039 - Finding Hope and Shining Your Light Through Grief with Maria Quiban Whitesell
12/14/21 • 52 min
Maria Quiban Whitesell is a powerhouse media weather anchor on Fox 11 news who has been a positive force on television for two decades. She built an award-winning reputation as a trusted go-to for weather and reporting on human interest stories and has developed a fan base that celebrates her bubbly personality on TV. While having to put a smile on her face every day in front of millions on LA’s popular morning show, Good Day LA, no one had a clue the kind of personal toll she was taking on at home.
When on the home front in 2014, Maria Quiban Whitesell's husband Sean was diagnosed with a deadly form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma (GBM), she was completely unprepared. Her first thought was how could she possibly explain what was happening to their young son, Gus? How would she manage to say goodbye to the love of her life and, ultimately, live without him? In today’s Potential to Powerhouse conversation, Maria speaks openly about her journey of finding hope and shining her light through grief after Sean’s passing. Tuning in, you’ll learn about the book she wrote describing her experience, titled You Can't Do It Alone: A Widow's Journey Through Loss, Grief, and Life After, in which she teams up with licensed therapist Lauren Schneider to provide readers with a roadmap for walking through illness, death, and grief. This is a heart-led conversation about love, resilience, and the understanding that everyone has their own challenges to overcome, despite how things may appear from the outside. Maria takes this opportunity to reach out to those who may be dealing with a traumatic loss to say, “You are not alone!” Make sure not to miss this tender-yet-powerful conversation with media powerhouse and author Maria Quiban Whitesell!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Insight into Maria’s 25 years in ‘infotainment’ and what drew her to the weather.
- How she came to work for KTTV in Los Angeles and what she loves about being live.
- Hear the fateful story of how she met her late husband Sean Whitesell at a party.
- Find out why she and Sean broke up before getting back together; and married
- Some early signs something was wrong that Maria noticed prior to Sean’s diagnosis.
- How she and Sean were blindsided by the news that he had glioblastoma.
- Why Maria believes that it was actually a blessing that Sean’s GBM was inoperable.
- Part of Maria’s purpose is to shine a light on this disease and attract funding for research.
- Advice she received from a nurse shortly after receiving Sean’s diagnosis: Be strong.
- How Maria devoted herself to spending the time they had left making memories.
- Why she decided to title her book You Can’t Do It Alone; the importance of support.
- What it was like to work with licensed therapist Lauren Schneider.
- Maria shares why she is such a strong advocate for professional mental health support.
- The crucial role that family support played and her advice to listeners: Find your village and share your story to gain support.
- The promise she made to Sean; that she and Gus would live their greatest lives possible.
- Maria shares where she is on her journey through grief and how she hopes her book will inspire and help readers.
- What this journey has taught her about herself: You are stronger than you think you are, one day at a time.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Maria Quiban Whitesell on Twitter
Maria Quiban Whitesell on Instagram
Maria Quiban Whitesell is a powerhouse media weather anchor on Fox 11 news who has been a positive force on television for two decades. She built an award-winning reputation as a trusted go-to for weather and reporting on human interest stories and has developed a fan base that celebrates her bubbly personality on TV. While having to put a smile on her face every day in front of millions on LA’s popular morning show, Good Day LA, no one had a clue the kind of personal toll she was taking on at home.
When on the home front in 2014, Maria Quiban Whitesell's husband Sean was diagnosed with a deadly form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma (GBM), she was completely unprepared. Her first thought was how could she possibly explain what was happening to their young son, Gus? How would she manage to say goodbye to the love of her life and, ultimately, live without him? In today’s Potential to Powerhouse conversation, Maria speaks openly about her journey of finding hope and shining her light through grief after Sean’s passing. Tuning in, you’ll learn about the book she wrote describing her experience, titled You Can't Do It Alone: A Widow's Journey Through Loss, Grief, and Life After, in which she teams up with licensed therapist Lauren Schneider to provide readers with a roadmap for walking through illness, death, and grief. This is a heart-led conversation about love, resilience, and the understanding that everyone has their own challenges to overcome, despite how things may appear from the outside. Maria takes this opportunity to reach out to those who may be dealing with a traumatic loss to say, “You are not alone!” Make sure not to miss this tender-yet-powerful conversation with media powerhouse and author Maria Quiban Whitesell!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Insight into Maria’s 25 years in ‘infotainment’ and what drew her to the weather.
- How she came to work for KTTV in Los Angeles and what she loves about being live.
- Hear the fateful story of how she met her late husband Sean Whitesell at a party.
- Find out why she and Sean broke up before getting back together; and married
- Some early signs something was wrong that Maria noticed prior to Sean’s diagnosis.
- How she and Sean were blindsided by the news that he had glioblastoma.
- Why Maria believes that it was actually a blessing that Sean’s GBM was inoperable.
