How To Find Joy in Ordinary Moments with Samatha Reynolds Entrepreneur and Founder of Bentlily

Welcome Brava listeners! In today's episode we celebrate the rhythm of life, the power of storytelling for yourself and a brand, and how to find joy in ordinary moments. To take us on this journey, I am honored to introduce you to Samantha Reynolds.

In today's conversation, you will hear firsthand how Samantha, an entrepreneur and poet, edited and took control of her own story to create a life she loved. Her writing and entrepreneurial spirt led her to launch the Echo Storytelling Agency. A writer at heart and by profession, she launched Bentlily where she challenges herself to write one poem each day in a quest to find more joy in the tedious rhythm of life as a mother and to observe the world around her.

I invite you to join and listen in to our conversation below to hear what Samantha has discovered along the way, her advice for work/ life balance, her inspiration, and more!

SHOW NOTES:

Inspired by her grandmother, Samantha Reynolds made storytelling her career. Now as CEO of Echo Storytelling Agency, Samantha helps others share their stories (5:30.)

Just like people she believes that no two brands have the same story. Stories create a more personalized experience that harvests trust and inspiration to make a more memorable experience for the consumer (8:00.)

Samantha finds that by writing each day that it takes the pressure off her to make any one piece award-winning. This practice keeps her creativity well-lubricated and she knows she always has another chance to improve the next day (12:15.)

A fun practice she recommends is to find a book or dictionary and to select a random word to start a story off. The word may not be in the finished copy but it helps get you inspired (13:15.)

Writers block? Have you heard of “writers ego”? Samantha finds “writers ego”, getting stuck by the feedback you receive from sharing your work with an audience, is even more challenging. She recommends trying not to get too hung up to write a certain way to appeal to that specific audience so that you don’t lose your original voice (14: 10.)

“It’s important to remember why you write and trust that the right people will come if you write from your heart.”

— Samantha Reynolds

During a rather boring event one day Samantha found herself drawn to a lily. Unlike the other lilies this one was bent.  In that moment, Samantha realized that when you slow down and really look you will start to notice the subtle details. Through that experience, Samantha’s pen name was born, “Bent Lilly” (17:50.)

Bentlily is her platform for daily poems about her common everyday life experiences (21:10.)

An early mentor encouraged Samantha that when it comes to work-life balance there is no single perfect matrix but rather to allow your own rhythm to take place (23:40.)

In 2021, Samantha is releasing a poetry manifesto of Bentlily that will be about finding deeper roots and living a happier life (29:15.)

Want to continue following Samantha? Find more of her poetry through Bentlily here.

Are you looking for easy ways to bring more mindfulness and joy into your life? Join Samantha’s #30DaysofNoticing challenge here!

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Thank you readers, to tuning into the Brava Podcast. If you like the show please leave a review on iTunes! 

What from our conversation inspired you today? What do you hope to hear next? Tweet or message us on Instagram @BravaPodcast to tell us what you want to hear, even if it’s your own story! 

Turning Your Part-Time Passion Into A Full-Time Career with Illustrator and Author Jena Holliday

Brava listeners, meet Jena Holliday, an illustrator, author, and creative based in Minnesota and founder of Spoonful of Faith. Her powerful, whimsical, and beautiful work has been featured in variety of publications but also in partnership with brands such as Dove, HarperCollins, TOMS, and more!

In today’s conversation Jena shares how she began her own business, shares where she sources inspiration behind her art, and gives us a sneak peek of what's next for Jena as she leads her fast growing business!

SHOW NOTES:

While on maternity leave Jena made her part-time passion a full time career and launched a Spoonful of Faith (3:30.)

A lot of Jena’s works of art are inspired by her passion to uplift and encourage diverse women whose voices are not often heard (6:50.) 

“In a lot of the things that I share I am speaking to the women inside of me. The girl that was afraid to start. The girl that needs to know her worth and believe in herself and the gifts she has been given.”

— Jena Holliday

Jena finds that a lot of one's obstacles come from what one believes about themselves. Your identity plays a role when following specific passions and gifts (9:20.) 

How you talk to yourself is the story that you will believe and the story that you will tell yourself every day. Jena shares that it is vital to build yourself up and speak positively (10:36.)

Knowing the purpose behind why you are doing what you are doing will lead you to succeed. Many organizations fail because of a lack of connection to knowing why they are creating what they are creating (11:34.)

As a mother of two, outside a morning glass of orange juice, Jena finds everyday is filled with ebbs and flows as a creative entrepreneur (14:30.)

The biggest challenge Jena discovered as an entrepreneur was working towards setting a tone for everything at first  before she create her team (18:05.)

Tune in here to hear more about Jena and her insight on mentorship! Jena believes there is no “perfect” mentor. Be open to any and all opportunities (19:40.)

Jena launched her first season of “Mother Creative”, a podcast she co-hosts that celebrates and encourages women to utilize their creativity in the way that they live and how to start now with what they have (23:35.)

Want to hear more from Jena? Be sure to follow her journey here and follow her on FB here!

Love her illustrations? Be sure to check out her online shop - she just launched a new 2021 Calendar, an Art and Coloring Book that honors and explores stories of women POC youth, and has designed lots of amazing apparel and home items!

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Thank you readers, to tuning into the Brava Podcast. If you like the show please leave a review on iTunes! 

What from our conversation inspired you today? What do you hope to hear next? Tweet or message us on Instagram @BravaPodcast to tell us what you want to hear, even if it’s your own story! 

