Connecting The Dots with The Renaissance People

Sara Kobilka
  • 5.0 (10)
  • Self-Improvement

This is a podcast for and by Renaissance People (and people who want to cultivate a Renaissance mindset). Renaissance People are complex people with interests and expertise in a wide variety of realms. Referred to with many terms (including multipotentialites, generalists, multi-hyphenates, Jack/Jill-of-all-trades, versatilists, and boundary spanners), we reject the singular niche and embrace a bramble of knowledge, both deep and wide. We have an insatiable love of learning for the sake of learning. We deeply believe that serendipitous opportunities to apply or share that knowledge will arise. We plant seeds of concepts and cross-pollinate ideas everywhere we go because we never know where an idea might blossom or inspire someone else. We connect the dots and see commonality in unique ways others cannot because of our diverse experiences. In collaboration with invited guests, host Sara Kobilka (Renaissance Woman) will explore: - What it means to be a Renaissance Person in the modern world - How and where we can thrive - What inspires us We'll also flex our creative minds with fun challenges. Think of it as part captivating interview, part game show and part improv performance. This podcast is part of Sara's effort to build a Renaissance People Community which she invites listeners to join at renwomanconsulting.com/renaissance-people-community

  1. Capture the Flow with Alycia Buenger, Multi-Passionate

    May 27

    Capture the Flow with Alycia Buenger, Multi-Passionate

    It took three tries to schedule the recording of today’s episode of “Connecting the Dots with The Renaissance People” with multi-passionate Alycia Buenger. We are both moms of young children, educators and entrepreneurs. So, between childcare challenges and work commitments, we repeatedly had to push back our recording date. But we made it happen (otherwise you wouldn’t be seeing this). And giving ourselves the permission slip to reschedule the interview was one of our answers to the question Alycia regularly grapples with in her research and writing, How can we live, work, and be well in modern times (for ourselves and each other)? In this episode we talked about this required flexibility of caregiving and business ownership among MANY other topics listed below (in classic Renaissance People fashion). Take a listen and be sure to sign up for my newsletter for updates on upcoming podcast episodes and what’s happening in the Renaissance People Community. Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink): Sign up for newsletter for updates on my podcast and what’s happening in the Renaissance People Community.Work with me to Find Your Golden Thread and confidently tell your multi-passionate story.Ep. 12: A Different Kind of Wonderful with Paula Croxson, Renaissance WomanFlow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihály CsíkszentmihályiSarah Shotts (they/them) is an artist-mother based in ArkansasThe Neuro Nest (previously called Kindle Curiosity) is Sarah's podcast about neurodivergence, motherhood, chronic illness, and creative workA conversation with Sarah Shotts about creative capacity and inconsistent practiceRange: Why Generalists Thrive in a Specialized World by David EpsteinEp. 9: A Mind for Memory with Brian Skellenger, SurvivalistMagnet Theater in Manhattan, NYC. Performance schedule for Brian’s musical theater improv team, Lil’ Spoon.Unravel Your Journey Podcast: Alycia's year-long project with Kati Overmier to "unravel" big ideas within day-to-day lifeEp. 