The Be Brave Podcast

Death Surrounded Her But She Broke Free And Found Inner Peace And Happiness

Stacy grew up with death all around her.  

Her father owned a funeral home.  Death was really just a part of life and as a child, she didn’t really think about it. 

Of course, her dad would warn her about the young person who died from making a bad choice to try and help her not do the same, trying to protect her, like most parents.

It wasn’t until she turned 21, and lost 2 cousins her age, in a fatal car accident, that it “hit home” for her. But the moment that changed her life forever was 12 years later, when her big brother Rich died suddenly.

It was at that moment she took a hard look at her life and how unhappy she was. She knew she was the only person that could change the trajectory her life was on and pursue her passions to find her best life. 

In this podcast, Stacy shares how she went from a dead end career to living her passion. Be sure to listen to the end and share your comments with us.  

Her Family Wanted To Keep Her In A State Of Disability - Episode 34

At the young age of 4 years old, Amber Weir was told she would be blind by the time she was 13. Her family seemed to have some kind of secondary gain to Amber’s disability.

Unable to ask questions or get the help she would need to be prepared for this horrible fate, Amber was left to advocate for herself at a very young age. 

When she reached the dreaded age of 13, she started to ask some tough questions. It was then she learned her true fate.

Amber Weir is an author, massage therapist and wife.  She wants to make the world a better place. Her email is arosein92@gmail.com. 

You can learn more about her and her books, Kaleidoscope Eyes, a semi autobiography, and Silver Linings, A Collection of Edifying Poetry at Aroseweir for Facebook and Instagram or www.aroseweir.com. 

 

Born in the Wrong Body and Deciding to Transition at age 60 - Dr. Paula Stone Williams - Episode 33

Paul Williams was raised in a very devoted evangelical home.  At the age of 4, he knew he was born in a body that was not the correct gender, a condition called gender dysphoria.  

Paul devoted his career and life to evangelical Christianity and by 1977 reached a high level with Orchard Group, where he raised funds and started new churches. Eventually, he became CEO of the "church-planting" organization. 

At age 60 Paul made the decision to transition from a man to a woman.  If he didn’t, he was afraid he might not “make it”.

In this podcast episode, learn how Paula found her way and shared her decision with her church, wife and children only to learn that the church she dedicated her life to would expel her.  

Gender Dysphoria is a psychological diagnosis affecting as few as three of every 10,000 males and one of every 30,000 females. Outside of the psychological community, most people do not know much about it. Paula goes into some of the research, science, and theories behind the causation of being a transgender human.  

Paula now works with her former wife as a psychotherapist and is a pastor at Left Hand Church in Colorado, a church she co-founded.  She is now on the international speaking circuit and a highly sought after Ted Talk Coach.  Please enjoy the brave story of Paula Stone Williams. 

You can also find Dr. Paula Stone Williams on Ted with over 9 million downloads as well as at www.PaulaStoneWilliams.com

A relevant story can be found in Episode 4:  Interview with Trish who talks about her Father’s Struggle with his Sexual Identity. You can find that podcast here

A Female Engineer from Cuba Found Freedom (Via Venezuela) In the USA - Episode 32

 “Work Hard, Learn and Progress” are the words Jovana lives by!  You will enjoy her spunky energy and the lessons she shares. 

Be sure to listen all the way to the end to hear Jovana’s best advice. And then share it with someone struggling!

 

We are excited to have Jovana Fernandez de Castro, share her story of how she overcame growing up in Communism as a child laborer. 

In this Be Brave Podcast episode, you will learn how Jovana’s pursuit for a free life led her to quit her government job and flee to Venezuela only to land in another soon to be communist country. 

Listen NOW or, you can continue reading!

Cuban native Jovana was forced as a child to live in a work camp and be apart from her family, not seeing her family 6 out of 7 days every week. 

She described the showers as the kind you would find in a prison.  The only water available on the working farm was from the irrigation ditches.  

Jovana wanted more for her future and pivoted away from the other children’s behavior of play during free time and started studying instead.  

She earned a degree as a Structural Engineer and received a good government job but had to agree and integrate into the Young Communist Organization in order to do so.

She escaped to Venezuela, but when she saw the rise of communism there, she fled to the USA, where she now lives a free life as an entrepreneur. 

Jovana lives in Sarasota Florida with her beautiful family and runs D & J Roofing and Construction with her husband.  

You could learn more about Jovana’s roofing company, D & J Roofing and Construction Inc., and get in touch with her at https://djroofingconstruction.com/

Listen to Your Intuition to Get What You Really Need - Episode 31

Sabita is a Holistic Health Counselor with a passion to bring integrative health in a friendly, nurturing and private atmosphere that allow people to feel good and get better fast. 

As a young woman, she suffered from endometriosis and struggled to get answers from her doctors about her health.  Since then, she has been diagnosed with 3 different types of cancer. She has made it her mission to empower women to be their own health advocates by introducing the women’s empowerment super hero Uterisa.

Sabita went from suffering physically and emotionally and as her doctors would say, “complaining” for 25 years, to helping herself and others thrive.  “There was something wrong with me, that just did not feel right.”

In this Be Brave Podcast Episode, you will learn how Sabita went from needing to be healed to being a healer herself.

If you want to check out Sabita’s website and learn more about her and Uterisa, go to www.SabitaHolisticCenter.com She is located in Southport, CT

She Trusted to Walk In Her Own Talk - Episode 30

Dr. Gayle’s journey has been anything but a straight line. She was a young, divorced single mom at 25. Then, at age 26, she was diagnosed with cancer. 

She was determined to be healthy, independent and free.  She had major surgery, and began her healing journey.

Taking care of her children, working and paying the bills was what she did.   On food stamps and with the help of student loans, she went to college. It was there she started asking herself, ‘why she was having certain experiences and feeling stuck in a story?’  Answering this question led her to her PhD!

Now, Dr. Gayle coaches others, and practices herself, how to strengthen (in the brain gym) our habit of being present. She shares how to create the head-and-heart connection, and hold it, with compassion, breath, truth, and no judgement.

To learn more about Dr. Gayle, go to: https://holisticaretreats.com/about/

Learn to U-turn to Return to important relationships

This Be Brave Podcast episode is an interview with Emily Liu, an expert in Internal Family Systems (IFS). IFS teaches us how to navigate relationships by rediscovering your true essence of Self.   

This is a second interview with Emily.  In her first episode, she shared the emotional cost of childhood anger.  She is back to share and teach us how to make a U-turn and look at yourself in relationship issues so you can return to the relationship that is important to you.  We say that relationships take work but really, the relationship with yourself takes the most work.

The Emotional Cost of Childhood Anger – Episode 28 - Interview with Emily Liu

We're excited to introduce our 28th podcast with Emily. Listen Here

In this episode Emily Liu will share how she overcame childhood wounds and anger and later became a healer to help others heal their wounds as a relationship coach.

Emily believes these childhood wounds are the root cause of adult relationship challenges. She is on a mission to help all of us get over our wounds and learn how to vulnerably speak for our needs.

Emily is also the Author of 2 books: How to Permanently Erase Negative Self-Talk So You Can Be Extraordinary and Climax – Why Great Leaders Need Love Affairs. She is also co-founder of the Epic Love Institute.

We hope you enjoy it.

Please keep sharing our links on social media and forwarding our emails to help spread the word. You can even share and follow us on Facebook here.

Keep Being Brave,

Cara and Patty

Episode #27, Interview with Elena - Changing A Relationship with Alcohol

In this episode we have Elena Marrero.  Owner of one of the best gift shops you will ever find, The Great Giftsby, in Dunedin, FL.  She is affectionately known as the Singing Shop Keeper.  

At the age of 39, Elena was arrested for Driving under the influence for a second time and used that event as a turning point to change her life for the better. Elena shares what a "jail shower" is and how she chose to turn her life around.

Now alcohol free for nearly 4 years, she shares openly about her journey with the hope that it will benefit others who might also want to change their relationship with alcohol. 

We hope you enjoy it.

Please keep sharing our links on social media and forwarding our emails to help spread the word.   

Episode 26: Interview with Alicia, Nancy, and Pam about Women’s Health and Reproductive Choice

The reversal of Roe v. Wade is a hot topic among women, so we decided to host a panel discussion about reproductive choice.  On our panel we have two women who found themselves with an unplanned pregnancy and another whose planned pregnancy was risking her health, and possibly her life.  There are many stories of women who have had to make a choice about whether to bring their pregnancies to term.  In this episode, we present three of them.