appropriate. You don't wanna share all of your dirty laundry with a five-year-old because that becomes a burden, and they can't handle emotionally a lot of information that [00:23:30] they can't relate to or understand. But I also think that kids have a sixth sense and know when we're not being authentic or honest. My kids are teenagers now and I actually love this phase of parenting because they're so able to understand things in meaningful ways, and so you can really be honest with them, it's great. But you also don't wanna be, you know...I never wanna be the person who is, like, the kid's best friend because I feel like they need the knowledge that we have, like, some guardrails and boundaries, and that we are still the authority even if we don't act like one every day. [00:24:00] What does your life look like now vis-a-vis these half-siblings? Are they part of your life? Do you connect with them? What is that like? Chrysta: Yeah. Some of the siblings call it more like a cousin relationship. I always had a very small family with the exception of my mom's girlfriends who would come in and out. But when you have so many, it's impossible to have deep relationships with all of them. There are now siblings whose names I don't know. You know, it starts with trying to keep track of their pets or their birthdays, and then it's just information overload and you sort of remember one key [00:24:30] detail that separates one person from another, like where they're from or what they're interested in. But what I have is close relationships with some of them, whether that's through common interest, or you know, location, being close by because they're all over the U.S. We're still waiting for our first international sibling. I'm sure it exists but... You know, my core family is me, my husband, my kids, and my mom, and my sister that I grew up with. But there are now this rich extended family that I see, you know, a few times [00:25:00] a year. And, you know, also all the siblings, you know, originally they were on Facebook and then they moved to WhatsApp, and then WhatsApp became incredibly overwhelming because you'd go on and after a few days of not being on, and there'd be, like, 500 new messages, and all on one thread and you just couldn't keep up. So, then we moved to this app called Discord, which is sort of like Slack if you're familiar with that, where you can organize by topic. So, genealogy is a topic, politics is a topic. You know, everyone's very passionate about their views even though their views [00:25:30] can be on either side of the spectrum. So, that's also hilarious. Dr. McBride: Can you talk to me a little bit about...? It sounds like you had an eating disorder, you had a wobbly relationship with alcohol. I mean, how much do you think that was genetic and how much do you think was environmental? Chrysta: You know what? There was some point at which my husband was getting to know me, which he was really the first person I ever really opened up to about the truth. You know, around adolescence, I had started lying about what was happening at home. I was ashamed that we had financial struggles, I [00:26:00] was ashamed of my mom being gay, I was ashamed of her alcohol...like, so many things. So, I was very much a fake person for a lot of my life. And I think that contributed to the eating disorder and the substance abuse because alcohol, I think, made me feel comfortable in social settings where I had this horrible anxiety otherwise. Dr. McBride: How did the eating disorder serve you in the time you kind of "needed it?" Chrysta: I think it gave me a sense of control when my family situation was so out of control. You know, my father was [00:26:30] living in the streets and my mom was at one point in a halfway house or in rehab for coke addiction, and I was taking care of my little sister like I was the mom and it was just a tremendous amount of responsibility, I think, early on. And I think that the eating disorder gave me a sense of control. And there was also this strange element of wanting to be childlike. And so, my physicality suddenly became, like, almost prepubescent, if that makes... It's very bizarre. [00:27:00] I wanted to be taken care of and there was some sort of reaction people would give me like, "Oh you're so delicate." I could just... I don't know, it played into something.  Dr. McBride: Yeah. I think we make the mistake in assuming that girls or boys who are suffering from anorexia are just vain or they wanna fit into their jeans. I think it's so much more complicated. I had a patient recently who was starving herself consciously and then sort of unconsciously because she was experiencing gender dysphoria and didn't wanna menstruate. [00:27:30] I mean, I think we can't assume that the path to these disorders, whether it's a relationship with food or alcohol are kind of one size fits all. Chrysta: Yeah. I mean, I'm sure there was a vanity to it as well. I had had a really abusive boyfriend in high school that continued for many years and, you know, he had started calling me pudgy. And so, there was an element of wanting to, like, be loved. But I think it played into I wasn't getting my needs met and it was like I had just somehow indulged [00:28:00] in something nurturing. I was, like, gonna deprive myself of that rather than allow others to be depriving me of it because I couldn't control...I don't know, it's complicated. I don't pretend to be a psychologist. Dr. McBride: I think what you're hitting on is what so many people with disordered eating struggle with. I mean, it's a physical, psychological, and mental health manifestation of not having your emotional needs met. And instead of identifying that and then trying to problem solve for it, which you may have not been capable of at that age, you're sort of [00:28:30] channeling all of this distress into the attempt to control your body. Chrysta: Yeah, totally. So, recovering from some of that stuff definitely happened in stages. Like, the first thing I worked on was my eating disorder because it got pretty bad. You know, I'm 5'6 and I got down to, like, 95 pounds. I went into a school doctor when I was in college just because I felt ill and they could notice. They noticed how much I weighed and they started asking me questions about my eating. And for whatever reason, I don't know if it was this [00:29:00] overriding desire to be healthy because I was both anorexic and bulimic. And so, I admitted that I sometimes threw up, enough to give this woman who I was speaking to plenty of red siren warning signs. And so, for whatever reason she just made me sign away that I would go into treatment for that. And so, I started seeing a therapist once a week. And luckily, I think when you catch that disorder pretty early, I had only been in it for two years, two or three years, I think there's a lot more success rate than people who have been struggling with it for a long time. So, I started seeing this [00:29:30] wonderful therapist. And she was working on some of the psychological piece, but she also just wanted me to gain weight. And so, even though I wasn't necessarily figuring out all the reasons why I was anorexic, I would just sit at the plate and, like, force myself to eat. So, I'm really grateful that I'm fully recovered. I don't struggle with it at all. Dr. McBride: It's incredible that you must have had very good treatment because a lot of people don't fully recover and never do. It's so interesting that you say the thing about the...just eating. You know, my patients who have anorexia get [00:30:00] so mad at me or the nutritionist, or the psychologist that they're being forced to eat when they're like, "I'd rather just talk about what's going on and what the roots of this are." Or, they just don't wanna do it at all, but... Chrysta: They just don't wanna get to it yet. So, they're like, "Let's stall." Dr. McBride: Well, they wanna be the one anorexic in the history of treatment who can stay underweight and underfed. They think that there's, like, a workaround. But the reason you have to eat before you talk about the feelings is because until you're fed, you can't really get to the root causes. I mean, if you're underfed, your brain just isn't [00:30:30] working properly. So, vitamin F is the most important ingredient, food, for then uncovering what the root causes are and connecting the dots between what's happened in your life and what's happening in your mind to then be healthy. Chrysta: Definitely. Yeah. And there's this concept that I was introduced to, which in general I think with getting healthy over things is, like, contrary action. So, it's like even while you're maybe sitting with a therapist and talking about all the reasons why you do something that you know to be dysfunctional, you can do that but [00:31:00] you can also just behave in the way that you know is the functional way. Dr. McBride: Yes. Chrysta: Even if it's against your instincts. And then sometimes the behavior can lead to the health too. Like, it can be a reverse. Dr. McBride: Yes, you're exactly right. You can stop drinking even though you may have convinced yourself, you know, "This is just temporary and I probably am fine drinking," which will then reinforce your recovery and you can talk in AA or with a therapist about the reasons behind why you drink too [00:31:30] much and kind of hit it from both angles. So, there's the practical, the psychological way of getting ourselves out of behaviors that are self-sabotaging. So, it sounds like, for you, the disordered eating and the alcohol served a purpose. Chrysta: And relationships as well. I would say that my biggest addiction was to toxic relationships, both female friendships and men that I was attracted to. With the nurture side, you can understand why I had loved my mother who was a drug addict, and [00:32:00] that there are patterns to that type of relationship that you get into. So, I was very attracted to men who just could not show up for me emotionally, or who I had to say because ultimately they couldn't meet my needs. So, it took a lot of work to get over that one too. Dr. McBride: Yeah, that's a big one and one we commonly see, you know, in the world and I see and my patients and in friends. I think the saying is that we're comfortably uncomfortable, right? It's like you know your discomfort, and so then you gravitate to repeat history. It's like a repetition [00:32:30] compulsion that we have until the light bulb goes on and you're like, "Wait a minute. This relationship is not serving me. It's actually unhealthy." So, when did that happen for you vis-a-vis relationships? Chrysta: That one happened later. So, I'd say I, like, hit the eating disorder then the addiction, then even though I had recovered from those things, I was in this, I would say I was addicted to this guy that I had been on and off for 10 years. And I tell a little bit of that crazy story in the book, but that's just a sliver. And he was physically abusive and psychologically, and I think [00:33:00] just mentally unwell. I actually don't think he was a bad person. I just think he had a real mental illness but I could just not stay away from this person. And I think it was only when we started talking about kids and I was like, "Oh." There was this instinct where I was, like, for whatever reason, I could allow someone to treat me that way. But when I suddenly imagine little kids in the picture, that was the thing that allowed me to finally end that relationship. Thank goodness. I think just because I had had, you know, my parents, who I do have [00:33:30] so much compassion for, I think they had been really hurt in their childhood and then they had not fully healed enough that they could parent in a healthy way. And I think just not wanting to do that to a kid was really the thing. Dr. McBride: Well, you had clearly suffered so much in your childhood and you'd already worked so hard to get through the disordered eating and the alcohol issue. I don't wanna put words in your mouth, but it sounds like you just didn't wanna pass on any of that chaos to the extent you have control over that as a parent. Chrysta: Yeah. No, that's exactly right. Which of course doesn't mean that [00:34:00] like, "Oh, now there are no challenges and it's..." you know, life continues to throw challenges in your way. But to the extent that there's stuff I can do that I can work on, yeah, you know, trying. There's progress, not perfection. Dr. McBride: That's right. So, what's your relationship with your mother like now? Chrysta: Oh, it's a great relationship. I'm so happy to say she's sober for more than a decade. And I'm still very much her parent and there's some codependency there on her side. So, it's not like, oh, we completely went to a [00:34:30] normal relationship. Like, she sometimes accidentally calls me mom. You know, I take full financial care of her, which at one point was a real stress but is now okay. Thank goodness. But she is an extraordinary grandparent and she's just a really beautiful person.  