1: Hello! I’m Sara Kobilka, Renaissance WomanA Bit of Optimism with Simon Sinek, Episode 68: Embracing the Fall with Carla Hall, Apple Podcast | SpotifyThe Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan HaidtThe Tin Can phoneThe Creatrix Spiral (as Alycia describes it) is renewable, expandable, and open to individual and collective interpretation of experience. It’s based upon varied spiritual teachings, including the Chakra System. The Creatrix Spiral is the foundation of her online studio and mentorship offerings.There are so many resources to explain and consider the chakra system; Alycia's favorite from yoga teacher training is Eastern Body, Western Mind by Anodea JudithEp. 10: The Forever Revolution with Jenni Gritters, Multi-PassionateYouTube video on how to create an electromagnetic nailArticle on why not to use the term “Middle East”Radiolab (not Invisibilia as said in the episode) podcast episode on the “discovery” of interstitiumBuy Me a Coffee (actually an oat milk cappuccino that I will purchase at a locally-owned coffee shop while working)Alycia’s website and Substack Follow Alycia on Social Media: LinkedIn | Instagram A few things Alycia and I discuss: 3:30 Alycia’s winding path 4:51 The interconnection between physical movement and creativity 5:51 Flow in creative people 8:13 Flexibility requirement of caregiving 9:59 Creating structures for flow 11:07 Inconvenient inspiration 16:58 Improv as flow state 21:34 Being a natural rebel 23:20 Inspiration in waves 25:59 Answer the dreaded question by providing of roadmap and starting point 30:13 Not taking advice in business 32:55 Building trust in your gut and handling failure 48:31 The Creatrix Spiral and the seven chakra system 53:59 “Western medicine” vs “Eastern medicine” 56:32 Fairtrade coffee and ecotourism Quotes from the episode: (Sara) Flow can be hard, especially when you are a parent of young children and you don't feel like you've got a lot of capacity just because you're being pulled in a thousand directions and you're just trying to keep these kids alive and fed and everything else that you're dealing with. But that ability to float along the river and let the kind of the, the path of the stream take you where you're gonna go. If you fight it, you're not gonna win. It's like a rip current. If you fight the rip current and try to swim back to shore, that's how people drown. It's when you swim parallel to the shore and get out of that like force that you can finally make your way back. (Alycia) I don't think we can always force flow. I think it's kind of relatively spontaneous, but we can kind of create structures around our work or our daily lives that would encourage flow and the flow state to kind of show up. And allow us to kind of capture it when it's there. (Alycia) I would ask questions. You know, like, where, when does inspiration strike? What are you doing in that period of time? What are you thinking about when that's happening? What are you doing before and after? And how does it feel to like not capture that idea? Does it come back to you? I have a lot of questions. And if we can answer some of those questions, I think you can kind of find your own path there, if that makes sense. (Sara) Yeah, it seems like kind of almost pattern recognition. When is this happening? What's the cadence of it? (Alycia) So I think part of the challenge that I have is that I'm like a natural rebel. So anytime I like see rules or I find rules, or I find that pattern and put it in place, I'm like, okay, now I'm gonna go do something else. 'Cause like I just naturally have to push back against even my own rules. It's a deeply annoying part of who I am. But I will say that as someone who has to do these things in order to make an income, I have...

