The Mind Your Own Life Podcast

About today's episode:
One of the greatest privileges of this journey on social media has been connecting with like-minded souls from all different corners of the world. Maddie Ace has been someone who I have learned so much from about healing, mental health, resilience and courage, so I was truly honoured to welcome her as a guest on the podcast.

You may recognize Maddie from a few episodes ago when I interviewed her and her partner, Martina, about their experiences as an interracial gay couple living in America in the lead up to the presidential election.

Maddie has been a source of calm for me on Instagram; whether she is sharing her vulnerabilities in an authentic way or taking the time to really ask how her followers are doing with her daily mental health check-ins, her page and her general presence are truly a breath of fresh air.

On today’s episode, we talk about:

· Maddie’s mental health journey and her first mental illness diagnosis in her teens

· How Maddie began to advocate against the stigma of mental illness and for the importance of mental health

· Maddie’s coming out story and how she describes it as an internal journey

· What to expect on Maddie’s brand new podcast, titled ‘She Be Red’

Tune in now & be sure to rate, review, subscribe and share with a friend if you like what you hear!

About Maddie Ace:
Maddie Ace is the founder/CEO of two businesses; Nella Marketing, a content marketing firm where she serves clients around the world as an artist/writer, and She Be Red, an advocacy brand and podcast with the purpose of helping others on their journey to holistic mental health.

At her core, Maddie is a mental health activist. For the last 12 years, she has walked alongside multiple mental health diagnoses and after a difficult marriage and the onset of severe somatic symptoms, she decided to start making huge changes to her life. This is where she discovered that mental wellbeing isn’t just in the mind, it’s in the body, soul and spirit as well.

Though She Be Red, Maddie shares her journey to show others who are struggling that there is always hope, and she believes it lies within 3 main concepts; healing, feeling and taking leaps of faith. In her new podcast, she encourages her listeners to get curious so they can find a path to a life that truly feels good because, as she says, we are all worthy of that.

Where to find Maddie:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maddie_shebered/
• The She Be Red Podcast: https://www.shebered.com/sbrpodcast

If you've ever wondered why ethically-made clothing is 'so expensive', this week's episode of the Mind Your Own Life podcast is for you! Today's guest, an expert on sustainable fashion, will help you to understand how slow fashion works, why it's worth the price tag, and what you're really buying into when you purchase that $8 shirt from H&M.
I am so excited to have Kristi Soomer, founder of Encircled, an eco-friendly, sweatshop-free, Made in Canada clothing brand, on the podcast today.
Kristi launched Encircled eight years ago in Toronto, with a single product and a big mission and has since grown the brand to be a big name in sustainable fashion offering 40+ products.
Kristi's caring, conscious and collaborative nature is so evident in every product she launches at Encircled, and those qualities also lend themselves well to her side-venture as Coach and Consultant to other entrepreneurs who are at the beginning of their journeys.

We chatted about:

• Fast fashion; Kristi explains how the fashion industry has evolved in Canada and why fast fashion is so damaging to our planet and our people
• Conscious consumerism; Kristi shares ways we can all be more mindful of our purchases
• Entrepreneurship; Kristi shares transparently about her experiences as an entrepreneur and why it's all worth it, despite the many challenges.
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in 2020; how Kristi strives to ensure these standards are met within Encircled and beyond.
• Being B Corp Certified: what this certification means for our earth and ethics

About Kristi Soomer:

Kristi is the Founder/CEO of Encircled Inc., an ethical-fashion brand on a mission to change the way women travel and live. Encircled creates modern, versatile essentials for women from earth-friendly materials that are beautifully soft, high quality and good for the planet. Encircled embraces the notion of transparency in its entire business, in an industry notorious for secrecy. We're proudly 100% sweatshop-free and make all of our clothing locally in Toronto, Canada using fairly paid labour.
Kristi is also the Founder of Retail Bliss Consulting which helps start-up eCommerce Shopify retailers clarify their vision, and develop a focused brand strategy that's aligned with their values. She has 14+ years of retail, consulting, and consumer packaged goods industry experience and a diverse background in fashion, strategy, digital, e-commerce, brand management, store operations, merchandising, category management, supply chain, change management and customer experience.
Kristi’s holistic approach to project design and implementation, and focus on actionable results for small businesses. In addition, Kristi is a licensed Desire Map Facilitator and skilled at empowering entrepreneurs to create goals that are soul-aligned.
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Want to know more about Encircled? Start by taking the Capsule Wardrobe quiz: https://www.encircled.ca/pages/capsule-wardrobe-quiz
& be sure to use my code, MINDYOUROWNLIFE for FREE shipping & delivery if you make a purchase.

About this episode:
The American election is only 25 days away and, like many other Canadians, I have formulated a very strong opinion about what the outcome of this election should be. Hint: it’s not Trump winning! I often ask myself, though, if my superficial understanding of 2020 American politics – as told by (mostly) the mainstream media – could ever really reveal the true impact that Trump has had on the American people. I feel it’s incredibly important to hear the perspectives Americans, particularly POC, and what this election means to them and so I put out a call a few weeks back to any Americans who would feel comfortable coming on the podcast to talk Trump.