Dr. McBride: That's incredible. It's really a testament to your sort of inner strength and also just the work you've done that you have so much compassion and forgiveness for her. Because like I said in the beginning, it's really the book is kind of, like, a love letter to her, which you [00:35:00] wouldn't expect because, you know, things started out pretty chaotically. Chrysta: Yeah. You know, the big thing that stopped me from writing this book, you know, even before I knew about the siblings, I was compelled to write the story of me and my mother. And I would do various drafts throughout the years. And I think there was one time when I'd accidentally left a draft on my computer and she'd found it and she went to hysterics, and she was so upset and she couldn't believe I was writing this thing. And so, I think I put the project down for, like, 10 years because I was like I didn't wanna hurt my mom because there was a lot of challenging [00:35:30] material in that book. And I think that I was also worried that beyond getting over the hump of her feelings about it, which was a long process, it was also not wanting readers to judge her. And, you know, everyone's like, "I have all these problems with my mom," but as soon as you hear other people telling you, "Oh, she was a terrible mother," you take offense to that even if you hold sometimes those views. But I've been pleasantly surprised that for the most part, of course, you know, once you get [00:36:00] a lot of readers, people have divergent views. But for the most part, people have loved the character of my mother. And she is a character. I would say that there's never been anyone like her. Dr. McBride: If you're listening to this, you have to read this book not only because of the story of the sperm donor and your myriad siblings but because of your mom. And you paint her in a very empathetic, protective, and beautiful light. Chrysta: Oh, thanks. Yeah, I tried to bridge the gap I think between being honest because it got hard, you know, when she was doing lines in the carpool [00:36:30] for our high school, things got dark. But I think sometimes it's also good to see stories of that, and then see that you can get through it and out of it. Of course, that's not everyone's. My dad is still on the streets. So, it's not like it's a perfect Hollywood ending, although he's happy in his way with that. Dr. McBride: So, what would you say, what is a family? What defines a family? Is it the people that we are genetically connected to, or is it people that you cultivate a relationship with? Chrysta: I think it's different for [00:37:00] every single person and there's, like, a journey to figuring out what that is for you. But I'd say that whatever you define family as, it's such an important component of mental health to feel that you have a family, and even if you're building that. You know, I know some people that grew up in situations where they couldn't find peace with their parent because it wasn't...you know, maybe it was someone who had more ill intentions or had really done serious damage. So, I would never say, like, go find peace with that person. My conception of family is ever-changing. [00:37:30] But you've definitely built family through shared experiences. So, even if biology brings people into my life, it doesn't become family until you've spent time together. Dr. McBride: And I think, to me, family is also about shared vulnerability. It's about feeling safe to kind of show up as our true authentic selves, and it's about being seen and being heard. And it's also, to me at least, about people celebrating your [00:38:00] wins with you, and then mourning your losses with you, and being there for the highs and the lows. Chrysta: Yeah, the people that you share your deepest life with, I would say. Dr. McBride: That's right. So, Chrysta, what do you do now in your everyday life to maintain your health? Let's start with mental health first. Not that mental and physical health are separate. In fact, that's the whole point of this podcast. But what do you do to maintain your mental health? Chrysta: I would say spending time with loved ones, trying to be a good person, you know, trying to be a present [00:38:30] parent. I'm still sober, I participate in some groups through that. Speaking of the biological component, like, I am on an SSRI, and that helped me a lot. And whether that's nature or nurture, a lot of the siblings are also on meds. So, I don't know that's important to mention as well, I think. Because, like, I could never meditate until I was on that and people would be like, "If you just meditated, it would go away." And I was like, "Well." Dr. McBride: I'm really glad you mentioned the SSRI part because it is always a question, "Is my anxiety disorder, is [00:39:00] my depression genetic or is it environmental? Should I be doing therapy or meds? Should I be doing both?" And I think we can't really measure in blood or with testing, like, how much someone's emotional health or emotional challenges are genetic and how much are environmental. But there's a role for medication. I completely agree with the people who say that we have, in many ways, medicalized the human condition and that we're over-prescribing Prozac. But [00:39:30] I only believe that when we're talking about not understanding the person in their deepest truest sense and simply prescribing a pill and assuming that the pill will do the work. But for so many of my patients, and it sounds like for you, the medication is just another tool in the toolkit in addition to the work you do in sober groups, the work you do in therapy, and then just showing up as you are. And so, I think it's really important to destigmatize medication. It's [00:40:00] not a crutch, it's a tool like all the other things you do. Chrysta: Totally. Also, like, I don't know that it would've worked had I not been able to do all the work to get over some of the things. I don't know if I'd medicate and then suddenly my eating disorder would've gone. I had to do a lot of work on that and I had to do a tremendous amount of therapy to get out of my abusive relationship cycle, and I had to do a ton of work to be sober. But after I had done all that work, and I would say I did a ton of it, I still had this crippling anxiety. I did [00:40:30] have a block against medication in my brain and it took a lot...you know, and I don't know what exactly that block was, but I remember seeing the psychologist and he is like, "Let's just say, I'm not saying there's any proof that this is the case, but let's say that taking this takes one year off your life, but the rest of those years that you live, you're a less anxious person, would you still take it?" I was like, "Yeah, that would be great." And so, I was like, "What is that thing?" And he is like, "Also you could just get right off, you know, in a responsible way with a..." And I had also seen because I came from a family of drug addiction, I was [00:41:00] very terrified of pills because I had worked so hard to be sober and, you know, that's why I have ADD and I don't medicate for it because I'm like, "There is some possibility of abuse there. I don't wanna go anywhere near it." Not saying that people shouldn't. But finally, I was like, "Look, I've done all this work and for some reason, this is still happening. Maybe I don't need it forever, but I'll try it." And it really helped me. Dr. McBride: Yeah. I think some of the reasons that people get hung up on these medications and not taking them when they're appropriate is exactly what you said. They're afraid of kind of losing control. Maybe this wasn't your situation, but they're afraid [00:41:30] of being, you know, labeled as, like, mentally ill officially if they're on medication or they think they can just do more work, which is, of course, noble and valiant and wonderful and needed. But, for example, Prozac is not gonna make an anorexic eat necessarily. Food is more important than serotonin at that moment, right? All the work you did kind of laid the groundwork for, I would imagine, the SSRI helping with that, whatever, 5%, 10% of anxiety that needed to be turned down on [00:42:00] the volume knob. And by the way, you're not gonna probably have a year lopped off of your life because of the SSRI. I would argue that you'll probably live longer because you won't have all this unnecessary cortisol and adrenaline coursing through your veins, like, raising your blood pressure and heart rate. And again, it's not a panacea. And that's the mistake we make, I think, is that you know it's gonna do the work then it's gonna fix all of our problems when actually, you know, just, like, going for a brisk walk or you know, connecting with an old friend. Like, that's just part of the [00:42:30] puzzle. Chrysta: A hundred percent. Yeah. Dr. McBride: And then what do you do for your physical health now? I mean, do you exercise? Do you eat healthy? Chrysta: I do eat healthy. I indulge as well, but I eat very healthy. I don't cook. That was not part of our family tradition, but my husband thankfully does. So, I'm cooked five-star meals for most of my meals, which I'm very grateful for. I eat healthy and I need to start exercising, but that's maybe on this year's bucket list. I do have two small children. So, I would say that that is a very [00:43:00] physically active role, but I need to throw exercise into there for sure. Dr. McBride: I mean, it sounds like you're like most people. You do a lot of things well, you have aspirations, and then you're giving yourself a little break for not doing things perfectly. Tell me as a final question, if you could, what the process of writing this book and getting it out there in the world did for you in terms of kind of, I don't wanna say the word closure because that's too cliche or cute, but, like, what did it do psychologically to get this book out there in the [00:43:30] public? Chrysta: I think closure, yeah, it is cute, but I do think that there was an element of closure. I think there was also, like...talk about contrary action. Like, I had been so ashamed of the story for so long and it's sort of been eating inside me and now the story is fully out there. And I think that the deepest motivation for writing the book was that at different points in my life, memoirs specifically as a genre, but I guess literature as well in general, novels, contributed so much to me feeling less alone. You know, I read "Glass Castle." Dr. McBride: [00:44:00] I was gonna say you must have read "Glass Castle." Chrysta: Yeah. My sister brought it to me actually because she had been assigned it in school and she brought it to me, you know, in secret like it was, you know, the secret gift and she said, "You've gotta read this. It's our story." Even though it's not our story, our story is so different, but we just couldn't believe that a woman had been through this thing that she was so ashamed of and then she'd written a book and put it all out there and wasn't ashamed anymore. So, I think in that way, the stories are similar. But what I got so much from it was just feeling less [00:44:30] alone and feeling like, "Oh, I'm not in a place yet where I'm ready to share this story." You know, I think part of me thought in my own case, I was like, "No man is ever gonna marry me if he knows that I have this history of mental health, I have this crazy family. You know, no one's gonna ever sign up for this." I'm so glad that that didn't turn out to be true. But I think that memoirs specifically, I think when people vulnerably share their truth, it just helps you to frame your own truth. And so, I think that I had already gotten to a place where [00:45:00] I was more open. I just love memoir. And for whatever reason, I also just have this deep urge to tell this story from a really young age. And I don't know exactly, I can't fully understand why I had that deep urge, but it ate at me that I hadn't done it. And so, now I just feel a deep sense of relief that it's completed. I listened to another one of your podcast episodes, which was so wonderful with that amazing author "Corrections in Ink." And she said something about, like, she had [00:45:30] not had compassion for herself until she was rereading her book and could see herself as a character on the page. And I would say there was a really interesting psychological experience. I narrated the audiobook and rereading it through in one sitting, narrating it. I was just like, "Ooh, this little girl went through a lot." Dr. McBride: It sounds like you just followed your gut and your instinct to put this on paper, and it sounds like also you're now getting a flood of readers reaching out to you. You're also getting new [00:46:00] siblings, even last night. Chrysta: I don't know if that's the book. I think that's just coincidence. I don't think... You know, I mean, hey listen, maybe you're one of my siblings listening to this podcast... Dr. McBride: Maybe so. Chrysta: ...right now and you should go take an ancestry.com test. Dr. McBride: I'm going to, for sure. I think you've helped other people feel seen just like you did when you read "The Glass Castle." Chrysta: I have had such a diverse spread of readers reach out, people who discovered they had also biological siblings because they were the product [00:46:30] of a sperm donor, you know, young women who had a parent with substance abuse issues, mothers who had substance abuse issues, who read the book and were like, "I wanna get help." There have been so many different people that had a gay parent in the '70s and '80s and have never met another person. A few months ago I was at a fancy dinner and I was sat next to someone who just this incredibly fancy person and they were like, "Oh, what do you do?" And I was gonna mention the book, you know, and [00:47:00] of course, I mentioned the book and it was before it came out and he's like, "What's it about?" And I said, "Well, you know, my father who's now, you know, homeless and struggles with schizophrenia was secretly one of the most prolific sperm donors in history. It turned out I had all these siblings and..." but I just decided to like put it out there. Dr. McBride: Love it. Chrysta: And I was absolutely sure that this person next to me was gonna be like, "Oh, I gotta scoot further away from this person." He's like, "Oh, I had a really bad drug problem for a really long time." And then the guy across to me is like, "My mother's schizophrenic." And I'm just like, "Oh, this is [00:47:30] such a better conversation than whatever small talk we possibly would've..." You know, it's like, at any level of society, everyone's got...every family has its complexity. And I think that if we were all just more open, of course, I'm not promoting oversharing, like, you know, you don't need to tell your boss your life story. Dr. McBride: I could not agree with you more. First of all, that's much more interesting than talking about the weather or sports at a dinner table where you don't know everybody. And then [00:48:00] secondly, when you are a leader like you have been, it gives other people permission to be honest about their own stories. And who knows, maybe that helps them in a small way at being more authentic in their regular lives. Chrysta: Yeah. I think that's the power of vulnerability and getting over shame, is, yeah, maybe you can, in that tiny way, help other people to do that as well. Dr. McBride: Chrysta, I'm so grateful that you joined me today. You have an incredible way of writing and relating to not only your family [00:48:30] but to your reader. And I just can't thank you enough for writing this book and for spending time with me today. Chrysta: Thank you so much for having me, really. It's lovely. Dr. McBride: Thank you all for listening to "Beyond the Prescription." Please don't forget to subscribe, like, download, and share the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you catch your podcasts. I'd be thrilled, if you like this episode, to rate and review it. And if you have a comment or [00:49:00] question, please drop us a line at info@lucymcbride.com. The views expressed on this show are entirely my own and do not constitute medical advice for individuals. That should be obtained from your personal physician. "Beyond the Prescription" is produced at Podville Media in Washington, D.C.  Get full access to Are You Okay? at lucymcbride.substack.com/subscribe