    1h 1m
  2. It's All or Nothing with Morgan Anderson, Multi-Passionate

    May 13

    It's All or Nothing with Morgan Anderson, Multi-Passionate

    It’s time for another blast from my past! In the very first episode of Connecting the Dots with The Renaissance People, I talked about a pivotal program from my childhood called Youth in Government (YIG). This episode’s guest was one of my best friends from that program. Morgan Anderson’s career has taken him across the country and through multiple industries (which I will NOT list ahead of time because I feel there is such great joy in being surprised and peeling back the layers of a story.) In this episode we talked about YIG and why it was so impactful for us, the Renaissance “All or Nothing” mentality and how Morgan has employed it repeatedly in his multifaceted career, and the unifying feature of caring about people and supporting them that Renaissance People share. We also discussed selling confidence (compared to the many other things Morgan has sold). I will share one little tidbit that I couldn't include in the show because we discussed it after I stopped recording. I’m a huge fan of the reality TV show competition Top Chef and Morgan was once in the running to be on the show. Shows like that have archetypical characters they cast for (sorry to ruin it if you thought everything was completely real). When it comes to the season where Morgan was in the running to appear, they had already filled the role of “prodigal chef/kitchen villain” for that season so the opportunity passed by. By the next time he could have been cast, he’d already moved on from cooking. Intrigued yet? Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink): Sign up for updates on my podcast and what’s happening in the Renaissance People Community.Work with me to Find Your Golden Thread Episode 1: Hello! I’m Sara Kobilka, Renaissance WomanMorgan and I were involved with the Minnesota Youth in Government (YIG) program in high school but the YMCA of the USA has Youth and Government programs across the United States.Where are they now article about me on the Alumni and Friends page for the Center for Youth Voice (the current home of Youth in Government within the Minnesota YMCA programs)Alton Brown’s video of burping sock puppets Good Eats – Dr. Strangeloaf YeastsObituary for UW-Madison Plants and Man professor Tim Allen (yes, I'm recommending you read an obituary) and another article about himAuthor Mary Roach’s websiteBook Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human CadaversIowa’s RAGBRAI bike ride Follow Morgan on Social Media: LinkedIn | YouTube (aka the Critter Gitter) A few things Morgan and I discuss: 3:11 Why Youth in Government was so impactful in our lives 12:37 The Renaissance “All or Nothing” mentality 15:26 The first of many zigzags for Morgan 16:54 Morgan’s early success 17:19 Alton Brown love fest 22:19 How Morgan lost his passion 24:5 Morgan’s travels around the country 33:13 Turns out you really can go home…at least in Morgan’s case 34:45 Science’s allure draws Morgan in 39:41 Selling confidence 48:06 Improv Game 53:54 Find Your Golden Thread 57:03 Rapidish Fire Questions Quotes from the episode: (Morgan) Have fun, get things done. Man! I haven't said that in about 30 years! (Sara) It's that live hard, play hard mentality. I think a lot of Renaissance People and multi-passionate are good at that. They are both good at having fun and playing and being curious and creative. But then when there's stuff that needs to get done, they're also really good at like putting their heads down and getting things done. (Morgan) Oh, that describes me to a T. You nailed me there. Because if I get into something, it's all or nothing. (Morgan) I tell everyone this. I had my passion for food beat out of me and it was my own fault. (Sara) Do you think it could come back ever? Or is it, do you think it's gone? (Morgan) It has. Not so much like it used to be there. But I have an absolutely amazing time cooking and teaching my wife how to cook. (Morgan) That’s where the Renaissance Person in me was first realized. Because you'd be working on a project for weeks and on a Monday morning, the CEO looks at me and says, "Oh, we're not doing that anymore, and you have to do a 180 and start over." And it's just like, oh my gosh! You know? So I went from leading a very structured, professional life in culinary and in management, and all of a sudden I'm in this nebulous area where you've gotta orchestrate amongst chaos. (Morgan) You get really good at selling something when you're selling something people don't need like ice cream. (Sara) I think these are the case studies of confidence as a Renaissance Person. And it sounds like for you, it took a long time to really say, “Hey, this multifaceted, well-rounded kid from high school who's traveled around the country and had all these careers and done all this stuff, there's value in me for that diversity of things that I know. Not just because I taught this one class, or I got this one degree, or I worked in this one position.” It's the multitudes that makes you magical. (Morgan) My brother-in-law said something this last summer. There's people that are smart and there's people that have experience. And wisdom is the combination. Mm. You do not have to be smart to be wise, but you do have to have the experiences. And I think in confidence in what we were talking about, where my confidence comes from is the knowledge is the background. (Morgan) I don't half ass anything. If I'm gonna be training my dog, it is intense! Books will show up from Amazon. And treats will be researched. And I will morph my own training program from, you know, reading 36 different books. (Sara) That's like the antithesis of what I think is one of the superpowers of Renaissance People is, we can be creative. We have all these experiences like you're talking about, that we can draw from. And so we're the ones who can come up with those outside-the-box ideas and we can implement them and be like, let's get this shit done. (Morgan) Humans are horrible multitaskers, and I am primed to prove that wrong. Cause there's always multiple things. Follow me, Renaissance Woman Sara Kobilka, on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy, and Facebook. If you’re extra curious, check out Renaissance Woman Consulting to learn more about some of the many types of work I do. And should you care to support the production of this podcast, I’d love it if you’d buy me an oat milk cappuccino, my caffeinated beverage of choice. This podcast is hosted and edited by Sara Kobilka. Theme music is by Brian Skellenger Podcast distribution support provided by K.O. Myers of Particulate Media