Enter today’s guest, Rommel Casey; a friend and American POC living in Austin Texas. Today, Rommel is courageously sharing his experiences and insights about the past four years and his hopes for the impending election. Rommel’s powerful words have had a huge impact on me and have helped me to understand the layered ways in which Trump has divided and polarized America and I think everyone, not only Americans, can benefit from hearing his perspectives as we will all be impacted in one way or another by this important election.

We talk about:

• Growing up American
• Racism & Police brutality
• Political polarization
• Voting for the future

About Rommel:
Rommel Casey is a 33-year-old American man living in Austin, Texas with his wife, Victoria. Rommel is speaking out on America under the Trump presidency and the impending election.

About this episode:

What an honour it was to interview Ashley Scream on her personal healing journey and the steps that led to the creation of Hatua Therapy; a space designed to support others in connecting with their own inner healer. I am in awe of this woman’s energy and her important mission to equip people with their own unique healing tools. Ashley selected the name ‘Hatua’ for her brand because it means ‘action’ in Swahili as she believes that taking individual action towards healing is an essential part of the process. Though Hatua, Ashley presents many offerings including healing circles (especially for BIPOC), guided meditations and daily insights. Ashley often expresses herself through meditative dance.

On today’s episode we talk about:

• Ashley’s personal healing journey and why she created Hatua Therapy
• How Ashely has held space for BIPOC in 2020 by offering Healing Circles
• Ashley’s 8 Powers of Healing and how they have become a part of Ashley’s process
• What’s next for Ashley and Hatua

This episode is the first of a series of podcast episodes that are a part of an initiative to Honour Black and/or Indigenous-owned businesses, artists, entrepreneurs + in Ontario, Canada. To learn more about this initiative, and for information on how to apply to participate or nominate an individual or business, visit www.hobib.ca
About Ashley:
Ashley Scream is a Healing Strategist and Therapy Advocate. In 2018, she founded Hatua Therapy, as a way to help others connect to their inner healer. Ashley helps individuals curate their healing tools through her 8 powers of healing; she believes we heal through what has been created for us to experience.

About this Episode:
Imagine being a 12-year-old girl, having your first ever period and, instead of your parent handing you a bulky pad or trying to explain how to use a tampon, they give you a pair of leakproof underwear that look exactly like your normal underwear and hold as much liquid as EIGHT regular tampons. It would have changed the entire experience. The focus of the conversation would be about your changing body, rather than the confusion of having to 'manage' it!
The fact that a product like this will exist for my daughter, Olive, when her time comes, is literally a dream come true for me and I have today's podcast guest to thank for disrupting the intimates market and producing products that are redefining the whole experience, period.
Today on the pod, we welcome Joanna Griffiths, founder of Knix and Knixteen.
I am a total Knix-evangelist, so I was very honoured to interview Joanna about how she created a company that's innovative, high-quality, inclusive (in sizing and in marketing campaigns) as well as being eco friendly! As a consumer, I feel really good about supporting this company- I trust their ethos and their products.

On today episode, we discuss:

• Joanna's 'why' for creating Knix
• Leakproof underwear and SUPER leakproof underwear
• Campaigns that connect (Life After Birth, International Women's Day, Knixteen)
• Navigating COVID and becoming a temporary Zoom CEO
• Toddler motherhood

I'm grateful for what Joanna and her team have created and I am so excited for you to hear her stories and perspectives.

About Joanna Griffiths:
Joanna Griffiths is the Founder and CEO of Knix and Knixteen the direct-to-consumer intimate apparel brands that are reinventing intimates for real life. Since launching the company in 2013, Joanna has built Knix into one of the fastest growing intimate apparel brands globally. Through a focus on product innovation and the brand’s mission to empower women to be unapologetically free, a Knix item is now sold every 7 seconds, and the company has shipped over half a million orders in the last twelve months alone. Knix was recently named the 6th fastest growing company in Canada with over 3800% 3-year growth.
A marketing disruptor, under Joanna’s leadership, knix was the first intimate apparel brand to showcase real women in their campaigns. Over the past six years the brand has photographed over 1000 of their customers, ranging in age from 21 to 81, and sizes 0 to 22. In October of 2018, Joanna pioneered the brand’s Faces of Fertility campaign. The campaign was inspired by Joanna’s own experience having had a miscarriage on Mother’s Day. The campaign to-date has received over 1600 uses of the hashtag #FacesOfFertility and expanded to include a weekly podcast that Joanna co-hosts. More recently, Joanna created the Life After Birth Project, a multimedia exhibit that features the images of over 750 women, including Amy Shumer, Christy Turlington, Jillian Harris and more. Within the first ten days of launch, the project received over 220 million media impressions.
Joanna holds multiple patents and has been cited in hundreds of media publications including Forbes, Fast Company, The New York times and more. Joanna has been recognized on both the national and international stage for her work as a marketing disruptor championing the topics of body inclusivity, fertility, mental health and postpartum. Joanna has won the Women Of Influence Start Up Entrepreneur of the Year award, the Shopify Build a Bigger Business competition, The Retail Council of Canada Marketing Innovation Achievement Award and was a finalist in the prestigious E&Y Entrepreneur Of The Year.