Do you have ideas for DEI changes in your organization but don't feel empowered to take action on them yourself?The radical truth is that everyone can be a DEI Champion, no matter their job title. We just have to decide that we can be the changemakers that can lead DEI work we want to see happening. These times call for each of us to embrace our inner authority and be the change we want to see.In the season 2 debut of A Recipe for Transformation, Chrysta Wilson explores why wellbeing has to be part of DEI, why leadership exists at every level of an organization and how to claim your leadership authority, highlighting in particular: Why putting people at the center is a crucial DEI strategyThe need for a network for DEI leaders to share resources and best practicesWhy everyone has a leadership authority in an organization, even if they don't have the positional title What claiming DEI leadership at work can look like and the mindset challenges many of us need to deconstruct around leadership identity A guided reflection exercise to connect you to your inner authority "We don't have to wait for the leaders at the top to fix the thing that we know is broken. Like we can be the mirrors that can reflect the problems that we see. And we can be the light that guides the pathway forward."Chrysta WilsonS2 E1, A Recipe for Transformation www.RecipeForTransformation.comConnect with Chrysta:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystawilson/https://www.instagram.com/wilsonandassociatesconsulting/

Are you doing DEI work and feeling perpetually exhausted?Research shows that DEI leaders are experiencing record levels of burnout. We're passionate about it and it's hard work, so in a way that doesn't seem surprising. But what if it could be different? What if it HAS to be different for our DEI work to really be effective? In episode 2 of A Recipe for Transformation, Chrysta Wilson explains how disrupting grind culture is an essential part of DEI work, how that work begins in each of us, and how we can start to make those changes, highlighting: The need for reinforcing new, healthier behaviors to change our habits and our culture Why isolation is a key factor in DEI leadership burnout and how we can change thatThe “unsustainable YES” and the reality of staff capacity, mental and physical health, relationships and economic situationHow to shift towards a lifestyle that honors our bodies and minds and creates a sustainable, balanced life Why we cannot do effective DEI work within grind culture; the paradigm of our relationship to self has to change simultaneously "Here's what I have learned as a recovered workaholic: I've learned that rest practice is easier when you do it with a community that also honors those practices.” Chrysta WilsonS2 E2, A Recipe for Transformation www.RecipeForTransformation.comConnect with Chrysta:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystawilson/https://www.instagram.com/wilsonandassociatesconsulting/