    1h 4m
  3. A Different Kind of Wonderful with Paula Croxson, Renaissance Woman

    Apr 29

    A Different Kind of Wonderful with Paula Croxson, Renaissance Woman

    In this episode, I am joined by a fellow Renaissance Woman who has joined me in embracing that identity (you’ll learn why near the start of the show). The title of the episode is, “A Different Kind of Wonderful with Paula Croxson” but my alternative was “How Paula Came to Love Swimming in Chop”. That too will make sense later in the show. Paula has been near the top of my “dream guests” since I came up with this podcast idea so to say I’m excited is a bit of an understatement. She’s a science communicator, neuroscientist, musician and athlete among other things. The conversation was free flowing, filled with science, storytelling and metaphors galore! Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink): Sign up for updates on my podcast and what’s happening in the Renaissance People Community.Work with me to Find Your Golden Thread Jethro Tull (jazz flutist) YouTube video of performance from 1976My LinkedIn Left Brain, Right Brain artificial choice rantArticle from Business Insider where Michelle Obama explains why she too is disgusted by the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver SacksOliver Sacks biographical informationOliver Sacks’ TEDTalk, What Hallucinations Reveal about Our MindsNeuWriteA Brief History of the Resting State: the Washington University Perspective by Abraham Z Snyder and Marcus E RaichleReview of the split brain work that Brenda Milner was part of (credit also to Mike Gazzaniga for this research)Story ColliderPaula’s 2013 Story Collider talk: When Your Grandmother Forgets Who You AreEp. 9 A Mind for Memory with Brian Skellenger, SurvivalistIf you want to become a better storyteller, I highly recommend the podcast The Story Letter with Micaela Blei.Stellate CommunicationsEp. 8 Bringing Worlds Together Full Circle with Jess Rowell, Renaissance Woman discusses “find your audience’s why” to help answer “what do you do?”Sign up for Brain Dump on May 1, 2026 (or if you missed it, sign up for my Renaissance People newsletter to find future opportunities)Paula’s greatest accomplishment post Instagram | FacebookCholla walking inspiration LinkedIn postStellate Communications Follow Paula on Social Media: Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram | Bluesky A few things Paula and I discuss: Survey says…she’s a Renaissance WomanThe science vs musician choiceThe history and misconceptions of “left brain vs right brain”Renaissance Man, neuroscientists, and inspirational figure, Oliver SacksThe athletic mindset + Renaissance People = Flow StateResearch on the flow state (it’s not all woo woo)What MRIs tell us (and don’t tell us)Why the science is in the nuance and complicating the narrativePaula’s major career pivotExplaining yourself using communications 101, Know thy AudienceValues as a golden threadHow Paula stopped fighting the waves and began enjoying themImprov GameRapidish Fire QuestionsLife as an omnivertTraining our pets to do unusual things Quotes from the episode: (Paula) I think of boundary spanner maybe as a really useful professional term. But I feel like a Renaissance Person all the time, regardless of whether I'm behaving like a professional or not. (Paula) I feel like science and music was one of those choices that I had to make pretty early on, that I've spoken to so many people who ended up in science or as musicians who felt like they had to make that choice early on in order to define themself, to carve out what they were doing. When I say had to, I don't think anyone made me. I had a lot of really supportive people around me when I was figuring out what I wanted to be when I grew up. But I felt like it only made sense to be one or the other. And I actually stopped playing music for a really long time, while I was in graduate school. And so I sometimes forget that I'm a musician because I spent so much time creating this version of myself that was the scientist. (Sara) People sometimes have a job where they'll be a reporter and they'll be a meteorologist. So I decided, I'm gonna bring math and science back into my life. And quite a few people in the journalism program looked at me like I was absolutely nuts because I took chemistry. I took physics. I was taking calculus. And they're all like, "Why? What are you? What's wrong with you? What are you doing?" And I was like, no! I need this! This is part of me too. I can't lose that. I need to use my full brain and not "half of my brain" as the people like to talk about it. (Paula) That's how the left brain got a reputation for being the "logical", I'm using air quotes here, the "logical side of the brain". Because it rationalized. Because it got in there and it was chatty and explained away the movements of the right hemisphere, having no idea that the whole reason was because the right hemisphere of the brain had just seen a spoon and was responding to the question. So that's how that whole myth arose is because the left hemisphere of the brain talks a lot. However, that doesn't really make it more logical. (Paula) I had already been interested in the brain and how it worked. But that was one of the things that really drew me in, was reading that book. Little did I know at the time that Oliver Sacks was, himself, a real Renaissance Person! (Sara) Yeah! (Paula) He entered that part of his career, the medical part of his career, late in life and the writing and storytelling part even later in life. He was also a bodybuilder. He also swam in the open water. He had all of these facets to himself that were not just what he did for a living. I think I probably was drawn to that as much as the stories and the fascination of the brain, even though I wasn't really aware of it at the time. (Paula) I started off by joining a group called NeuWrite that was a science writing group that brought together scientists, writers, people in theater, meet people from the media, you know, to collaborate. My goal was just to write better science papers so that I could get published in my, like, niche journals, but like fancier niche journals that would get me, like tenure and promotion and funding. But I was around these people and I liked these people and I was drawn to them. And I found myself learning a lot from them in a way that I didn't learn from my colleagues who were in the same niches as me...

