On the Brighter Side

Latest Episodes:

Guided Accountability with Charlena Smith Jul 08, 2019

Show notes

Today’s episode is with Charlena Smith, founder of Optio, a company that uses guided accountability to pair women together with perfectly matched accountability partners in order to help them achieve their goals and dreams. Charlena shares with us a rare disorder she developed during her pregnancies that nearly killed her. She defied the odds and lived to tell us what she learned from cheating death.

Charlena developed an algorithm to pair women together with their perfect accountability partner and loves to see them accomplish things they never thought were possible. Optio is a 12 week program that start with extensive personality testing and training and has been tested and proven effective. To learn more about this program, visit www.myoptio.org. You can also find her on instagram at www.instagram.com/myoptio.org. You can find a planner and guided accountability journal by Charlena Smith on Amazon.

I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating the 4th of July and until next week: Have Courage, Be Kind and Stay On the Brighter Side.

Happy 4th of July with The American Moms, Brittany and Andrea Jul 01, 2019

Show notes

In today’s interview with the sisters behind the Instagram account, The American Moms, Brittany and Andrea share with us their 4th of July traditions, how to get more involved in our communities, who inspires them and some thoughts on failure.

Brittany recently ran for City Counsel in her town and shares with us her thoughts on small town politics and what she learned from the experience. She talked about her philosophy that you miss 100% of the shots that you do not take, and I loved her ideas about this. It’s ok if you do not win everything and there is still so much to learn and take from these experiences.

You can learn more about these amazing sisters on their website: www.theamericanmoms.com or follow them on Instagram @theamericanmoms. I am so grateful to have had them on the show and I wish you all a very happy 4th of July.

Please remember to learn about events that are happening in the world and in your area and always vote in every election! Your voice matters and is important!

Your Courageous Life with Kate Swoboda Jun 24, 2019

Show notes

My guest on the podcast today is a life coach and author of The Courage Habit. I call her Kate Courageous and she chats with me about how to make courage a habit and feel the fear and do it anyway. I love her definition of courage and the way she talks about this all important concept.

Kate’s book, The Courage Habit: How to Accept Your Fears, Release the Past, and Live Your Courageous Life, is available on Amazon and anywhere books are sold. You can learn more about her on her website, www.yourcourageouslife.com or her coaching program at https://TeamCLCC.com. She is on social media as @katecourageous. She also hosts two podcasts, one on courage and the other on coaching. The are called, Your Courageous Life Podcast and The Craft of Coaching Podcast.

Remember to subscribe to On the Brighter Side on your favorite podcast listening app, so you never miss an episode.

You can get my bi-weekly Motivational Monday emails by going to www.onthebrightersideoflife.com.

Confidence, Self-Awareness and Conquering Fear with Lucy Liu Jun 17, 2019

Show notes

My guest on the podcast today is the one and only, Lucy Liu. Well, there might be others, but this is the real deal. We open up the episode with Lucy’s experience sharing a name with someone very famous and why she didn’t change it when she got married. These experiences and others like them taught her confidence and now, she teaches women the same lessons.

I just know you are going to love her style as she opens up about her journey to overcome her fears and become a life coach. She shares so much wisdom in this episode, you might want to listen while taking notes. I know I did.

You can find out more about my amazing guest on her website at: www.lucyliucoaching.com. Or find her on Instagram at www.instagram.com/mslucyliu.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast, so you don’t miss an episode. Also, I send out a Motivational Monday email every other week, so if you want short, sweet, relevant motivation to slay your week right to your inbox, please sign up for it at www.onthebrightersideoflife.com.

Collaboration and Networking with Diana DeJesus Jun 10, 2019

Show notes

My guest, Diana DeJesus, on the podcast today is somewhat of a local celebrity, especially among female entrepreneurs. She is the founder of two popular, local Instagram accounts and has taught hundreds of women about collaboration and social media marketing.

Her first account www.instagram.com/boise_bucketlist is dedicated to everything awesome in the Treasure Valley. It’s a listing of all things that make where we live amazing! Her second account, www.instagram.com/collabovercompetitionmixer is a place where women entrepreneurs can come together and support each other and collaborate. She hosts mixers each month and women come to meet and learn about each other. She is a local rock star for sure!

In this episode, she talks about branding, social media marketing and failure. She shares some crazy awesome stories with us, so you don’t want to miss this one. Thanks Diana, for sharing your wisdom and vision with us!

Olympic Gymnast Shawn Johnson and NFL Long Snapper Andrew East Talk Marriage and Family Life Jun 03, 2019

Show notes

Today, I’m releasing my very favorite episode to date. I have watched Shawn Johnson compete gymnastics since she was a little girl and I’m one of her biggest fans. I’ve had the opportunity to learn about social media from Andrew East and have grown to respect him as a content creator and fantastic husband. In this episode they were so kind to open up with me and be honest and candid about their marriage and family life.

