Break Things Podcast Brandi Leifso Inc.

Former Convict, current social entrepreneur and founder of Come Back Snacks. 

After serving a four-year sentence for drug smuggling, Emily O'Brien left prison with more than a kernel of an idea.

While incarcerated Emily quickly noticed sharing food brought people together, helped people heal and share their stories. 
 
Using humour, quality ingredients, and flavours inspired by the very ones made inside prison, Comeback Snacks attempts to remove stigmas associated with having a conviction. 
The company gives prior offenders the opportunity to gain confidence in moving on and moving away from reoffending.


In this episode of Break Things, Emily takes us through the myriad of hurdles she has had to cross in her fight for redemption.

Follow on LinkedIn Emily O'Brien
Instagram @emz.obrien

Eliot Marshall is a prolific competitor as a professional mixed martial artist (MMA) and a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Amal Easton. Coming through the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu belt system, Eliot became the first American to earn IBJJF Pan American titles as a blue, purple, and brown belt.



While climbing the ranks of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Eliot entered the world of mixed martial arts in 2006, eventually competing in TUF and then signing with the UFC, the most prestigious MMA promotion in the world. In 2011, after a few ups and downs with his MMA career, Marshall decided to hang up his gloves and open training centers across the mile-high city of Denver, Colorado, formally named Easton Training Center along with his coach Amal Easton.



It wasn’t long before Marshall went on to further success as an entrepreneur, Podcast host, and world-class speaker, trainer, and author. He teaches industry leaders, teams, and individuals how to outsmart, outlast, and outperform their competition and achieve record-breaking success.

In this episode, Eliot shares his own misconception of masculinity that led him on a journey to find his power as a fighter, father, and husband and redefining masculinity through love and boundaries.

Wanna know more about Eliot?
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Nicole is the CEO of  Girls Fight Back and an International Speaker. She is a NACP Credentialed Advocate and currently sits on the board of IMPACT Personal Safety.  She has facilitated Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) training at over 90 military installations around the world and has completed over 360 speaking engagements globally. She was recently featured in the November 2021 issue of Women’s Health Magazine and was a guest on the Nike Trained Podcast. Nicole won a People’s Voice Webby Award in May 2020 for her feature in the self-defense instructional video by Tastemade Travel in collaboration with IMPACT Personal Safety and she is the creator of the series Outdoor Defense.


In this episode, Nicole breaks the stigma that women must rely on others to protect them instead of empowering women with the skills to protect themselves so we can live as autonomous beings.

GIRLS FIGHT BACK
Follow: @adventuresofnik & @girlsfightback
http://www.nicolesnell.com

Sonya has been an anti-violence activist since she was 16 years old. During high school, she started an Amnesty International Community Group, and, while working on their global violence against women campaign, discovered her life’s work. 
Before founding FreeFrom, she launched the Family Violence Appellate Project (“FVAP”) while earning her law degree at UC Berkeley. Based in Oakland, California, FVAP is the first and only organization in California to provide pro bono appellate legal services to survivors of intimate partner violence and has fundamentally transformed the legal landscape in California. 
For her work in the field, Sonya was listed in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Class of 2017 For Law and Policy.

In this episode, Sonya shares the importance of approaching domestic violence as a systemic issue, why financial insecurity is a big piece that needs to be addressed by society, and why Bill 975 in California allowing cancellation of coerced debt is an important step in the right direction. 

FREEFROM.ORG

At the age of 21, Leifso was living in a domestic violence shelter when she founded Evio Beauty Group, an impact-led clean beauty brand on a mission to break stigmas with inclusive, good-for-you beauty products that connect us, not divide us.

From humble beginnings, Evio has carved a new sector for impact-led, clean beauty with its multi-award winning, derm tested skincare and makeup.

An alum of Sephora Accelerate and selected as one of Chatelaine Magazine's 2018 Women of the Year, Leifso is an advocate for domestic violence reform and economic justice. Evio's donated more than $510,000 worth of products and funding to 27+ shelters across North America that supports survivors of domestic violence. In 2019, Leifso spoke at Forbes Under 30’s first-ever Global Women Summit in Israel and was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 25 Women of Influence in 2020, 2021's Independent Retail Ambassador of the Year Award from the Retail Council of Canada and 2022 Innovation Awards CEO of the Year Award.

Leifso's pursuit to build Evio from $15 in a domestic violence shelter to the world's first impact-led, clean beauty giant has been optioned for a feature film set to go into production in 2024.

She's been featured in WWD, Toronto Life, Vogue, New York Times, Chatelaine, Flare, Yahoo Beauty just to name a few.

In this episode Brandi kicks off Season 2 of the Break Things Podcast in support of Domestic Violence Awareness month with a solo episode exploring the misconceptions of domestic violence and Intimate partner violence and why is a societal and systemic issue. She shares 4 important do's and don't when finding your voice to speak up against violence.
 
Want to join the movement?  CLICK HERE
Follow: @brandileifso & @eviobeauty

Makeup Artist, Content Creator and Beauty Business Coach, Jaleesa Jaikaran sees the world in colour.  Hailing from sunny Trinidad, her love for colour and glowy skin is a sentiment of her Caribbean upbringing. Her work has been featured in publications like Elle, Glamour, Essence, Instyle, and Teen Vogue. She is the host and creator of 'The Life of a Makeup Artist' beauty podcast where she shares everything from beauty talk to business chats with industry insiders and founders. Jaikaran has extended those conversations to Clubhouse and owns the largest beauty club on Clubhouse.
 
 In this episode of Break Things, from New York City  Jaleesa colours our conversation with rhinestones and neon as she shares having to dial it back while waiting for the industry to catch up, remaining curious and creating her own filter 'Natural Gem' on Instagram! 


www.jaleesajaikaran.com
www.jaleesajaikaranbeauty.com