    1h 6m
  4. Side Quest Unlocked with Elin Filbey, Multi-Passionate

    Apr 15

    Side Quest Unlocked with Elin Filbey, Multi-Passionate

    Once again, I’ve got a podcast guest whose Venn diagram of interests looks strikingly similar to my own. Multi-passionate Elin Filbey and I not only share a work history (museums, higher education and career coaching) but other factors as well, including being moms of small children, coming from the upper Midwest, teaching fitness classes, and our love of performing. In the wide-ranging conversation this podcast is known for, we cover this and so much more. Elin’s experience is proof that taking side quests makes a Renaissance Person’s life more fulfilling! Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink): Sign up for updates on my podcast and what’s happening in the Renaissance People Community.Sign up to work with me and Find Your Golden Thread Patrick Meaney’s LinkedIn post about shaping your career like a brambleSara’s career coaching newsletter, Take it With You, focused on Packing Your Skillset SuitcaseSara’s newsletter with the word cloud of skills needed for remote jobs Appreciating Your ValueSara’s newsletter about translating your skills to potential employers Time to TranslateQueued for Thought episode introducing Conversations on Loneliness, Healing and ConnectingSocial Contract Theory was the idea I was referencing, but looking at it, I wasn’t quite remembering the full definition. Oh well!Ep. 8 Bringing Worlds Together Full Circle with Jess Rowell, Renaissance WomanTamara Poles’s guest episode where she discusses side quests on podcast Research AdjacentWhen NASA Gave Spiders Drugs to See how it Affected their Webs, 1995Ep. 10 The Forever Revolution with Jenni Gritters, Multi-PassionateMy preferred metaphor: Reimagining STEM Workforce Development as a Braided RiverA beautiful rant about “soft skills”: Stop Calling Them Soft: Why Today’s Essential Skills Are Anything ButEp. 9 A Mind for Memory with Brian Skellenger, SurvivalistUnited KaraokeElin’s podcast Curate Your Career Podcast, co-hosted with Alli Schell, Spotify | Apple Podcast | YouTube | InstagramElin’s Facebook Group Deaccessioned: A Network for Former and Aspiring Ex-Museum ProsElin’s website Deaccessioned Career Coaching Follow Elin on Social Media: LinkedIn | Instagram | A few things Elin and I discuss: Museums as a stimulating place for multi-passionatesDrawbacks of museum lifeElin’s path to career coachingHow to explain your career jumpsToxic relationship industries (i.e. museums, journalism, education, non-profits, pretty much my entire career…)Translating your skills or job titleFinding a career that fits your current valuesBeing a helper and a villagerKeys to answering, “what do you do?”How we live for the applause (and give Lind Belcher from Bob’s Burgers vibes) Quotes from the episode: (Elin) And I used to think that it was a defect or a, a liability because I was so interested in so many things. But now as I'm getting older and I'm learning more about myself, I see it as an asset, right? Because I am able to pull from all these different places and all these different ideas to inform the core of my work and what I do. (Elin) I found out later that I got placed with the finance and real estate students who were notoriously difficult because my former director told the person hiring me at the business school that I was a “velvet steam roller”. I was really good at gently pushing back on people, and working with difficult people in a way that still got things done but wasn't super inflammatory, which was a skill I learned through my career. Because when I started, I was like, burn it down! (Elin) It's an industry (museum work) that takes and takes and takes and takes and doesn't always give a lot back. I often describe it as a toxic relationship (Sara) Oh, yes! (Elin) Where it's bad and bad and bad and bad, and then you get to hold a manuscript from the 1500s and you're like, this is the best thing ever! And then you're like, rebounded and you're in love again. And then you just get shit on somewhere else. (Sara) I like sharing resources. As a Renaissance Person, are you one of those people where, you know, you join a Zoom meeting and you're adding links to things in the chat, emailing people afterwards? (Elin) It's my love language. (Elin) I heard something the other day that was, you know, everybody wants a village, but not everybody's willing to be a villager. (Sara) I love that! (Elin) Right? And I was like, oh! I caught myself too because I was like, where's my village? And then I needed to reflect, to be like, well, where am I being a villager? And I can't expect that to come back around to me if I haven't given it out. (Elin) Love a good side quest. It really just brings a lot of joy to my life. And it's also probably part of my neuro spiciness of like, I was born to dilly dally. (Elin) And a lot of times when people are wanting to leave the field or they're wanting to change, they just start running really, really fast in a direction. And sometimes you're on a treadmill and you're not going anywhere. But you feel like you're, you're really working hard. And you're running, running, running, but you're not getting anywhere. (Elin) I'm like Tinkerbell, I need applause to live. So I love just being on stage and getting up in front of people. Follow me, Renaissance Woman Sara Kobilka, on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy, and Facebook. If you’re extra curious, check out Renaissance Woman Consulting to learn more about some of the many types of work I do. And should you care to support the production of this podcast, I’d love it if you’d buy me an oat milk cappuccino, my caffeinated beverage of choice. This podcast is hosted and edited by Sara Kobilka. Theme music is by Brian Skellenger Podcast distribution support provided by K.O. Myers of Particulate Media