Shawn Johnson and Andrew East have a unique marriage in that they are so in the public eye and both successful and recognized athletes, but they have a marriage just like the rest of us. They disagree, have pet peeves and admire each other just like any other newly married couple. They have to navigate it all, just like anyone else, except for being recognized everywhere they go.

And, they are about to be parents. They share their hopes and dreams for baby East and their desire for this baby to know how much his parents love him and each other. So sweet!!! The cover photo for this episode is the night Shawn was inducted into the sports Hall of Fame. Andrew was so supportive and proud.

You can follow along in the East Family adventures on YouTube at The East Family or follow them individually at Shawn Johnson East and Andrew D East on every other platform. You can also check out Andrew’s podcast: Redirected on iTunes or any other podcast listening app. I promise you are going to love them!

40 Life Lessons I’ve Learned in 40 Years of Life May 27, 2019

Show notes

Happy 40th birthday to me! Each year on my birthday, I find some time to reflect on how I’m doing. I take into account my dreams and goals and the progress I’ve made towards them in the last year. I also take inventory of where I am physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. This year, since it’s kind of a big, round, significant number, I also recorded lessons I’ve learned and things that are really important to me that I want to teach or model for my children.

This exercise turned into this episode and I’m so excited to share it with all of you. It’s hard to be so open and vulnerable with my life experiences, but if this episode helps one person feel better or motivates anyone to just keep going, then it is 100% worth it. I thought it would be difficult to come up with 40 life lessons, but once I started brainstorming, I came up with way more than 40. I discarded some of the most obvious ones like be honest, forgive others, do more of what you love and things like that, then I smashed some together and saved some for a later episode or course, especially the ones about marriage, parenting and other relationships.

I hope you enjoy this episode. It was a labor of love.

If any of you are wondering what I want for my 40th birthday, I’ll tell you. I would love a rating and review of this podcast, specifically this episode on iTunes. Or, you can reach out in any number of ways: email, Instagram, Facebook, Google or on my website and let me know if you are getting anything from my podcast. I’d also love to know if you have any suggestions for future topics or guests. I love a good challenge, so guest recommendations are my favorite, even if they seem out of reach. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening and for your support!

Podcasting, Productivity and Mom Life with Stefanie Gass May 20, 2019

Show notes

Today’s episode with Stefanie Gass is one of my new favorites. Stefanie is a mompreneur with her own podcast and a knack for balancing family life with her busy work schedule. She shares with us her best tips and tricks for balance, productivity and marketing online. She is an energetic, authentic and totally down to earth mompreneur who truly believes you really can have it all.

You can find Stefanie all over social media at @stefaniegass. Her podcast is called the Mompreneur Mastermind Show and her website is: www.stefaniegass.com.

I hope you enjoy this episode. Next week I’m turning the BIG 4…0!!! I’m exited to share 40 life lessons I’ve learned in 40 years, so make sure you tune in.

Creating your own Family Culture with Jodi Chaffee May 13, 2019

Show notes

Today, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Jodi Chaffee of the Family Culture Podcast to discuss the meaning of family culture and how we can intentionally create our own family cultures. She has been studying family culture of over a decade and has interviewed lots of great guests on what the concept means to them. Your family has a culture whether you are aware of what you are creating or not. Jodi discusses creating a vision and road map for your family and why this even matters.

You can listen to Jodi’s podcast here: www.ourmodernheritage.com or on your favorite podcast listening app. Look for my episode about adding service to your family culture. She is also on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter at @familyculturepodcast.

Thanks so much for listening each week. If you are getting any benefit from this podcast, don’t forget to rate and review on iTunes or any other podcast listening app. It helps me out a ton as well as helping others find the show. Until next week have courage, be kind and stay on the brighter side.

Shari Carter Shares with us Lessons She has Learned Teaching Grade School Kids May 06, 2019

Show notes

In honor of teacher appreciation week this week, I sat down with our family’s favorite teacher of all time, Mrs. Shari Carter. Shari has been teaching a long time and loves what she does. It shows in her work as she is adored by her students, their parents and her peers. Shari is the kind of teacher who leaves an indelible impression on her kids by going above and beyond every single time.

Shari shares her wisdom with us and lets us in on some insider stories about how she came to teach kindergartners and what she would like to share with parents about their kids. You can follow Shari on Instagram @love_2teach. You can also check out her scholastic top teaching blog for ideas about fun, educational activities you can do with your kids at school or at home here: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributors/bloggers/shari-carter/ .

Thank you, Mrs. Shari Carter for loving and teaching our children so well!