Do you listen to what your body tells you?Our stories are stored in our bodies. Healing requires us to feel, to move, to let our bodies know what they know and to honor their knowing. But so many of us are habitually disconnected from our bodies that it can feel like a major challenge to learn to “listen” more closely to our own bodies, let alone to bring this topic into the workplace and to DEI work.In episode 3 of A Recipe for Transformation, Chrysta Wilson goes into the topic of somatics or embodiment, and reveals why including the body is important in DEI work, highlighting in particular:We know key information in our bodies, often before we know it in our minds; why paying attention to the subtle cues we notice in the body is important.What embodiment / somatics means in the context of DEI work.See the issues, feel the issues; the importance of including healing work in the DEI process and what that means about expanding the nature of the work.Why learning to honor our own bodies is a crucial piece of doing DEI work4 great practices to build a stronger connection with your body "When we're more connected to our bodies it shows up in how we lead. We're able to create deeper DEI strategies that address the harms that DEI was aimed to address in the first place. When we forget that we are whole human beings with a body, how can we build a future for all human beings to thrive?” Chrysta WilsonS2 E3, A Recipe for Transformation www.RecipeForTransformation.comConnect with Chrysta:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystawilson/https://www.instagram.com/wilsonandassociatesconsulting/

Chrysta Bilton is an American writer and memoirist. Her first book, the memoir Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings, was published in July 2022 by Little, Brown in the US and Octopus in the UK. The book was listed among Kirkus's Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 and named a 'best' or 'must-read' book of Summer 2022 by The Washington Post, The LA Times, Vanity Fair, People Magazine, Amazon, and many others. The Sunday Times called Normal Family "a testament to human resilience, forgiveness and humour" and People Magazine called it "a riveting debut." The Atlantic wrote that "Normal Family will, in the very best way, leave you wondering what [family] actually means." Chrysta lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.Chrysta's 'family' is spread widely across the country. Please tune into our delightful, humorous and enormously touching conversation.

