Make Your Brain Happy with Veronique Cardon, MS Veronique Cardon

A perfect interview as Halloween gets closer and the scary season starts. Discover Sara McDermott Jain, award-winning, produced screenwriter and published author, who, fueled by her gift for writing and own woman-empowerment journey, is sharing a gripping story of survival. The book "Wolves At Night"  is available on Amazon. and is a best seller already. The book heroine will really have to dig deep into her inner strengths and resilience to stay alive. Sara's passion is moving readers through fear and into empowerment via the thriller and horror genres.  And here we are in the Alaskan wilderness, surrounded by hungry wolves, deadly con men and a toddler to protect. 
 
Discover Sara, also the creator of the Book to Script Course, which shows authors how to adapt their books into screenplays (www.booktoscriptcourse.com), and she teaches both screenwriting and novel writing at the college level. To learn more about Sara, visit www.saramcdermottjain.com

In this interview we explore what biodynamic and organic farming mean. The respect for the earth, the quality of our food and the pursuit of healthy eating have a huge impact on our longevity and vibrancy. And brain health of course. I am myself volunteering at that farm every Saturday morning since January 2022 and have learned so much.
 
Orchard Farm Organics' 61 acre farm consists of fields of raised beds, berry patches and some fruit trees near the farmhouse, and woodlands and pastures beyond. It is bordered on the north by the scenic Bedens Brook and Cherry Brook meanders through the land.
 
It is not far from Princeton, NJ.



The farm is dedicated to the biodynamic approach (founded by Rudolf Steiner in 1924), in which the farm strives to be a self-sustaining entity, embracing diversity of landscapes, of crops, of fertility. The fertility derives from on-farm composting of vegetable and weed debris and the manures from cows, goats and chickens and treated with biodynamic preparations. Caroline Phinney, the owner, wishes to enrich and enliven the soil and respect the influences from the wider environment of the cosmos.
 
The farm strives to be a model of sustainability for the sake of the earth, the nutrient density of crops and also for the education of the community.
 
The farm is a non profit and sells its produces in local markets and through a CSA.
 
Website :
https://www.orchardfarmorganics.org/sustainable-farm
 
Orchard Farm Organics
1052 Cherry Hill Road, Princeton, NJ 08540
609-203-7134

Changing the world one baked good at a time. This is the mission of  "Bakers For Change" (BFC). In this interview we meet three of its five founders: Camille, Kait and Sophia. Bakers For Change is a non profit organization founded by these like-minded young women, who felt increasing concern over the current political and societal climate in the United States. They are champions for justice, voting rights, equality and protecting marginalized groups.
They found a way to enact change through baking, which is their common passion, and leverage the power of global social media to create an activism model that can also work at the local level. The power of the spatula has no boundaries and what better medium than a cake to share a powerful message.
They have raised over $50,000 since they started in June 2020, and recently over $27,000 to support organizations involved with #StopAsianHate. They have supported the ACLU, the #BLM movement, voting rights and more in the past months. They usually have one big fundraiser event per quarter.
They organize local bake-sales and auctions, or inspire famous bakers or bakeries all over the US to raise money through special sales for the causes that BFC supports. They also sell their cool merchandise – tee-shirts, aprons and bags through www.bonfire.com.
They have experienced meteoric growth. They are at a crucial point where people now reach out to them to offer collaboration, interviews and podcasts. In this conversation we are talking about their mission and future, and most importantly how we can all become activists. How can they grow their organization without losing its authenticity, attention to details, and thoughtful goals? It is a good problem to have, and these five bright  women with jobs, families and other passions will continue to fight with conviction and the desire to leave their mark.
They have now reached over 6,000 Instagram followers @bakersforchange and you can visit them at www.bakersforchange.org.

In this podcast, my guest is Sean Hudson, a successful and fulfilled man in many ways, within his family, community and career. Except for the never-ending fight for equality and the open and blatant mounting racism in this country. We discuss the BLM movement, the current efforts to suppress voting rights, the continuous fight for basic rights written in the US Constitution and the demands it imposes on raising two teenage black sons.
Sean is an alumnus of Morehouse College and the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business.  He is passionate about mentoring and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Mentoring Partnership.  He has been a contributor to the Youth About Business (Columbia University) and the LEAD Program (University of Michigan). However, nothing gives Sean a greater sense of purpose than his wife Karen and their two teenage sons Julian and Clay. 
Sean has been working at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals in New York for the past 17 years and has a passion for health. He led an enterprise-wide initiative sponsored by the Office of the Chairman to address health equity for under-served patient populations and create more intentional engagement with leading social-civic organizations in the communities where we work and live.
Sean Hudson is currently the Vice President in the Pfizer Digital organization and is responsible for Learning and Development worldwide.  In his role, Sean oversees the integration of advanced analytics and informatics and digital technology to transform how Pfizer colleagues acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for Pfizer to deliver breakthroughs that change patients’ lives.