Finding and Sharing Your Story With Amy Draheim Founder of ABD Creative Agency

Brava listeners, meet Amy Draheim, a dynamic leader, author, entrepreneur, and podcast host that specializes in storytelling. She is the founder of ABD Creative Agency, a boutique agency that specializes in storytelling and developing brand strategies for businesses in the travel and hospitality sector. Amy is also the founder of the innovative tool "Marketing in a Box", a one-of-a-kind subscription based model she created among the pandemic to help small hotels reach their marketing goals.

Tune in below to hear how this multi-faceted leader began her career, her advice for entrepreneurs, and how she stays motivated to continue learning and growing.

SHOW NOTES:

Ok, so have you ever wanted to kill an ex-boyfriend? [I know, you heard and read that right!] Well, Amy Draheim started her career off with just that as inspiration! (But not quite literally…) What started out  as just therapeutic journaling after bad first dates, ended up as her published novel Jenny Green's Killer Junior Year. Incredible! (1:30.)

“There’s always a story to tell. There’s always a voice to get behind to craft a story. ”

— Amy Draheim

10 years after her book released and after years working in corporate, Amy took a leap of faith and started up her own creative marketing firm for hotels (7:30.)

Amy admits that when taking a leap of faith, such as changing your career, it is expected to get messy! But, if you do what you truly love and are passionate about it, you will be successful (9:20.)

To make sure she stays on track with all her moving parts, Amy relies on the project management tool Asana, to hold herself accountable (11:50.)

Due to the turn of events COVID-19 created, like many industries, marketing for hotels depreciated. Rather than letting the pandemic run havoc on her marketing firm, as many companies furloughed their marketing managers, Amy created an innovative tool: Marketing in a Box. (13:30.)

Marketing in a Box provided her clients with a toolbox of how to market on a budget (16:00.)

“2020 forced a lot of growth and learning to take inventory of what’s working but also what is not working and continue to grow and adapt. Otherwise you may shut your doors and who knows if you will come back. ”

— Amy Draheim

Having a work-home balance is non-negotiable for Amy. To do so she hired a marketing manager to help business run smoothly without having to put in excessive hours or compromise her quality of work (20:35.)

In the future, Amy aspires to keep up her agency, travel, give a TedTalk and go full circle by writing another book about her personal journey (29:35.)

Want to continue to follow Amy’s career? Be sure to follow here! Interested in learning more about marketing, hospitality, and storytelling? Check out her own podcast show, “How To Share”!

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Thank you readers for tuning into the Brava Podcast. If you like the show please leave a review on iTunes! 

What from our conversation inspired you today? What do you hope to hear next? Tweet or message us on Instagram @BravaPodcast to tell us what you want to hear, even if it’s your own story! 

Sharing and Finding Your Voice with Alaina Shearer

Today’s change-maker is Alaina Shearer. Alaina is the founder and original member of Women in Digital, a nationwide organization with 1,500 members in 19 cities attracting over 10,000 women to their events. With an extensive background in digital marketing and advertising; and inspiring, educating and empowering women each day she serves as a catalyst for today’s conversation: how to share and find your own voice. Tune in below!

SHOW NOTES

Alaina believes that a “spark” is in all of us. It doesn’t always have to apply to starting a new project or side-hustle, it could be applied to your day job (1:40).

“Chase the spark. Be patient with yourself. Give yourself grace.” - Alaina’s advice when starting your own business (3:30).

If you are overcome by the what ifs, you may never do it. If you follow the what ifs and the fears then you usually find out there was not that much to fear in the first place (4:25).

Alaina started her own agency, Cement, through careful planning and plotting. Before she left she saved 3 months of her salary and gave 3 weeks’ notice. That said, if your workplace is toxic, consider leaving immediately. If you start your own business you have to be prepared to change your lifestyle (6:40).  

Alaina has been her own boss now for 10 years (8:45).

When asked about what inspired her to start Women in Digital, Alaina replies that it was an accident. There was a moment and awakening where she brought a man into a business meeting and it was astonishing to her because the men she was pitching to was looking to him to see if he was agreeing with her. She realized that gender discrimination and sexism was costing her an immense amount of money over the lifetime of her career (9:40).

In June 2016, she called for the first Women in Digital meeting in Columbus, Ohio and more than 115 women signed up. At that first meeting she was terrified to tell her stories of gender discrimination aloud (12:45).

After she finished telling her story at the first meeting and women connected with her story, Women in Digital was born (14:25).

“I can do something. WE can do something.”

— Alaina Shearer

Each Women in Digital member upon signing up for the organization is expected to “Ask and Give”: ask for 12 favors a year and give 12 favors a year (16:00).

The “Ask and Give” rule allows women to share their power (16:45).

We all have power. Alaina wants you to focus on finding YOUR power. What do we have sitting inside of us that we’re not using. It’s a flip of a switch in your mind and it changes everything (18:00).

The power comes from each other and that’s where the empowerment stems from (20:30).

When asked about “finding your voice” Alaina believes that it is very focused on “what” it is that you are saying and articulating it with strength especially in the workplace (22:45).

Trying to find your voice? Change the narrative in your head. Focus on the outcome of what you have to gain if you do speak instead of focusing on yours fears. Ask yourself what you would do at your wisest and your most powerful and have her takeover the meeting. Fake it until you become her (27:00).