    1h 2m
  5. Queued for Thought - Survivalist Insight, Part 1

    Mar 30 ·  Bonus

    Queued for Thought - Survivalist Insight, Part 1

    Welcome to Queued for Thought, my curated podcast playlist designed to satiate your brain with insightful ideas! I'm Renaissance Woman Sara Kobilka, host of the podcast Connecting the Dots with The Renaissance People. Queued for Thought is a project I created where we can practice the skill of connecting the dots between conversations happening in different realms. My latest playlist addition connects the dots between conversations around being a “survivalist” and cultivating “survivalist skills”. It features podcast episodes from Connecting the Dots with The Renaissance People, The Anxious Achiever, A Slight Change of Plans and The Nature Of with Willow Defebaugh. Check it out on the Listen Notes website. From there, subscribe to listen to all episodes on your favorite podcast streaming platform. Instructions for how to find a podcast streaming platform. Queued for Thought comes out sporadically when I’m feeling inspired. If you’d like to know each time a new episode drops, sign up for my Renaissance People Community listserv.

    9 min
  6. The Forever Revolution with Jenni Gritters, Multi-Passionate

    Mar 18

    The Forever Revolution with Jenni Gritters, Multi-Passionate

    Connecting the Dots with The Renaissance People is coming full circle for this tenth episode! The woman I first encountered via her podcast, is now a guest on my own show! Regular listeners will know the name of my career coach, and fellow multi-passionate, Jenni Gritters. In this episode, we discuss the importance of community, the evolution of our career paths, and the significance of embracing your complexity without apology (along with tips for explaining that complexity to others). We go off on delightful tangents around systems thinking, the role of coaching in our careers, and the power of intuition and imagination in decision-making. We connect the dots to neuroscience and etymology —two topics we both adore —and discuss how they can help us understand where we’re going. And I found out a few juice nuggets that even Jenni’s most loyal followers might not even know about, so stick around to the end! Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink): Sign up for updates on my podcast and what's happening in the Renaissance People CommunityJenni’s Book The Sustainable SolopreneurWaters Center for Systems Thinking – Habits of a Systems Thinker CardsLinkedIn post about teen specializing in the summer to prepare for college applicationsThe Serendipity Mindset by Christian BuschWorld Builders podcast episode with Lindsay MacMillanAn incredible study on imaginationAnd another fun piece on memory & imagination That’s What They Say, Michigan Public Radio podcastGrammar Girl podcastTelepathy Tapes (Season 2 especially for the early science of more "woo" practices)The Latest Science of Growth Mindset with Carol Dweck ("The Psychology Podcast" on YouTube)The Clearing Jenni's"free monthly community gathering and community coaching session designed help you create meaning, release what isn’t yours to carry, and ignite new (collaborative) insights — timed with the seasons”The World Builders podcast | website Follow Jenni on Social Media: LinkedIn | Instagram | Substack A few things Jenni and I discuss: 3:59 How Jenni helped inspire this podcast 5:18 Jenni’s many iterations 8:46 How Jenni created spaces of belonging as a multi-passionate 11:01 The appeal of journalism for multi-passionates 13:16 Pattern recognition and systems thinking 18:40 How naming eras can help explain your expanding identities 22:00 How freedom makes you magnetic 27:33 Thinking of our career as a non-linear journey 31:02 Thinking outside the box and using imagination to find inspiration 33:02 Trusting intuition and getting out of your own way 42:27 Improv Game 45:43 Shout out to our supportive husbands 47:14 Rapidish Fire Questions 50:39 Our shared love of etymology and neuroscience 54:0 The athletic and growth mindset in Renaissance People Quotes from the episode: (Jenni) We had children at the same time. We were like drowning in the pandemic at the same time. We were leaving our careers at the same time. So it's just, it's very much an honor to be here. And I feel like I've been with you for all the transitions that birthed this podcast too, like you said. So pretty damn magical. (Jenni) I'm also the founder of a company that I am currently building called World Builders, which is basically an ecosystem, a hub for people like us to come in and learn how to step into our wealth and our visibility and all these things that come back to the fact that we were told probably for most of our lives, that our brains were not normal. And so it's a whole space of people like us, who are very explosively creative, who change their minds a lot. Who can't be summed up in one phrase. Right? I always joke, I change my bio on my social media profile like every three months. (Jenni) But I'm not trying to make people like me anymore. Like I just think it's a zero-sum game. I don't think I'm ever gonna make sense to people, Sara! (Sara) Yeah. We're too much. That's what I have in my LinkedIn About section, you know, I'm too much for some people and that's OK. (Jenni) Totally! (Sara) You've talked about a level of magnetism that I think comes about when you become more confident in yourself and stop apologizing for the complexity. Because other people want that confidence. When I've had career coaching clients, when I did my Renaissance Readers and we read the book Range, that's the number one thing people tell me that I am able to provide them, is increased confidence in their value as Renaissance People. (Jenni) Mmm hmm. I know. (Sara) Because the world has been telling them, you're too much. You're overwhelming me. For me, it was “you're the teacher's pet” because you want to be friends and you wanna please the teacher, which, OK, there's problems with the teacher's pet side of things. But, there's also the fact that I LIKED my teachers and they were interesting people and they're older than me and they know more than me. So I wanna learn from them! (Jenni) And you love learning, right? I mean, I think that it's exactly right. People who are free are very magnetic. (Sara) Your career is a journey with multiple stops. And you don't have to go one place and stay there forever. You go to all these places and you learn something there. And then you take it with you to the next place and then you make it even more fun and more exciting. And so that idea of “niche” implies one spot and you're just going to get even more and more specialized. And that's NOT where it's at! And that's not who's going to think outside the box because they're completely trapped inside the box! They're not the ones who are going to be innovative. (Jenni) I love the phrase magic is focused intention. It's like that idea that yes, we get those downloads, right? Yes. We have these like flow states. I think our brains are just really primed to be that way. Us neurodivergent, multi-passionates, we're very creatively iterative, but you still have to do the action things, right? Follow me, Renaissance Woman Sara Kobilka, on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy and Facebook. If you're extra curious,...

