The Curious Middle

Latest Episodes:

Ashira Solomon's Path to Jerusalem Mar 09, 2024

Show notes

Ashira Solomon is an international Public Speaker and Member of The Quad, an Israeli show with 4 co-hosts covering everything Israel and Jewish from the unique female perspective. In this episode Ashira a native of Livermore, California, takes us through her transformative journey that led her to embrace a new religion and to become an advocate of independent political thought in a world where identity politics seems to be the norm.

Ashira's story begins with her grandmother's dream to visit Israel. This dream, deeply rooted in family heritage, was the reason for Ashira's life-changing decision to move to Israel and study at the University of Haifa. We discuss Ashira's experiences of studying terrorism, peace psychology, and her eventual conversion to Judaism.

Listeners will be inspired by the ways Ashira challenges the assumptions placed upon her by academic advisors and peers alike. Her defiance against low expectations due to her race, and her refusal to conform to political ideologies simply based on her ethnicity, shows how Ashira is fiercely independent and intellectually curious.

We discuss what it is like to live as a black woman today in Israel, Ashira's conservative stance in a liberal state like California, and the misconceptions Ashira is fighting to correct among her American peers. Ashira shares what it really feels like to live and study in Israel and how political discourse between citizens varies in Israel and the US.

Zoom in to a topic you want tp hear first:

00:30-4:41 Childhood, conversion to Judaism, and decision to study in Israel. Experience studying terrorism, peace psychology, and learning Hebrew.

4:41-6:51 Deepening connection to Israel, language, and people. The start of the conversion process and sense of homecoming.

06:51-10:05 Influences and Evolution. Influence of family, advisors, and educational experiences. Struggles with beliefs and identity.

10:05-14:50 Reflections on creating unity amidst diverse perspectives. Importance of international experiences and understanding.

14:50-37:19 Efforts to unite black and Jewish communities. Participation in events, discussions, and initiatives for impact and dialogue.

43:2Ω Final thoughts and call to action for building bridges and creating a better world.

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Reach out to us anytime: contact@meanforit.com to say hello or recommend someone for a future episode. We are impatiently waiting to hear from you...!
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Tough Titties Author Laura Belgray Returns for More Juicy Stories and Tips for Non Sucky Copy Feb 23, 2024

Show notes

We are thrilled to share part 2 of our podcast with Tough Titties author Laura Belgray. If you have years of your life you would prefer to forget, relationships or lifestyle choices that make you cringe when you look back at them, Laura will empower you to reframe your life story, and possibly share it with others. Tough Tittie is the stealth self-help book you didn't konw you needed. As Laura says, what is the fun in reading about other people's success, when you can read about the juicy details of their struggles before they finally made it. After laughing your way through the chapters of Laura's life, go to Talkingshrimp.com, where Laura will teach you how to write copy that people actually want to read. Laura has classes and online materials that teach you how to write email lines that people want to open, and how to stop boring people with your writing. If your writing is already dazzling and witty, then you will still appreciate reading a memoir from someone who is truly a master at sharing just about everything.

Discussion Topics:

Laura's ability to reframe embarrassing stories (00:25-1:20) - Laura's skill in turning embarrassing stories into something hilarious - The value of reframing personal history
Laura's book as stealth self-help (1:20-7:22) - The impact of Laura's book on personal development - Laura's intention to write a non-traditional personal development book - Strategies for promoting the book and building an audience
Laura's journey as a writer and her voice (08:09-19:36) - Laura's transition from writing in television to creating her own courses - Finding and utilizing one's unique voice in writing - Importance of using contractions to write conversationally
Writing the tough chapters (20:05-21:28) - Challenges faced while writing certain chapters - Personal growth and self-reflection through writing
Laura's measurement of success (26:08-27:33) - Rethinking success beyond measurable factors - The significance of personality and individuality
Tips for writing engaging email subject lines (27:33 - 33:51)
Part 1 of our conversation with Laura
Laura's website
Buy Toughtitties

A few of our favorite quotes from Laura in this episode:

"Don't we all find ourselves saying, "I'm sorry, I'm the worst," like five times a day?"