Episode Description:  Join Karen as she talks with Chrysta Bairre, Founder of She Goes High, about being introverted and neurodivergent, and the toll of masking.  Chrysta shares how she's intentionally building a community that encourages being more of who we truly are and practicing taking up space.  They have a conversation about managing the impacts of having invisible, intersectional, marginalized identities, and the power of speaking our own lived experiences and finding our own paths.Links:Schedule an Exploratory Call with Karen: https://calendly.com/karenbartlett/30minLearn more about Kite + Dart Group:  www.kiteanddartgroup.comRegister for an upcoming event:  https://www.eventbrite.com/o/the-kite-dart-group-16435043586Learn more about Chrysta Bairre:  https://liveandlovework.com/Learn more about She Goes High:  https://www.shegoeshigh.us/Connect with Carin Huebner at Public Good Media:  publicgood.mediaOriginal music credit goes to DJ Ishe:  https://soundcloud.com/ishe

Chrysta Bilton is an American writer who lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children. Her first book, the memoir Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings, was published in July 2022 by Little, Brown in the US and Octopus in the UK. Chrysta's work has appeared in The Guardian, Literary Hub, and Newsweek. Normal Family was listed among Kirkus's Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 and named a 'best' or 'must-read' book of Summer 2022 by Amazon, The Los Angeles Times,Vanity Fair, People, USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter, Cup of Jo, Parade, Today, Apple, and elsewhere. Book Recommendations: David Sheff, Beautiful Boy Robert Kolker, Hidden Valley Road Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chrysta Bilton is an American writer who lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children. Her first book, the memoir Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings, was published in July 2022 by Little, Brown in the US and Octopus in the UK. Chrysta's work has appeared in The Guardian, Literary Hub, and Newsweek. Normal Family was listed among Kirkus's Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 and named a 'best' or 'must-read' book of Summer 2022 by Amazon, The Los Angeles Times,Vanity Fair, People, USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter, Cup of Jo, Parade, Today, Apple, and elsewhere. Book Recommendations: David Sheff, Beautiful Boy Robert Kolker, Hidden Valley Road Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Chrysta Bilton is an American writer who lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children. Her first book, the memoir Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings, was published in July 2022 by Little, Brown in the US and Octopus in the UK. Chrysta's work has appeared in The Guardian, Literary Hub, and Newsweek. Normal Family was listed among Kirkus's Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 and named a 'best' or 'must-read' book of Summer 2022 by Amazon, The Los Angeles Times,Vanity Fair, People, USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter, Cup of Jo, Parade, Today, Apple, and elsewhere. Book Recommendations: David Sheff, Beautiful Boy Robert Kolker, Hidden Valley Road Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

Chrysta Bilton is an American writer who lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children. Her first book, the memoir Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings, was published in July 2022 by Little, Brown in the US and Octopus in the UK. Chrysta's work has appeared in The Guardian, Literary Hub, and Newsweek. Normal Family was listed among Kirkus's Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 and named a 'best' or 'must-read' book of Summer 2022 by Amazon, The Los Angeles Times,Vanity Fair, People, USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter, Cup of Jo, Parade, Today, Apple, and elsewhere. Book Recommendations: David Sheff, Beautiful Boy Robert Kolker, Hidden Valley Road Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

Chrysta Bilton is an American writer who lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children. Her first book, the memoir Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings, was published in July 2022 by Little, Brown in the US and Octopus in the UK. Chrysta's work has appeared in The Guardian, Literary Hub, and Newsweek. Normal Family was listed among Kirkus's Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 and named a 'best' or 'must-read' book of Summer 2022 by Amazon, The Los Angeles Times,Vanity Fair, People, USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter, Cup of Jo, Parade, Today, Apple, and elsewhere. Book Recommendations: David Sheff, Beautiful Boy Robert Kolker, Hidden Valley Road Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

Some parts of society still think that marginalized identities are not normal. Introverts or people who are neurodivergent are usually seen as atypical. It's always a challenge to fit in if you fall into one of those many categories of being neurodivergent. People should know that it is okay not to be normal. And people who are introverted or neurodivergent should not be ashamed of who they are. They should allow themselves to show up in the world as their normal selves and be comfortable with that. Join Whitney Lauritsen as she talks to Chrysta Bairre about the intersectional layers of marginalized identities. Chrysta is a career coach, speaker, author, and founder of She Leads. She helps people live their best by balancing their work-life. Discover her story and why she classifies herself as neurodivergent. Learn about self-acceptance, breaking the stigma, social hierarchies, and more. Start finding your way in this confusing world today.This episode is sponsored by Athletic Greens and Zencastr.Get a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs of AG1 at athleticgreens.com/WELLEVATR.Visit zencastr.com/pricing and enter promo code "wellevatrzen" to get 30% off your first three months.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the This Might Get Uncomfortable community today:wellevatr.comWellevatr FacebookWellevatr TwitterWellevatr Instagram

This week, Erin and Sara sit down with Chrysta Bilton, author of "Normal Family." They discuss Chrysta's emotional roller coaster of a story, how we can connect over our family traumas, the link between secrets and shame, and more.Executive Producers: Erin Foster, Sara Foster, and Allison BresnickAssociate Producer: Montana McBirneyAudio Engineer: Josh WindischThis episode is sponsored by: Hiya (hiyahealth.com/foster)Calm (calm.com/foster)Boll & Branch (bollandbranch.com PROMO CODE: foster15)Everlywell (everylywell.com/foster)Noom (noom.com/foster)Nutrafol

Chrysta Bilton recently penned her memoir titled "Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings" with Little, Brown and Company. She shares many stories of her life growing up and then the shocking realization that she had over 35 siblings from donor conception. At first resisting the new family, Chrysta eventually warms up to these siblings, who she now calls family. Hear her share about her life and experiences in this conversation with Edward Looney. Chrysta's website: (https://www.chrystabilton.com/ (https://www.chrystabilton.com/) Buy Normal Family: https://www.amazon.com/Normal-Family-Truth-Love-Siblings/dp/0316536547/ (https://www.amazon.com/Normal-Family-Truth-Love-Siblings/dp/0316536547/)