    57 min
  7. A Mind for Memory with Brian Skellenger, Survivalist

    Mar 5

    A Mind for Memory with Brian Skellenger, Survivalist

    This episode is a family affair! I’m joined by my younger brother Brian Skellenger, the voice and creative spirit behind this podcast’s theme song. I also view him as a Renaissance Person, a label we debate over the course of the episode (in true sibling fashion). In this show, I share how my thoughts around the term “Renaissance Person” and the idea of a “Renaissance Mindset” have been morphing. We also talk about the pros and cons of having a Renaissance Woman as an older sister, how our parents’ careers influenced our mindset, the power of improv, and being drawn to fellow Renaissance People (and NYC as a hotspot for finding them). Plus, I think you’ll be intrigued by Brian’s thought process as he designed this show’s theme song, at least I was! Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink): Sign up for updates on my podcast and what's happening in the Renaissance People Community.Episode 7 Stephanie CastilloRange: Why Generalists Thrive in a Specialized World by David EpsteinReview of the play “Vestibular Sense” from Minnesota Public RadioTake it With You newsletter for job seekersPacking Your Skillset Suitcase newsletter issueAFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies downloadable list of “the 100 greatest American movies of all time” (released in 1998 and updated with a 10-year anniversary list in 2007, which isn’t actually 10 years so I don’t understand their math)What are Overtones? YouTube Short video by Eric MartinOVERTONES! What are overtones? What do they sound like? Longer YouTube video explaining the science of overtones more deeply by KHensenMusic and all sorts of awesome examples from singing groupsWater Whys Spring 2026 Visual SciComm Seminar SeriesMaking Math Inclusive for Everyone with Microsoft 365 blog post by Peter WuLinkedIn post by Sara Shunkwiler about the new #Microsoft365Math hashtag with link to recording of talk about math accessibility (and the post she’s resharing talks about being a survivor, even more serendipity)LinkedIn post by Ailee Dixon announcing her new role as a Blind Disability & STEM Equity AdvocateMagnet Theater in Manhattan, NYC. Performance schedule for Brian’s improv team, Lil’ Spoon. Follow Brian on Social Media: Instagram | YouTube A few things Brian and I discuss: 2:09 Brian’s rejection of my potential terms for his identity, why he feels like a “survivalist”, and he defines the term. 6:22 How my definition of “Renaissance Person” and the “Renaissance Mindset” is morphing 9:02 Big sister Sara embarrasses her little brother 11:44 Living in the shadow of a Renaissance Person older sibling and finding theater 14:52 The impact of our parents’ careers on our mindset 20:55 The power of improv (and why Renaissance People are particularly good at it) 25:20 Rejecting hyper specialization 31:35 Brian’s performance in the show ‘Vestibular Sense” and how his Renaissance Mindset helped him land the lead role’ 34:50 The toolkit of skills we bring with us throughout our career 36:05 How connecting the dots means being empathetic in the arts 38:27 Being drawn to fellow Renaissance People 42:06 Brian’s though process in creating the Connecting the Dots with The Renaissance People theme song 48:28 Improv Game with the snarkiest response yet to “You know you’re a Renaissance Person if…” 50:27 Rapidish Fire Questions 52:10 Why our childhood jobs at a movie rental store were great Renaissance Person jobs 56:07 The challenge of math accessibility for blind or visually impaired learners (and Sara’s upcoming free virtual seminar speakers on the topic) 58:07 Why you should go to Magnet Theater if you’re in Manhattan on a Thursday evening to see musical improv (and possibly Brian’s improv team) Quotes from the episode: (Brian) Well, of course I couldn't pick anything that you picked for me! (Sara) Oh, course not! Big sister can't tell you what to do. (Brian) I have to be an original. (Brian) At least maybe other people like you would say that I am a Renaissance Person or something. But I picked a word and then I like looked it up and it has a completely different meaning. So I'm changing the meaning of this word... (Sara) Do it! (Brian) Like, beware Webster's Dictionary. You're getting a new entry! (Sara) He's in a fighting mood! (Brian) Exactly! (Brian) I do agree that, while I don't necessarily consider myself a Renaissance Person, I do think that I have a well-rounded skillset and mindset. And I think part of that was like, I mean, I'm sure some of that is just genetic or whatever. But I think having you as an older sibling to model sort of like, you can be good at everything if you want to be. If you have the aptitude for it. That set the bar pretty high, which was both daunting, but also freeing in a way (Sara) Yeah. (Brian) I didn't feel super self-conscious about like being interested in a wide variety of things when some other kids were sort of hyper specializing. (Brian) I figured out that I could sort of turn something that was an insecurity into something that made people laugh, which is, 'cause I was cast as this really nerdy character. And I was a dork, as a kid and I still am. I was so nervous that the other kids were gonna laugh at me in a "make fun of me" sort of way. (Sara) Yeah. (Brian) But then, when I was able to like, oh, I'm entertaining these people. They're laughing with me in a way. (Sara) And you have control over the laughter. I'm making it happen. (Brian) I think improv has a lot of good applications outside of just being entertaining because improv theaters do workshops and stuff for businesses and it's a great tool to just learn how to “Yes, and...” somebody else's idea that might be completely different than what you had in mind. Follow me, Renaissance Woman Sara Kobilka, on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy and Facebook. If you're extra curious, check out Renaissance Woman Consulting to learn more about some of the many types of work I do. And should you care to support the...

    59 min
  8. Queued for Thought - Conversations on Loneliness, Healing and Connecting, Part 1

    Feb 25 ·  Bonus

    Queued for Thought - Conversations on Loneliness, Healing and Connecting, Part 1

    Welcome to Queued for Thought, a curated podcast playlist! I'm Renaissance Woman Sara Kobilka, host of the podcast Connecting the Dots with The Renaissance People. Queued for Thought is a project I've created where I get to practice that skill of connecting the dots between conversations happening in different realms. In this episode, I explain how these playlists will work and my personal philosophy on populating my podcast queue. This first playlist connects the dots between conversations around loneliness, healing and connecting. It features podcast episodes from A Bit of Optimism with Simon Sinek and Inquiring Minds. Check it out on the Listen Notes website and from there, subscribe to it on your favorite podcast streaming platform. Queued for Thought will come out sporadically when I’m feeling inspired. If you’d like to know each time a new episode drops, sign up for my Renaissance People Community listserv.

    7 min
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About

This is a podcast for and by Renaissance People (and people who want to cultivate a Renaissance mindset). Renaissance People are complex people with interests and expertise in a wide variety of realms. Referred to with many terms (including multipotentialites, generalists, multi-hyphenates, Jack/Jill-of-all-trades, versatilists, and boundary spanners), we reject the singular niche and embrace a bramble of knowledge, both deep and wide. We have an insatiable love of learning for the sake of learning. We deeply believe that serendipitous opportunities to apply or share that knowledge will arise. We plant seeds of concepts and cross-pollinate ideas everywhere we go because we never know where an idea might blossom or inspire someone else. We connect the dots and see commonality in unique ways others cannot because of our diverse experiences. In collaboration with invited guests, host Sara Kobilka (Renaissance Woman) will explore: - What it means to be a Renaissance Person in the modern world - How and where we can thrive - What inspires us We'll also flex our creative minds with fun challenges. Think of it as part captivating interview, part game show and part improv performance. This podcast is part of Sara's effort to build a Renaissance People Community which she invites listeners to join at renwomanconsulting.com/renaissance-people-community

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