- Part of Maria’s purpose is to shine a light on this disease and attract funding for research.
- Advice she received from a nurse shortly after receiving Sean’s diagnosis: Be strong.
- How Maria devoted herself to spending the time they had left making memories.
- Why she decided to title her book You Can’t Do It Alone; the importance of support.
- What it was like to work with licensed therapist Lauren Schneider.
- Maria shares why she is such a strong advocate for professional mental health support.
- The crucial role that family support played and her advice to listeners: Find your village and share your story to gain support.
- The promise she made to Sean; that she and Gus would live their greatest lives possible.
- Maria shares where she is on her journey through grief and how she hopes her book will inspire and help readers.
- What this journey has taught her about herself: You are stronger than you think you are, one day at a time.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Maria Quiban Whitesell on Twitter
Maria Quiban Whitesell on Instagram
Previous Episode
038 - Finding Your Grit and Grace With Double Amputee Marathoner Jami Marseilles
Surviving 11 days in a snowed-in car is an enormous feat in and of itself, but achieving what Jami Marseilles has after having both her legs amputated as a result of this harrowing ordeal is an entirely new level of powerhouse. Jami is a mother, a teacher, an author, and the first woman bilateral below-the-knee amputee to have completed a full marathon (and she’s done two!). Everything she does is achieved with grace, positivity, and humor, and her skills as a teacher extend way beyond the classroom; every human being on the planet can learn invaluable lessons from Jami about the power of the mind, and how to turn a tragic experience into something miraculous. This episode will leave you feeling inspired to tackle any challenge that comes your way!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Jami describes what she was like as a child.
- The accident that changed Jami and her friend Lisa’s life forever.
- Treatment that Jami receives post-accident, and how this differed from Lisa’s treatment.
- How Jami and Lisa found ways to drink water during their 11-day ordeal.
- When Jami realized she was going to lose her legs and why she decided on the below-knee amputation.
- An experience Jami had in the hospital after her amputation that gave her a lot of her confidence back.
- What Jami gained from moving away from her hometown.
- How Jami was introduced to running and the profound impact it had on her.
- Jami’s first full marathon experience and the people who inspired her to do it.
- The battle that Jami has been fighting for the past 5 years and what she has learned during this journey.
- Love that Jami has for her job and why she had to make the heartbreaking decision to leave.
- The book that Jami authored and why it didn’t get the publicity it deserves.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz
Next Episode
040 - Accelerating Unprecedented Growth Without Losing Your Soul with Fawn Weaver of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey
Fawn Weaver is an enterprising entrepreneur, CEO, and the founder of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, the fastest-growing American whiskey brand and African American-founded spirit of all time. She’s also the CEO and founder of GSI, an investment company. A popular TED speaker and best-selling author, Fawn joins us to share pivotal moments in her life, including her decision to leave her home and family at age 15 and her experience launching into the whiskey business as a woman and person of color.
Tune in to our Potential to Powerhouse Season 2 launch episode to hear from Fawn as she sits down to chat with Tracy about her inspirational entrepreneurial journey, which has taken her from establishing herself as a business owner and CEO to launching a mega successful brand and landing book deals. Key Points From This Episode:
- Fawn describes embracing her personality and upbringing in her adult life and entrepreneurial journey
- Deciding to leave her home and family at age 15, bouncing from the projects to homeless shelters
- Fawn’s career journey; starting from food serving and PR intern
- Fawn’s pivot moment in 2003
- The journey from writing manuscripts to book deals
- Fawn’s introduction to Jack Daniels and how it sparked her interest in the distillery business
- Launching into the whiskey business as a woman and person of color
- What Fawn’s thinks the future in the distillery business looks like and advice for other women entrepreneurs
- As an entrepreneur and business owner, walk into a room and know you belong there. There is no reason to not have confidence in yourself and your abilities.
- Fawn has found that industries are more welcoming than most think for women and people of color, so be confident breaking in to them.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
CONNECTIONS:
For more about Fawn Weaver, follow her on Instagram. Also, be sure to check out unclenearest.com.
Check out our website, Potential to Powerhouse, for more details and to learn about past, present, and future guests. Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter, and join our Facebook Community for a deeper connection with the P2P tribe.
Grab your free copy of our guide, 4 Daily Habits Essential to Becoming a POWERHOUSE Entrepreneur, and don’t forget to subscribe to our show and leave a rating and review. Do you know any other female powerhouses that could benefit from listening? If so, please let them know to follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever they like to listen to valuable audio content.
Until next time... High Five!
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/potential-to-powerhouse-success-secrets-for-women-entrepreneurs-174149/039-finding-hope-and-shining-your-light-through-grief-with-maria-quiba-18021393"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to 039 - finding hope and shining your light through grief with maria quiban whitesell on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy