Courage Capital: How 99 Inspiring Women Do Big, Brave Things and How You Can Too

TUP EP 100

Nomination: [: 00:00:00

Aransas: Welcome to the 100th episode of the Uplifters podcast. I'm just going to take a second to breathe this in. I always think in moments like this [00:00:45] back to my wedding day where some kind soul said, Just take a minute away from the chaos to step back. And look at the beauty in front of you to take it all in because there will never be [00:01:00] this moment again.

nd with me right now too, to [: 00:01:15

I'm not sure. What I am sure of is [00:01:30] that this is our 100th episode and I am Aranza Savas and I get to be the host of The Uplifters and I say get to be very consciously because what it means to be the host of The Uplifters is that every week I [00:01:45] get to talk to an amazing, inspiring, resilient woman. about how she builds the courage to do big brave things in her life and how she takes care of herself so that she can keep doing big brave things in [00:02:00] her life.

that you and I have both met [: 00:02:15

There were also the cultural and social barrier breakers like Jenny [00:02:45] Chen. Who went from living in a tiny village where there was no running water to learning English alongside the toddler that she was nannying in America to founding a hundred million dollar company without [00:03:00] any information. How? to run a company or do design and just cobbled together one step after another, the knowledge and the expertise that she needed in [00:03:15] order to take the next step.

acturing education for women [: 00:03:30

These women surely heard a lot of no's in their lives. Somehow they translated those no's [00:04:00] into not. They faced skepticism and discrimination and sometimes outright hostility, but instead of letting those obstacles define their limits, they use them as launching pads. What if instead of giving away our energy to the people [00:04:15] telling us we can't do things, we could harness that energy as power and proof that we need to be in these rooms, that we need to make breakthroughs, that we need to try different things, and that we could listen to these stories as evidence that.

[: 00:04:30

Rebecca [00:05:15] Soffer, the founder of Modern Loss and a best selling author who created that platform after losing both parents early in life. Leah DeFeo, who is an advocate for family building through surrogacy after losing two babies. There are so many [00:05:30] amazing stories. It's really true that sometimes our deepest wounds become our greatest gifts to the world.

rom intimately understanding [: 00:05:45

Or Heather Markell, [00:06:15] who quit her desk job to travel to 39 different countries. Or the personal journey transformations and some of these are the most powerful. Susanna Ludwig who found lasting love after experiencing divorce. Lisa Crozier who [00:06:30] made the decision to embrace sobriety and found a new health purpose in helping others do the same.

ver health. Maureen Spataro, [: 00:06:45

Gerilyn Berg, who became a bodybuilder at [00:07:00] 70 after beating cancer. They remind us that life rarely follows a straight line. That it's full of twists and turns and bumps and bruises. And these women give us [00:07:15] an extraordinary source of proof that we can change, we can grow, we can overcome. And every one of these women has come to this show to [00:07:30] share her story.

otten to not only meet these [: 00:07:45

And I feel like. These last 100 weeks, I've gotten to be a sponge [00:08:00] to absorb their stories and use them to power my own story and journey. And for that, I am eternally, massively grateful. But I'm also a [00:08:15] researcher at my core. My secondary goal with this was to really understand the patterns amongst these women.

t was enabling them to be so [: 00:08:30

They were like, all right, I'm going to pick myself up and I'm going to go [00:09:00] back into the fight. That was like 40 metaphors in one sentence, but I think you know what I'm trying to say. And so for this episode, which is my friends, our very first ever solo episode, the first [00:09:15] time I haven't had a guess, I want to share with you what I have learned.

th story, yours. [: 00:09:30

And finally, I'm going to share with you where we're going from here. So Grab a cup of coffee, put on your headphones and start cleaning your kitchen because that's what I do when I listen to [00:10:00] podcasts. And let's soak up the not just individual magic of these 99 stories but the collective magic that can only be born from them in synthesis.[00:10:15]

a former guest. Her name is [: 00:10:30

Let that sink in for a second. Every entrepreneur is thinking about how they raise capital funding to [00:11:00] financially build their dream project. But what Cher named for me was that we build our courage capital. Through listening to the stories of others, we boost our sense of belief that big [00:11:15] change can happen.

e can draw from when we need [: 00:11:30

She can do that, but she's not me. But when you hear [00:11:45] 99 stories of women with courage, I think you get a sense of incontrovertible proof that not only is change possible, but it's freaking inevitable that literally every one of us has reserves of courage that we can [00:12:00] draw from, that we can tap into when we need it.

arch where companies hire me [: 00:12:15

My brain has been hyper focused and trained for decades to listen for these patterns. And so after Cher said this, I was like, Oh my [00:12:45] gosh, I have to go back now and listen to every one of these stories again and figure out. What these women have in common that helps them build courage. After that, I started to go back [00:13:00] and look at my notes from all of the women changemakers that I've coached and my coaching work.

en spread out everywhere get [: 00:13:15

I started to see very clearly that there were seven key courage practices that these women were using in their lives. One of the things that I think is really [00:13:45] important and for me incredibly fascinating is that despite the extraordinary diversity of these stories, some of these women have advanced degrees and powerful networks and others.

