Flowing East and West: The Perfectly Imperfect Journey to a Fulfilled Life Anne Robie and Sherry Essig

Shirin Etessam was born in Iran and enjoyed a fairly happy and privileged childhood.  When her parents immigrated to the US, after some initial struggles, she found her place in high school and began to flourish.  She experienced success after college, working in film and television. Eventually she fell in love and adopted 2 children with her wife, with whom she initially had a nine-year friendship. While everything looked great from the outside, there was a problem bubbling below the surface: Shirin had started losing parts of her soul along her journey and had shrunk into a much smaller version of herself.  When her relationship eventually ended, Shirin began a multi-year, painful process of clawing her way back to her true self, through much self-reflection, spiritual teachings, and most importantly, the power of play.
 
Bio:
Shirin Etessam is a renowned play expert and storyteller, blending her background in film, TV, and branded content with a deep passion for the transformative power of play. Following a pivotal life event, Shirin embarked on a journey that shifted her focus from external achievements to the joys of internal fulfillment through play. With over a decade of dedicated research and exploration, she harnesses the principles of curiosity, creativity, and spontaneity to promote mental and spiritual health. Shirin advocates for integrating play into all facets of life, emphasizing its crucial role in today’s world for achieving true contentment and joy. Her work stands at the intersection of science and play, aiming to enlighten others on its essential benefits for our well-being.
 
Website: https://www.shirinetessam.com/ 
Free to Be: A Six Week Guide to Reclaiming Your Soul: https://www.shirinetessam.com/freetobe/ 

Life can be messy. Unexpected things happen, we may encounter issues or struggles, and, at times, things just get hard. No one enjoys the struggle, but as Patrick Ness reminds us - it is not about how we fall - it’s how we get back up. This is the core of resilience. Given the fact that we will all have something that gets difficult, how can we not only survive it but also grow?  Resilience is like a muscle that can be built and strengthened with the right focus and attention.     Listen in to hear about some of our own challenges and the tools we use to get back up again.  
 
In this episode, Sherry references Amy Purdy’s book
https://amypurdy.com/amy-purdys-book-on-my-own-two-feet/

Shasta Nelson’s brand is all about helping people connect authentically in real life.  For over 15 years Shasta has facilitated, taught, and modeled how to build healthy relationships, and has written a few books about friendships along the way.  Yet it was her own deep connection to the person who eventually became her husband that rocked Shasta’s world, and caused her to lose friends, her job, and the church she was serving.  Shasta’s journey was an incredibly painful one, but she emerged more deeply connected to herself, and as a thought leader in the human connection arena.  Listen in to hear Shasta’s perfectly imperfect journey.
 
Bio 
A pioneer in belongingness, Shasta Nelson is an in-demand keynote speaker, popular media resource and contributor to the Harvard Business Review, and author of three books in which she teaches how to build healthy relationships, including The Business of Friendship: Making the Most of the Relationships Where We Spend Most of Our Time. For over 15 years, Shasta has been translating the science of human connection into actionable practices that lead to greater belonging in our communities and workplaces. Her expertise has activated organizations such as Google and LinkedIn to intentionally create and accelerate the high-trust and resilient relationships that lead to higher employee retention, engagement, and collaboration.
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Shasta has been featured in hundreds of publications such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and TIME magazine, and has appeared as a guest on the Harvard Business Review podcast, Today Show, and Steve Harvey Show. Shasta is a two-time featured TEDx speaker, with her first TED talk receiving over 800,000 views, and she has delivered 500+ keynotes for over 20 different industries, including tech, healthcare, nonprofits, education, and more.
 
Website: https://www.shastanelson.com/
TedX Talk: Relationally Fit: The Social Secret to a Longer, Happier Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irRtftdsW8E

One day, when she was a teenager spending the summer in Ireland, Libby DeLana took the bus into Dublin and was awed by the Book of Kells. Little did she know that moment would change her professional trajectory. Fast forward to several years later, with an undergraduate degree in hand, Libby went to culinary school with a friend and discovered that as much as she enjoyed creating delicious food, she was far more enthralled with the layout of a beautiful menu. She listened to these whispers of what really lit her up and had a very successful career in advertising. Fast forward a bit more, and while everything seemed great on the surface, Libby realized something felt off in her life.  Once again, she listened to the whispers, laced up her shoes and went for a walk.  And she has kept walking, every day, for the past 12 years.  Libby has turned this walking practice into more than just being in nature.  She has a whole new chapter in her life, has written a book and hosts a great podcast. Listen in to hear Libby’s perfectly imperfect journey.  