Are your employees thriving? Is your company an irresistible organization to work for? The wellbeing and satisfaction of employees is directly linked to organizational success, and with the huge increase of employee resignations over the last few years DEI is clearly no longer a “nice-to-have” but a critical pillar of a successful business.In this episode of A Recipe for Transformation, Chrysta explains how the Great Resignation is rooted in a cultural shift of renegotiating working environments and quality of life, and the importance of shifting organizational culture from extractive to irresistible, highlighting:What the Great Resignation has to do with a lack of DEI and the advent of the Great Renegotiation Why DEI is not just a set of values or a strategy but underpins a cultural shift and why it needs to be woven into the DNA of our organizations The 5 ingredients of a toxic work culture and how to invert those characteristics into the 5 characteristics of an irresistible organizationShifting the narrative of people being mechanisms of production to being valued as human beings with the right to thrive Why employee thriving is connected to overall company success and the key question your company needs to answer in order to create a workplace people never want to leave “We're renegotiating what we're willing to tolerate, what we're willing to accept and not, and we're looking to be in spaces where we are valued, respected, and where the wholeness of who we are has the opportunity to thrive. We want to feel respect and dignity at work.” Chrysta WilsonS1 E4, A Recipe for Transformation www.RecipeForTransformation.comConnect with Chrysta:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystawilson/https://www.instagram.com/wilsonandassociatesconsulting/

Do you have a DEI plan that outlines what needs to change to create an irresistible organization?And does that plan include how you're going to track changes as you implement DEI steps? It's easy to throw DEI activities into the mix, but without a clear strategy, it's unlikely that they'll create any kind of sustainable change. In episode 5 of A Recipe for Transformation, Chrysta explores why we need to create a comprehensive DEI plan, ways of tracking impact and iterating as necessary as we harvest the results of our strategy, highlighting in particular: Why we need a comprehensive DEI plan that becomes our guidebook plan to make our organizations irresistible How to know if what you're doing is working and making sure you're not treading water despite including some DEI activities The importance of diversifying leadership and iterating when a DEI plan shows up further DEI gaps in the organization 3 key tips for creating a successful DEI plan The importance of researching why the DEI gaps in an organization are there in the first place and planning for a DEI robust future"After you do a DEI diagnostic to understand where you are - what's the current state of DEI affairs in your organization - then it's time to figure out what's the 1-2-3 of how you're going to get to where you want to go. And so your DEI plan becomes your guidebook. It tells the entire story of who will help you get to where you're going, what are the changes that you want to see, and what's the kind of supportive environment that you want to be on the other side of your plan."Chrysta WilsonS1 E5, A Recipe for Transformation "You can share your answer with me at www.recipefortransformation.com and join others in a conversation about activating your DEI Plans on LinkedIn on my related post https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystawilson/www.RecipeForTransformation.comConnect with Chrysta:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystawilson/https://www.instagram.com/wilsonandassociatesconsulting/

Are you willing to go deep into your DEI inquiry?Taking a good hard look at anywhere that your organization might be perpetuating inequality is not always easy, but if you want to do the deep work of DEI, then that is what's needed - otherwise it's just a “diet” version.In this episode of A Recipe for Transformation, Chrysta goes back to the historical origins of DEI work, outlines some ways in which companies perpetuate inequality and invites a deeper look at company policy, highlighting in particular: DEI has its roots in the civil right movement and organizational efforts must be rooted in that quest for justice in order to be truly constructive Why “diet DEI” is ineffective and why we need to ask, “What do we need to make right?”If we don't intentionally design workplaces for neurodivergent or disabled people, we make it difficult for them to thrive, so DEI needs to include these people's needs The impact of nepotism on diversity and inclusion and why the willingness to critically examine our hiring policies is so crucialWhy we need to deeply examine how our company's policies might be perpetuating inequality and harm“What do we need to make right? And what do we need to make it right? How has our organization perpetuated oppression?”Chrysta WilsonS1 E6, A Recipe for Transformation www.RecipeForTransformation.comConnect with Chrysta:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystawilson/https://www.instagram.com/wilsonandassociatesconsulting/

You have a brand.   Yes, leaders, I'm speaking to you. Entrepreneurs, I'm absolutely speaking to you.   Your brand is an extension of you. It represents you. It lingers on whether you are present in the moment or not. One of the most damaging situations for leaders and entrepreneurs today is the default brand. This is a brand that develops without intentional thought and attention.   Joining us this week is Brandmaster extraordinaire Christopher Andrade. Join Roz Jones, Mireille Toulekima, and myself as we talk with Christopher about how to command your brand.   About Christopher: Christopher Andrade is an Arizona native and the owner and creative director of the commercial communications boutiques Neo Media Branding and Sound Motion Vision. Christopher mentored under legendary Disney creatives Ron Swartz and Roger Persoll and Marriott Hotels brand guru Mike Heil. He has a passion for persuasive engagement psychology, comedy in every discipline, is a classically trained commercial illustrator, voice actor, writer, power-brand consultant, film/television and event production designer, strategic advertising-marketing director, and media viceroy for constructive organizations and blue-chip brands in entertainment, media, fintech, communications, broadcast, public relations, healthcare, real estate, luxury resort, and travel, as well as helping solopreneurs and charitable/philanthropic entities. He is the creator of offsite-total immersion executive training experiences, “The Diversity Advantage,” “No Limits,” ”Fiscal and Physical Fitness,” "Rocket Popcorn,” and “Brand GUSTO!” He lives and works in Peoria, AZ with Bridget, his much-smarter and ever-gorgeous high school sweetheart, and their daughter Chrysta (who just earned her master's degree in Psychopharmacology, from the University of Colorado, Boulder), where he writes and performs dubious comedy and designs props for film and television “because it's free of politics." ____________________________________________________ Learn more and register for Leadership Above the Grind Mentoring and Coaching Academy. http://eliteleaders.net  “LEADERSHIP ABOVE THE GRIND™ (LATG) and The mentoring and coaching ACADEMY make it possible to reach YOUR LEADERS with the TOP-RATED, CULTURE-SHIFTING support they need to do their best work – AND ALL THAT THAT IMPLIES – amid new and ever-shifting business realities. Whether you're addressing the achievement of new initiatives, DE&I, underperformance, stalled team and/or individual motivation, conflict resolution, or disengagement, we provide the support solutions needed to navigate constant change, uncertainty, and beyond. LATG founder and CEO Rhonda Y. Williams, supports, trains, and develops your “pros” using dynamic, proven, highly integrative, customizable, targeted, and lasting tools. Our resources WORK to unite current employees to achieve success in their leadership roles while honing skills to level up to leadership mastery. The one thing missing from so many excellent organizations is the thing they need most – total immersion leadership cultivation that lasts. We encourage you to click the link below to learn more about our acclaimed positive impact on organizations and how swiftly and engagingly the shift can be made to operating as a genuinely revered, more profitable, and retentive culture of engagement.” Leadership can be stressful. Is it time to STOP the madness? Download the complimentary 5-step formula to reduce toxic stress and reclaim your personal power. http://launchforleaders.com Schedule an appointment to explore The Mentoring and Coaching Academy services: https://stressfreeleader.kartra.com/page/LATGServices

Are you ready to look deeply and honestly at the discrimination that is happening around you and what that brings up in you? It's easy for DEI work to stay at the generic “social-washing” level rather than holding the profoundly complex historical foundations and cultural conditions that perpetuate discrimination. Exploring our own intersectional identities, our lived experience in this culture and our inner relationship with discrimination can bring us to a much deeper level of engagement with DEI efforts. In this episode of A Recipe for Transformation Chrysta explores what we have to do to intentionally and meaningfully pursue diversity, equity and inclusion and how to assess whether DEI initiatives are really addressing the deep, historically rooted cultural narratives that create and maintain barriers to thriving for certain demographics, highlighting: Moving beyond well-intentioned training courses and language and into changing real-life situations where discrimination is happening DEI interventions need to become responsive and strategic rather than isolated incidents disengaged from real lifeThe importance of contextualizing movements for thriving in the historical and cultural hierarchies of who is valued and who is notThe fundamental questions that can help us move beyond the surface DEI activities into transformational DEI workExploring our intersectional identities and the ways in which they are advantaged and disadvantaged and how that can help us position ourselves in DEI efforts “We have to humanize our diversity, equity and inclusion work. And by that, I mean we have to put people back in the center of all these DEI investments. We have to stop thinking about DEI as a tactic or activity or some strategy that looks great on an Instagram post or a website banner because we're really talking about creating new conditions. A new way of treating one another. A new way of doing work.” Chrysta WilsonS1 E2, A Recipe for Transformation www.RecipeForTransformation.comConnect with Chrysta:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystawilson/https://www.instagram.com/wilsonandassociatesconsulting/

Are you rooted in your deep reason for wanting to do diversity equity and inclusion work?Are you personally invested in doing it and connected to the meaning it has for you as an individual, as well as for your organization? Or are you more connected to the social expectation to do this work and to use more culturally sensitive language?In episode 1 of A Recipe for Transformation, Chrysta explores what it takes to do truly impactful DEI work, how to connect to your personal and organizational why, and some of the societal narratives that might be interfering with a deeper connection to DEI work, highlighting in particular: The importance of having a strong vision and being able to communicate itWhat is your “Why”, why it's important to know it and what generic motivations might be playing a roleDEI work is personal, and it will bring up a lot, and assessing whether you're ready to embrace the journeyThe fundamental questions to ask if your organization is thinking about doing DEI workWhat being an “anti-racist” organization really means and the work on all levels that it implies “They took their DEI question and made it personal. They made a connection to who they are as people and why DEI matters to them as humans and also matters to their organization. The question for you is, why does it matter if your organization is doing DEI work? It matters to get specific. What is your vision and the mission of your organization? Start there.” Chrysta WilsonS1 E1, A Recipe for Transformation www.RecipeForTransformation.comConnect with Chrysta:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystawilson/https://www.instagram.com/wilsonandassociatesconsulting/

Do you have a clear idea of what your organization's current DEI competency is? Are you tracking actions and results?You can't improve what you're not tracking, so getting a precise understanding of where your organization is at on its DEI journey is crucial if you want your DEI efforts to be effective. In episode 3 of A Recipe for Transformation, Chrysta illuminates why asking (and answering) questions is the first step in effective DEI work, and how understanding where your staff is currently at with DEI competence is a must in order to know what is needed going forward, and why using an effective DEI diagnostic is a non-negotiable tool in this work, highlighting: We can't improve what we can't measure; why you need to know where you want to go and where you are currently How a DEI diagnostic can help you figure out where your organization currently is in its DEI work, the best path forwards and what hazards and pitfalls to avoid How a DEI diagnostic can be a generative process rather than a stale and boring oneThe 3 questions to ask in order to begin building a DEI competent staffHow using a DEI diagnostic will help you be sure that the training you're investing in will actually get the results that you want“We want to make sure that we're doing the training and building the knowledge that's going to help our people in the way that we know that they need to be supported. It's kinda like when we get in a car and we turn the GPS on and we're going to head to our next destination, but we don't actually put in our starting address or the destination address; how would that GPS know how to get us to where we're going? That's what a DEI diagnostic will do.”Chrysta WilsonS1 E3, A Recipe for Transformation ***Go to www.DEIDiagnostic.com to get my free DEI Diagnostic***www.RecipeForTransformation.comConnect with Chrysta:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystawilson/https://www.instagram.com/wilsonandassociatesconsulting/

Black and LGBTQ workers have not wanted to go back to work after the pandemic. And there's a reason for this. Workers are refusing to sacrifice their humanity for a paycheck. When our workplaces honor our humanity and dignity, we all thrive and so do our organizations. We can change the statistic together. Welcome to a recipe for transformation, a podcast with Chrysta Wilson. Over the last 14 years, Chrysta served as a coach, strategist, facilitator, and storyteller to help those committed to changing the world do so more effectively. She has helped hundreds of organizations and government agencies find the special ingredients required to create their own unique recipes for promoting diversity, racial justice, equity, inclusion, and human dignity. Chrysta will be providing you with recipes to transform the way you do DEI in your workplace so that you can create supportive cultures of thriving instead of toxic ones. “I hope you'll grab a seat at the table and join me every other month as I drop a full season of recipes, and the occasional secret ingredient for diversity, equity, inclusion, and most importantly, dignity at work. Because leading transformations that stick requires more than knowing the words. It's about understanding why we're doing what we do, and putting people first”- Chrsyta Wilson, A Recipe for Transformation, Trailer.

MOTIVATIONAL PERSON OF THE MONTH!!! Chrysta Bairre is a dynamic keynote speaker helping women create balance, advocate for themselves, overcome Impostor Syndrome, and find fulfillment in work and life. She is the author of the book, Beautiful Badass: How To Believe In Yourself Against The Odds, published in 2019. You can find her at her website: www.liveandlovework.com There you can find her book, her women's group, and where she is speaking! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/dawn9792/message

Chrysta Bilton, author of Normal Family; On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings, talks with Eve about her journey to writing her memoir. BOOK CLUB ZOOM PARTY WITH CHRYSTA OCTOBER 2ND 5PM 2022! for zoom invite, contact Eve! SHOW INFORMATION Who Even Am I Anymore; A Process Journal created by Eve Sturges (now available!) Instagram: @everythingsrelativepodcast Facebook: @everythingsrelativepodcast Twitter: @evesturges Email: eve@everythingsrelativepodcast.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingsrelativepodcast Website: www.everythingsrelativepodcast.com