Truly had [: 00:14:00

It starts with C. They convert questions into action. So instead of getting stuck [00:14:30] asking, am I ready? You're going to hear these women over and over again. Ask, how can I start? It's such a simple shift, but it changes everything because it allows them to get started instead of staying [00:14:45] stuck in the impossibility, instead of waiting around for someone to give them permission.

maging to want to wait until [: 00:15:00

Through experimentation, through making mistakes. And using those [00:15:30] to inform what's next. You. That stands for unite with allies and amplifiers. Okay. So, let me unpack this. This makes sense, right? The allies piece of this is [00:15:45] them drawing on the strength of others. So, they didn't feel like they had to go it alone.

hands with other people who [: 00:16:00

The amplifiers [00:16:15] piece. This one doesn't get quite as much airtime, but it's just as important. You're going to hear over and over again in these stories as you listen back to them, I hope. How they paid attention to when other people said. Look, I know how to do [00:16:30] this. I have experience doing this and I can help you go further faster by taking this off of you entirely.

somebody else to carry them [: 00:16:45

So [00:17:00] that's what I mean by when I say you not U stands for unite with allies and amplifiers. are. This is about releasing their offers to the world. Oh my gosh, it is so scary to tell other [00:17:15] people what we've created. These women who have been successful, that is exactly what they're doing. Yes, they're scared that people won't want what they have to offer.

But they don't let that stop [: 00:17:30

They alchemize their struggles into strengths. It's so easy to let [00:18:00] our challenges define us, to let them limit us. But these women say, no, I'm going to take my struggle, I'm going to take my perceived limitations and I'm going to turn them into my [00:18:15] strengths so that I can build my most meaningful work. I always think back to Lisa Halverstad, who maybe you remember as the activism journalist from San Diego who works [00:18:30] with the homeless population, who shared that she doesn't have a sense of smell.

ion because of the very real [: 00:18:45

Over and over in these [00:19:00] stories, you're going to hear these women talk about how the things that might have broken them become the thing that is their breakthrough. G stands for granting yourself permission to speak your truth. [00:19:15] It's totally understandable that we want to hide. from our struggles, that we don't want to tell people where we have wrestled with demons and despair and disappointment and [00:19:30] discouragement.

m going to look back at that [: 00:19:45

We are able to translate pain into purpose by [00:20:00] sharing it, by watching it have a positive impact on ourselves and others. And yeah, it takes a lot of courage. to grant ourselves permission to speak our truth. And these women and their stories remind me over and over again that it's worth it. [00:20:15] That it is actually, in most cases, healing to do so.

ese amazing, inspiring women [: 00:20:30

And [00:20:45] so I wanted to know, like, how do you do good work in the world? How do you keep being your best self without feeling completely sapped of energy and motivation and time? And so, that is [00:21:00] letter E. Establish renewal practices. This really is the underpinning for all of us who want to do good work in the world because we have to make courage sustainable through consistent self care.

Rest isn't a [: 00:21:15

And again, I know nothing about sports, but except running, which I know a lot about. But Allie is also a [00:21:45] professional wildfire fighter and those bonkers wildfires in Canada. And so she's got these two unbelievably taxing seasonal jobs that she commits to every year. And [00:22:00] so even at her very young age, she has made rest and renewal as essential to her strength and growth as the effort.

So if you're looking for an [: 00:22:15

So I'm not sharing all of these with you because I think they're great ideas. I'm sharing them with you because [00:22:45] I'm absolutely convinced they are the way forward. I have collected and analyzed so much data to get to this belief, but it really is useless if it's just an idea. [00:23:00] So my hope is that as you're listening to this, you're thinking to yourself, Where am I stuck asking myself if I'm ready?

arted? Where am I letting my [: 00:23:15

Where can I be braver and release my offers to the world and share my ideas with other people [00:23:45] now, again, without waiting, but boldly and bravely just say, this is what I want. I promise you, the Uplifters podcast will be your greatest evidence that. That works. And A, how can I [00:24:00] alchemize my struggles into strengths?

hing that makes me stronger? [: 00:24:15

And the goal is not to like do what all these women did. It's to pick and choose what [00:24:45] works for you and then go practice it and play with it. What's next? My greatest hope is that we will keep lifting each other up, that we will [00:25:00] keep learning and growing from these stories. that you will keep listening and sharing these stories so that other women can learn and grow from them.

My hope is that as you [: 00:25:15

com over on Substack, that's probably the best possible way to [00:25:45] connect with me and this community. Every week I'll continue to share one story a week along with A newsletter on Mondays that highlights the lessons that we can take from these stories [00:26:00] and that shares examples from my own life about how I'm using them to learn and grow and have more courage.

you can easily scan to find [: 00:26:15

These stories give me hope, and I hope that's what they [00:27:00] give you. And not just empty hope, not just theoretical. But real, tangible proof that big change can happen in your own life, in, with the issues that you [00:27:15] care about, and in the world in general. And of all the stories that we've told, the one I probably think about most often is Helena Ortega Landaverde.

ne who told the story of her [: 00:27:30

He told her growing up the most important lesson she could learn from his life. was that change starts in your own backyard. And so that's exactly what she did. [00:28:00] She built a system of care for her neighbors that grew and grew and grew and ultimately changed the face of that neighborhood for the better.

ey were thriving financially [: 00:28:15

And just [00:28:45] take one tiny action, one brave, bold decision to make things better for those closest to you, to start the ripples. I promise you, I'm going to keep going. I can't believe [00:29:00] I made it through this whole episode without crying. I love you and I'm so grateful for you and I feel so, so, so, so, so lucky to get to do this work.

And [: 00:29:15

Join us in conversation over at [00:29:45] theuplifterspodcast. com, head over to Spotify, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast and like, follow, and rate our show. It'll really help us connect with more uplifters and it'll [00:30:00] ensure you never miss one of these beautiful stories.

perplexing, though you find [: 00:30:15

Toss a star in half for beer around. Best love for relish in a new prime and a tree in springtime dance. With that all hindsight, bring the sun to twilight. [00:30:30] Lift you up, whoa, Lift you up, whoa, Lift you up, [00:30:45] whoa, Lift you up.

oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, [: 00:31:00

I cried. [00:31:15] It's that little thing you did with your voice. Right, in the pre chorus, right? I was like Mommy, stop crying. You're disturbing the peace.