Grown-Ass Woman's Guide Grown-Ass Creative

Imagine this: You're in an airport bathroom in Reno, Nevada. You're feeling crampy and cranky because it's that time of the month, so you reach for a maxi pad.  What you see when you open the package angers you, enrages you really; so much so that you decide to stop and write an open letter to the company that made said maxi pad.

That's pretty much what happened to Wendi Aarons. And it was the very thing to begin to change the trajectory of her life. The award winning humorist, writer, opinionated tweeter and self-proclaimed Fanilow is now a published author (her first two books written when she was 54). Her book I'm Wearing Tunics Now: On Growing Older, Wiser and a Hell of a Lot Louder is a stroll down memory lane for any Gen X woman finding her way -- and herself. 

About: Wendi Aarons is a writer and award-winning humorist whose work has frequently appeared in outlets like McSweeney’s and The New Yorker, among many others. She is the author of the middle-grade novel Ginger Mancino,
Kid Comedian, SOCKS from Chronicle Books, and a contributor to the Listen to Your Mother: What She Said Then, What We’re Saying Now and Keep Scrolling Til You Feel Something anthologies. She is a popular speaker and teacher on humor, and lives in Austin with her family. And her tunics.

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There’s a chance at this point of your life, you might know someone with kidney disease, maybe someone who has needed a kidney transplant — or maybe you even someone who has made the decision to donate their kidney.

March is National Kidney Month. Last week, I introduced you to Kari Kirkland, a living kidney donor who not only made that incredibly courageous decision to donate her kidney to a friendly acquaintance, but who just last week climbed Mt Kilimanjaro to spread awareness, reaching the summit on World Kidney Day. 
This week is the second episode in our two-part series. I speak with Dr Martha Pavlakis, the medical director of kidney and pancreas transplantation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. In just an hour of your life, Dr Pavlakis will help us all understand kidney transplants and donations in a whole new way, as she busts some very common myths about the process that people continue to spread every day.

About: Dr. Martha Pavlakis is the medical director of kidney and pancreas transplantation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where she has held that position since 1999. She is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Co-director of the BIDMC Kidney Transplant Fellowship. Dr. Pavlakis has written and spoken extensively about kidney and pancreas transplantation and is the current Chair of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) Kidney Committee. She has led the OPTN effort to eliminate the use of race in eGFR formulas used for listing patients for kidney transplantation and the current restorative justice project to award more wait time to Black and African American transplant candidates whose wait time was impacted by the race variable. She also leads the development of a continuous distribution system for kidney transplant allocation. She is a former chair of the education committee for the American Society of Transplantation (AST) and on the IDEAL committee (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access to Life).

Resources:
National Kidney Foundation
Living Donor Assistance
UNOS
National Kidney Registry
OPTN


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While you’re listening to this episode, there’s a good chance today’s guest, Kari Kirkland, is getting close to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro — highest mountain in the world, standing at 19,341 feet. She’s joining dozens of others, some also kidney donors, organ recipients and advocates to bring awareness to the importance of living organ donation. The group is expected to reach the top on March 9, 2023, also known as World Kidney Day. 
This episode is part of a series during March which National Kidney Month, a topic that’s very personal to me. My middle son is 17 years old and in the process of being added to the kidney transplant list, something that surprised us, and yet has been a long time coming. Since the moment we were told this was necessary, I’ve spent hours reading and researching, and have learned so much about not only what he’ll have to go through, but what being a kidney donor looks like, and what it may entail. And I have to tell you, it’s eye opening. 
Approximately 100,000 people are on the kidney transplant list, 13 die each day waiting for an organ. Knowledge is power and when we’re educated, it not only helps decrease the amount of medical disinformation that’s out there in the world, but we can best support the donors and recipients in our lives, relatives, friends, co-workers and community members in a more impactful way. And there’s nothing more grown-ass than that.

Guest: Kari Kirkland is a living kidney donor who's lived a life of adventure --  artist, performer, wedding / event planner, private chef, flying trapeze artist and coach, Ironman triathlete... She's lived in 4 countries on 3 continents, and has traveled the world. Now she's climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to bring awareness to living donation, reaching the summit on World Kidney Day on March 9, 2023. "This climb presents the opportunity to realize that even as a living organ donor, we can still accomplish incredible physical and mental feats! I look forward to watching the sunrise on the top of Kili, surrounded by living donors and advocates, and being a strong example of what is possible after living organ donation."

Support Kari and the others: Visit LivingDonorAdventures.com
Follow the group on Facebook and Instagram

Mentioned in this episode:
UNOS
Donate Life


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Jessica Ashley is a Certified Divorce Coach who helps women thrive through transitions with grace, creativity, and maybe some cussing. On TikTok and Instagram, Jessica posts videos daily to a rapidly growing audience of women seeking community and clarity. But she’s also getting some unwanted attention from an extremely opinionated and outspoken political commentator who recently blasted Jessica on his YouTube page, followed by millions, “canceling” her and garnering thousands of comments, which in turn encouraged some of those followers to harass her online through her social channels and website. 
You don’t have to be divorced or even considering it to appreciate that there are men out there trying to silence women from sharing their personal experiences and using those experiences to help others — and make a living. But we are grown-ass women who will not be silenced. In fact, it’s the reason I chose to invite Jessica here today — to give her a platform for sharing her story, and to support her in sharing her voice, which in turn could support you in using your own.

Connect with Jessica:
Website
Instagram
TikTok


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Michelle Simmonds spent 18 years in Human Resources before she took a giant leap of faith, left her job and launched the Bee BRAVE movement. Bee BRAVE is a platform to inspire and encourage people who want to do something about racism to actually do something, by way of practical tools and tips.

Mentioned in this episode:
BeeBraveMovement.com
WeWil Collaborative
Join Michelle, me and WeWil Collaborative at our first live event on 3/8/23!
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I took several months off the second half of 2022. And when I came back, I realized there are a lot of new listeners. Who've been tuning into the show who don't know anything about me -- and I don't know you. So today we're going to fix that. 
Mentioned:
LinkedIn Post
Visit GrownAssWoman.Guide/creative


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