"Most people I know who are successful are also a mess in some way or another."

"I can't imagine writing a book that's not honest. It feels like no fun at all to try to be perfect in your writing."

"I've always felt like a late bloomer and taken a long time to do things."

If you enjoy this podcast, please share it with a friend and follow us wherever you get your podcasts.

We are on Instagram @meantforit

Reach out to us anytime: contact@meanforit.com to say hello or recommend someone for a future episode. We would seriously love to hear from you!
Go to our website www.meantforit.com for past episodes.
If you leave us a review on itunes we'l do a little happy dance

Dr. Ramani on Dealing With the Narcissists in Your Life Feb 08, 2024

Show notes

Dr. Ramani Durvasula, the world's expert on narcissism, joins us for an overview on understanding, naming,and addressing narcissistic behavior, toxic relationships, and healing from narcissistic abuse. You may not know it, but chances are high that there is a narcissistic personality somewhere in your life. We discuss ways to identify narcissists, common personality traits and the need to accept that narcissists don't change.

Dr. Ramani has helped millions of followers on social media through her books and YouTube videos.

Get Dr. Ramani's new Book: It's Not You

Follow Dr. Ramani here: I nstragram, Youtube

If you enjoyed this podcast, please share it with a friend!

Topics Discussed:

Understanding, naming,and addressing narcisstic behavior, toxic relationships, and healing from narcisstic abuse.
Challenges faced by individuals dealing with narcissistic parents or partners in family court systems that may not prioritize child welfare over parental rights. Dr.Ramani recommends support groups as well as self-education through reading books about the subject.
Making excuses for toxic behavior.
Being careful about to to share your experiences because others may not believe them or undermine your feelings.
Teaching children and adults about unhealthy behaviors and giving them permission to step away from uncomfortable situations.
How empathy can sometimes enable toxic behavior.
Integrating naricissim education into curricula and in gender-based violence, domestic abuse, etc. education.
Does society need narcissists? Advantages and disadvantages.

Bookfluencer, Writer and Entrepreneur Zibby Owens on Connection Through Books and Creation of the "Zibbyverse" Jan 30, 2024

Show notes

The Zibbyverse, founded by Zibby Owens, includes the podcast Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books, and Zibby Media, which includes a publishing house, online magazine, Zibby's Bookshop in Santa Monica, CA, retreats, classes, and events. As a lifelong book lover who dreamed of becoming a writer, Zibby was over the moon excited when she was dubbed "NYC's Most Powerful Book-fluencer". In our conversation, Zibby shares why she believes books have the to power to connect us and why Zibby fell in love with writing and publishing. We discuss events from Zibby's life that are shared in Zibby's memoir, Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature, and we hear about Zibby's debut novel "Blank" that comes out in March of 2024. And if all that is not enough, Zibby is also the mom of 4! How did she do it? Listen in to hear how not having time to read led to everything else in the Zibbyverse.

Sally Wolf's Path From Corporate Star to Stage IV Cancer Thriver and Spreader of Gratitude Dec 15, 2023

Show notes

Sally Wolf is one of the most inspiring people we have talked to. If you don't believe us you can ask her classmates from her Stanford MBA program who voted her the "most inspiring" member of their class or her nephew who said she was the most positive person he knows. Sally spent two decades rising in the corporate sector in the media industry working at NBCUniversal and Time Warner before a series of cancer diagnoses changed her life and career focus. Today, Sally is the Founder and CEO of LightWorks, and a stage IV cancer thriver providing wellbeing consulting to corporate clients. After listening to this conversation, we think you will agree that Sally excels at positive psychology and making people feel like they can overcome all their challenges. We are in awe of Sally's ability to live with tremendous gratitude, to make meaning of her cancer struggle and to live with an abundance of joy and determination to help others. In addition to everything above, Sally is also an expert pole dancer. Bet you didn't expect that to be Sally's hobby.