This week, Brooke speaks with Chrysta Bilton, who's first book “Normal Family” (a memoir) just published. They talk about what it was like for Chrysta to learn that her dad was a prolific sperm donor, which then led to her discovery of over 40 siblings (and counting). Brooke and Chrysta also discuss a strangely coincidental crossover between a character in her story and all the Elon (sigh Elon) shenanigans of this past week. It's a wild conversation. Have fun! Pop Culture Mondays Newsletter: https://medium.com/popculturemondays    Brooke's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brooke/    Brooke's Twitter: https://twitter.com/brooke     Brooke's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brookehammerling     Potato's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/potato/    Chrysta's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrystabilton/   Chrysta's Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrystaolson   Normal Family: On Truth, Love and How I Met My 35 Siblings https://a.co/d/fNGidei

Today, I'm talking with Chrysta Bilton about her new book and the discovery of her 35 (and counting) siblings! Chrysta is an American author who lives in Los Angeles, CA, with her husband and two children. Chrysta's new memoir, Normal Family, details her nontraditional upbringing and how her father was one of the most prolific sperm donors of the California cryobank in the 80s. Listen in as Chrysta talks about family reunions, nature versus nurture, and how we can learn and grow from our parents' trauma. Also hear a short story based on Chrysta's life from Michael Kobzik.      IN THIS EPISODE:   [03:02] Chrysta's discovery of her many siblings [08:15] Chrysta's upbringing and meeting and building relationships with her half-siblings [13:29] Family reunion and interviewing her family for her book [18:45] Writing prompt and further discussion about her book, Normal Family [20:16] Short story: “Cut from the Same Cloth” KEY TAKEAWAYS:   Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. Sperm donation was and continues to be unregulated. Normal Family is an effort to try to understand our parents' traumas as a way to gain acceptance of their choices. This often informs the way in which we structure our own families and how we break free from generational issues.     Fiction Credits:    Short story written by: Michael Kobzik Voice Over by: Regina Williams   BIO:  Chrysta Bilton is an American author who lives in Los Angeles, CA, with her husband and two children. Normal Family is her first book.   Chrysta Bilton Website Chrysta Bilton on LinkedIn Chrysta Bilton on Instagram Chrysta Bilton on TwitterOur Sponsors:* Check out HelloFresh and use my code 50truefictionproject for a great deal: https://www.hellofresh.com/Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This week's episode of Inside the Hive first dives into the latest revelations from the January 6th committee, and explores what could happen next as the panel draws to a close Then Chrysta Bilton, along with her husband Nick Bilton, join Emily Jane Fox to discuss “Normal Family,” Chrysta's memoir that recounts her discovery of more than 35 biological siblings from the same sperm donor. She describes her colorful upbringing, the shock of a lifetime in finding out that she was perhaps unknowingly dating her half brother, and how this experience shaped her views on nature versus nurture Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chrysta Bilton is here to talk with Joe about her memoir, Normal Family and what exactly it was like discovering just full her family tree really is. Chrysta shares personal reflections on her relationship with her parents, protecting her energy while unpacking her story, what it was like recording the audiobook for her memoir, and why outdoor bistros are a friend to parents with young kids. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we're replaying a classic episode where your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview Chrysta Castañeda of The Castañeda Firm (https://castaneda-firm.com/) Remember to rate and review GTP in iTunes: Click Here To Rate and Review Episode Details: Accomplished Dallas oil and gas litigator Chrysta Castañeda of The Castañeda Firm discusses how she secured justice for oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, the owner of Mesa Petroleum Partners, in a landmark breach of contract case against three Texas oil companies, securing the nation's 12th largest verdict in 2016. In January 2007, Mesa Petroleum Partners signed a participation agreement with J. Cleo Thompson and Baytech, affording Mesa 15% ownership in oil wells and other assets in Texas over a five-year period. Mesa Petroleum elected to participate in all offered deals, but unbeknownst to Pickens, Mesa Petroleum's 15% interest was being used to purchase assets and to drill more than 160 wells under the auspices of two newly formed companies: Patriot Resources and Delaware Basin Resources. In 2009, Delaware Basin Resources attempted to buy out Mesa Petroleum from the original agreement and recruited Baytech to initiate an offer that Mesa Petroleum ultimately rejected. Despite the defense's claims that Pickens stated in a phone call that he wanted out of the agreement, except for his initial investment in a Lyda Well, and assertions that Pickens did not pay his fair share and was looking to repair his reputation after making poor business decisions during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, Chrysta Castañeda secured justice for her client. In November 2016, after a five-week trial, a Reeves County, Texas jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, awarding more than $140 million in damages plus legal fees. This groundbreaking case is also featured in the book The Last Trial of T. Boone Pickens, written by Chrysta Castañeda and Loren Steffy. Read/Download the Complete Trial Documents   Guest Bio: Chrysta Castañeda Chrysta Castañeda is a go-to lawyer for high-stakes litigation in the energy industry and beyond.  Practicing for over twenty-five years, she has built a solid reputation for adeptly handling technical litigation, often serving as lead trial counsel in high-profile disputes of media interest.  Her win for T. Boone Pickens' Mesa Petroleum Partners was recognized as the 12th largest verdict in 2016 in the nation by The National Law Journal and earned her a spot as one of the NLJ's Elite Trial Lawyers of 2018, as well as induction into Texas Lawyer‘s Texas Verdicts Hall of Fame. Following this series of high-profile recognitions, Chrysta was inducted as a fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation in the beginning of 2020. Chrysta developed her reputation and commitment to excellence from practicing for more than two decades at top firms worldwide.  Since founding the Castañeda Firm, Chrysta has prioritized delivering the quality of representation found in large law firms in a personalized way. Chrysta and her team strive to out-prepare the opposition, from investigation through trial. Chrysta not only has more than two decades of experience litigating energy and oil and gas matters but also holds a degree in engineering.  Her technical training in combination with her experience in crisis communications frequently proves invaluable to clients, enabling her to effectively explain complex scientific concepts to judges and juries. Clients value Chrysta's strength and tenacity.  As Chrysta puts it, “We take pride in having both the knowledge and experience clients require, as well as the necessary tenacity and creativity to craft winning strategies.  We aim to prepare so thoroughly that we can adapt without hesitation to changing dynamics at trial or in discovery.  I want our clients to feel confident and assured when The Castañeda Firm is on their case.” Outside of the oil and gas and energy industries, Chrysta has extensive experience in commercial litigation, trade secrets, products liability, pharmaceutical, medical device, and toxic tort litigation. Read Full Bio Book Link: The Last Trial of T. Boone Pickens   Show Sponsors: Legal Technology Services -LegalTechService.com Digital Law Marketing - DigitalLawMarketing.com Harris Lowry Manton, LLP - hlmlawfirm.com   Free Resources: Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 1 Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 2