Bio
Libby DeLana is an Executive Creative Director, founder of This Morning Walk™ (thismorningwalk.com / @thismorningwalk / #thismorningwalk) and is co-host of the podcast This Morning Walk with Alex Elle. She spoke at The Do Lectures 2022 with Cheryl Strayed about the transformative power of a walk.
Libby spent her career in advertising and was the Design Director at MullenLowe for 15 years, then went on to co-found Mechanica, a small boutique agency in Massachusetts. Libby’s work has won many industry awards, has been featured in publications like PRINT Design Annual, Graphis Design & Logo, Fast Company, Communication Arts, and has been profiled by the BBC for the series called The Chain in which, “leading figures name the woman who’s inspired their success for the next interview in this audio chain.”  
Please feel free to join this walking community by following @thismorningwalk @parkhere on Instagram or for more info and resources thismorningwalk.com

As a young person, Maggie Kane had big plans to leave her hometown of Raleigh, NC, and find adventure in Italy.  While she was lucky to get to Europe during college, it was a volunteer gig with a day shelter for people experiencing homelessness that planted the seeds for her true adventure of a lifetime.  That volunteer gig turned into a paid job and it was through relationships with the people from the shelter that Maggie found her true calling: starting the first “pay what you can” restaurant in her hometown.  Through many twists and turns, and unexpected stops and starts, A Place at the Table was born, and with it, Maggie has truly found her community.  Listen in to hear Maggie's #perfectlyimperfect journey. 
 
Bio:
Maggie is the Founder and Executive Director of A Place at the Table, Raleigh’s first pay-what-you-can nonprofit cafe. She graduated from NC State University in 2013 and began working for a nonprofit with people experiencing homelessness. By befriending many people living on the margins, she saw the challenges of food insecurity as well as providing dignity to those in need. In February 2015, A Place at the Table was born and Maggie never looked back. Opening in January of 2018, Table has served thousands of people in Raleigh with a dignified and an affordable meal, together. Maggie has a heart to serve, a desire to always be inclusive, and a passion for loving people.She lives in Raleigh, loves to jump rope, and eats a large amount of peanut butter. She loves hiking in the mountains, and all things sunflowers. You’ll find her watching movies at the theaters in those big comfy chairs, skydiving, or breaking away for a quick 2-day weekend trip.
A Place at the Table: https://tableraleigh.org/

Every February, around this time, approximately 8 billion small heart-shaped candies are created and exchanged.  These candies bear messages of love and care, and are often used as gifts to express feelings for another person.  
In each episode featuring a guest, we ask them if there are any words of wisdom they might share with their younger selves. These words of wisdom are like those Sweetheart treats, but instead of representing love for someone else, they are messages of love directed to our guests themselves, and by extension, to all of us.  We are so inspired by the wisdom our guests shared, so we put all these beautiful words together, as a little love treat for our listeners. 
Enjoy!
 
Thank you to our amazing guests for their words of wisdom: Donna Peek, Darren Gold, Leslie McGuirk, Mike Robbins, Susan Olesek, Laila Tarraf, Nichelle Trambell Spellman, Rachel Bitecofer, Bridgette Corridan, Mary Lin McBride, Ali Ingersoll, Cara Jones, David Richman, Chris Pierce, Chris Tsakalakis, Jill Santa Lucia, Forrest Wright, Aisha Ponds, Donna Rhode, Kristin Firpo, Marney Sullivan, Deborah Egerton, Rebekah Rotstein, Daryan Rahimzadeh, Kat Gordon, Kat Williford, Jeff Slater, Bryan Gillette, Oneika Mays, Vanessa Loder, Kerri Kelly, Seane Corn, Sarah McDonald, Mary Felice, Shelly Tygielski, Joe Walsh, Rebecca Ward, Nicole Swiner, Natalie Grumet, Marti Grimminck, Ava Lashay, Maureen Aarons, Josh Izenberg, Trish Hegarty, Kim Hunter, Ashleigh Parker, Chris Hendricks, Danny Rosin, Michelle Simmons, Katherine Kennedy, Tony Lillios