Sally's Career Milestones 04:07-07:19
Positive Psychology and Gratitude 10:30-13:34
Connecting Dots and Finding Meaning 13:42-15:08
Embracing Emotions and Storytelling 22:04-25:28
Amplifying Messages and Writing a Book 40:58-46:20
Navigating Obstacles and Gratitude Journaling : 53:47-59:20
Conclusion and Reflection 59:21-1:01:37

Don't miss this unforgettable conversation with a beautiful woman.

If you enjoy this podcast, please share it with a friend and follow us on Instagram @meantforit

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How Scheduling Adventure Can Change Everything With Shelby Stanger Dec 05, 2023

Show notes

Shelby Stanger's formula is living life with adventure. When Shelby realized that adventure gave her energy, joy and confidence, she intentionally scheduled and prioritized adventure into her life. By choosing adventure, Shelby found love, a career she loved and a way to bring other people the same gifts. Shelby's book, Will to Wild, Adventures Great and Small to Change Your Life, shares what she has learned in her years covering adventurers. Shelby reveals the stories of adventure seekers such as hikers, surfers, runners, on how they faced their fears, got unstuck and found meaning and life guidance through their adventures. What we love about Shelby's story is how her life transformed and her life path emerged with each leap and decision Shelby made to choose authenticity and happiness. Shelby's advice for those who want to have their own adventure is to put down the deposit, and get ready for your world to expand.

Career Contessa Founder Lauren McGoodwin on Entitlement, The Illusion of The Perfect Job and Managing Her Business Nov 16, 2023

Show notes

Meet Lauren McGoodwin, the founder of Career Contessa. Lauren generously shares the story of how she started her business, her motivation and how she built Career Contessa from an idea to the leading career site for millennials offering career tips, career advice, job listings and career coaching.

Lauren shares her story of how she struggled to find her place after graduating from college, and how a role in recruiting gave her the idea for Career Contessa. From day one, Lauren has been driven to help people find the opportunities she could not find and to have the career advice so many of us are missing. For those of us who lack connections or career mentorship, Career Contessa wants to be your trusted advisor.

In our conversation we discuss topics ranging from Lauren's book Power Moves, to common career mistakes, "watering your own grass", entitlement, and how a false narrative of the perfect job can hurt your future. This is the advice we wish we had when we started our careers.

https://www.careercontessa.com/

Power Moves by Lauren McGoodwin

The Career Contessa Podcast

If you enjoy this podcast, please share it with a friend and follow us on Instagram @meantforit

Reach out to us anytime: contact@meanforit.com to say hello or recommend somone for a future episode. We would really, really love to hear from you.

Sign up for our monthly newsletter with a curated list of our recommendations on what to read, watch, listen to and more.

Topics Discussed:

Lauren shares the story of how she started Career Contessa and its purpose as a leading career site for millennials, offering career advice, job listings, career coaching, and job resources.
Lauren discusses her struggle to find a job after college and how her experience in recruiting gave her the idea for Career Contessa. She emphasizes her drive to help others find opportunities that she had difficulty finding herself.
Lauren explains her motivation for writing the book, "Power Moves," which aims to help people build fulfilling careers. She describes it as a comprehensive guide to building a healthy, successful, and fulfilling career on one's own terms.
Lauren discusses the importance of reframing our perception of our careers and provides examples from her book on how to do so.
Lauren explores the concept of the ambition trap and the feeling of entitlement that can hinder progress and success in careers. She highlights the challenges millennials face in managing their expectations and adjusting their narratives.
Lauren shares the timeline of how Career Contessa grew, from its start as a school project to offering career coaching, creating online courses, and expanding through various media platforms.
Lauren discusses the challenges she faced in transitioning from a predictable work environment to running a startup. She also offers advice on staying organized, establishing processes, and maintaining consistency.
Lauren envisions the future of Career Contessa, aiming to provide the best resources and adapt to changing trends and preferences, such as creating content in different formats to reach a wider audience.
Lauren provides advice for individuals building their own businesses, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing an email list, marketing strategies, and consistency.

Andy Hunter's Bookshop.org is Saving Independent Bookstores and You Can Also! Nov 09, 2023

Show notes

As a lifelong book lover, author and book publisher, Andy Hunter knew he wanted to keep independent bookstores alive and thriving. Using his experience in the publishing industry, Andy had the audacity to come up with a successful idea for taking on Amazon. Andy's idea was Bookshop.org, an online platform that gives independent bookstores an easy to use, full service platform for selling books online. Bookshop handles the distribution marketing, and shipping of online book sales, and doesn't take a cut so bookstores keep all the profits. Since the majority of book stores cannot afford an online storefront, they can partner with Bookshop for online sales to add profits to their stores.

Since independent bookstores already have small margins, being able to sell online can be the difference between staying open or shutting down. Independent bookstores add so much value to communities. Research shows bookstores attract more business to other commerce and the property values rise since bookstore are a community gathering spots that bring people together. In our conversation, Andy shares how the challenges and adversities of his childhood fostered his love for books, and how his career in publishing led him to the path he was meant to pursue. We hope you will be inspired to shop from Bookshop and to encourage your local bookstore to sign up for Bookshop.org. We wish for every community to have their own beloved local bookstore!

https://bookshop.org/

Singer, Songwriter, Force of Beauty Valerie June Sep 20, 2023

Show notes

Valerie June is a force of beauty and a rising music star. In our conversation, Valerie shares when she started to sing and walks us through her song writing process. Valerie explains how songs mysteriously come to her through humming and chanting while she is living her life , washing dishes or simply walking in nature. We discuss Valerie's new book, Light Beams: A Workbook for Being Your Badass Self, dedicated to helping people connect to themselves and the earth through various exercises. Listen to hear how Valerie's creative soul experiences tree bathing and connecting to water. Twenty years ago, when Valerie was cleaning houses, she had a vision of herself as a musician that included how she would spend each day. Today, that vision is her reality. After listening to this conversation, you may be inspired to give yourself permission to follow the ideas that come to you in your sacred moments.

Reviews for Valerie:

"This stunning song cycle of redemption and reclamation adds an orchestral-pop sheen to June's gorgeous blend of astral folk and meditative R&B." - Rolling Stone

"Most intriguing, fully formed new talents." -New York Times

https://www.valeriejune.com/

Topics Discussed:

Tree bathing
The ancient wisdom of trees
How the water connect us
The earth is crying
The exercises in Valerie's book to help you to connect and reflect
What would it look like if we designed AI from a place of positivity and beauty
Beauty is a political force
Talking to the other side
Valerie's new book Light Beams
Valerie's upbringing

If you enjoy this podcast, please share it with a friend and follow us on IG @meantforit

Reach out to us anytime: contact@meanforit.com to say hello or recommend somone for a future episode. We would really, really love to hear from you.
Go to our website www.meantforit.com for past episodes.
If you leave us a review on itunes, can we feature you? Let us know at contact@meantforit.com

Tough Titties Author Laura Belgray Is Your Copywriting BFF Sep 05, 2023

Show notes

Honestly, do you wish you could write copy for a website or email that people actually wanted to read? Imagine a future where you triple your earnings by learning how to write non sucky copy. In this future you, Laura Belgray is someone you want to know.

Laura's new book, Tough Titties, is a hilarious memoir where Laura shares her story, from her awkward teenage years to every major milestone in her life. Luckily for the reader, Laura believes in TMI. We guarantee you will laugh out loud and maybe feel better about the embarrassing moments in your life. In our conversation, Laura shares how she teaches people to write better through her online courses. Yes, it is possible to learn the skill of writing! And, if you think you have nothing to write about, Laura has a course for that also. Laura says, "your everyday, boring, mundane life is full of stories."

Meet Laura, go to her site for freebies, sign up for her email and join the after hours party.

If you enjoy this podcast, please share it with a friend and follow us on IG @meantforit

Reach out to us anytime: contact@meanforit.com to say hello or recommend somone for a future episode. We would seriously love to hear from you!
Go to our website www.meantforit.com for past episodes.
If you leave us a review on itunes, can we feature you?

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