In this podcast with ADHD Coach Jane Milrod, based in Princeton, NJ, we discuss the impact of the COVID-19 quarantine, social distancing and distance learning on children and adults living with ADHD. It has taken a toll and she has observed a substantial increase in her workload.
Very often ADHD is associated with co-existing conditions such as Procrastination. Anxiety, OCD, and Depression. These conditions have been exacerbated by the current situation and its associated growing feeling of isolation, extra stress, and anxiety. The new “Zoom lifestyle” has required new approaches and organization skills for both students, adults, and parents. We discuss her methods and challenges.
Her remote coaching sessions, an integral part of support for people living with ADHD, is centered on helping her clients learn practical skills and strategies that fit their unique aptitudes and personal attributes.  She helps her clients narrow the gap between their intentions and their behaviors using an approach rooted in the Neurobiology of ADHD partnered with the Science of Behavior Change. 
She is a skilled listener and integrator of client needs and guide her clients to create new Operating Instructions that help them live a life in alignment with their core values and objectives.
Jane is a Phi Beta Kappa, High Honors graduate of Rutgers College with a Major in History. Professional Coaching Credentials include:  Graduate of the Advanced Professional ADDCA Coach Program, earning the ACCG and The PACG designation Graduate of the Coach Training Program with Master ADHD Coach Susan Sussman, and MCCC Sheila Kutner Jodi Sleeper-Triplett's Coaching Children and Teens, Coaching Teens and College Students.  Jane is a graduate of CHADD National Teacher Certification Program – Parent to Parent: Family Training on AD/HD.in 2006, and a Co-teacher of this class for 15 years. Part-time employment in the Attention Lab at Princeton University Neuroscience Institute.

In this podcast, I have a conversation with Isabella de la Houssaye, a Louisiana native, living in Princeton, NJ. The interview was taped in June 2019 for Princeton Community Television, but I decided to share this amazing story on my podcast series. We spoke about mindfulness, persistence and being able to live your life in the present.
She speaks about being aware of the voices in your head and learning to quickly identify when they serve you or when they create stress and hold you back.
Diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer with tumors in her lungs, brain, spine, bones, and adrenal gland in January 2018, she was bed-ridden, in excruciating pain, and felt life was unfair. She was given at best a few months to live.
After a high-profile career as a lawyer at Lehman Brothers, she was raising 6 children, competing and winning ultra-races and winning them.” I was unstoppable” she says. “But, within weeks of my diagnosis, I could neither walk nor drive and I was told to put my affairs in order”.
Extremely healthy and as an extreme endurance top athlete who had run every marathon and climbed almost every mountain on the planet, she decided that she would take what was left of her life and use it to enjoy her last adventures, often shared with her children to share her pearls of wisdom and lessons in courage.
As she fought back and with the help of new immunotherapy and chemotherapy treatments, she accepted what she had control over and stopped wasting energy trying to control what was not within her power to control.
She embarked on new adventures including climbing the Aconcagua in Argentina, the highest mountain outside of Asia, with her daughter in January 2019. She was interviewed by the New York Times about it: NYT Interview.
She recognized fear and putting it in its place or rather expand her comfort zone so that fear did not control you. She learned to stay completely in the present. Quoting Isabella:
“At this moment in time am I alive? do I have frost bite? can I breathe? Can I take another step forward? The summit day on a mountain like Aconcagua is about 18 hours long. Many people get all the way to summit day and set out at 4 AM and at about 5 AM they are thinking--Oh my God, I have 17 more hours of this--I don't think I can last another 17 hours--and they quit”.
According to the National Cancer Institute, the five-year survival rate for people with Stage 4 lung cancer is 4.4% About 50% die within five months.
She is still alive today, three years later and last year, decided to bike across America to raise awareness about lung cancer and advocate for more comprehensive screening and more research on treatment options.
She feels blessed. She has decided every hour of her life is worth living to the fullest. She is practicing yoga and meditation. She knows now that mindfulness is facing your fears and moving on.