The Truth About Things That Suck

Crystalyn Aucoin is a jewelry designer from New Orleans and the mom of a football-loving boy named Winston.

After a decade in the jewelry industry, selling top name brands such as David Yurman, Rolex, and Mikimoto, she decided to create her own jewelry line based on a need she saw in the market for casual fine jewelry and a mission she felt was bigger than herself. Crystalyn Aucoin Jewelry launched in October of 2018.

A jewelry line was not always part of Crystalyn's vision however, a major life-altering event changed the course of her journey and her outlook forever.

In 2016, she became a widow when her 38-year-old husband Ryan passed away from cancer. His life, his encouraging words, and his death ultimately opened her eyes to unapologetically living her purpose. She now navigates life with a heightened sense of gratitude and purpose while encouraging others to do the same.

The mission behind Crystalyn Aucoin Jewelry is to empower women to embrace the journey of life and celebrate it with jewelry.

As a way to honor her late-husband, Crystalyn allocates a percentage of sales and in-kind donations to cancer-related non-profit organizations as well as, finds peace in helping families who are experiencing the burden of cancer.

"Choosing to merge my love for jewelry and my passion to help others has been the catalyst for, not only my healing, but my growth."-Crystalyn Aucoin

You can find Crystalyn’s jewelry at www.womenbuyjewelry.com or locally at Aucoin Hart Jewelers
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Because Crystalyn is so generous, she's offering my listeners a discount on her website. Go to www.womenbuyjewlry.com and get 10% off by using the discount code "Mindy."

On Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest

@crystalynaucoinjewelry

Megan Di Martino is a New York girl deep in the heart of Texas!

A lifelong creator of beauty - with a serving, mentoring spirit. She has started, scaled, sustained and sold 2 seven figure businesses in the Skin Care-Spa Industry.

Her purpose is to build teams that in turn build businesses.

In January 2020, her book, Hope and Possibilities: Just Over the Horizon, went to number one on Amazon. In April 2020, her award-winning skin care line, Novita Spa Clinicals, was nominated in the Product Innovation Category, for the Austin Women's Way Awards.

Now, Megan speaks, writes, coaches and consults with businesses and individuals to help them reach their dreams, goals and desires.

Contact or Connect with Megan:

• www.megandimartino.com
• www.novitaspa.com
• facebook.com/officialmegandimartino
• linkedin.com/in/megandimartino

Resources:

• The Bible
• Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill
• Og Mandino's Greatest Salesman in the World
• Three Feet From Gold, Sharon Lechter and Greg Reid
• The Tongue A Creative Force, Charles Capp

Call to Action:

• Hope is the Fuel for Faith - Now faith is the substance of things Hoped for, the evidence of things not seen
• Take the First Step..The Second and Third Step will be Revealed To You! But.. must Start..and Never Stop!
• 3-My Mission is Bring Encouragement to the World!
• 4-Compassion is the radicalization of our time Dali Lama

After losing her son, Luke, halfway through her pregnancy in 2011, Lisa was led to meet the needs of the pregnancy and infant loss community. She received her 501c3 just a mere 10 months after her loss. The mission of "Luke Lives On" is to provide support, comfort and resources to families who have lost a child during pregnancy or shortly after birth. This is done through the gift of a comfort box filled with various resources to help the family navigate their grieving to healing journey. Her goal is to ultimately help these families realize they are not alone in their journey. In fact, one in four pregnancies results in miscarriage or some other form of loss.

"Luke Lives On" donates the comfort boxes to hospitals and individuals nationwide. Since the inception in December 2011, LLO has partnered with 26 hospitals and has donated nearly 4,000 boxes.

Lisa is a native southwest Austinite. In her spare time she enjoys running at Town Lake, traveling and live music. She is looking forward to partnering with Mindy and continuing to spread awareness for the pregnancy and infant loss community.

Calls to Action

1. Be Available – whether it’s someone dealing with the loss of their baby, a parent, a friend...just let them know you care about them and that you’re available for them when they’re ready. You don’t have to fix anything or have all the answers. You just need to genuinely listen and be there for them when they’re ready to talk.
2. Remember the Important Dates – for those who have experienced pregnancy or infant loss, the angel birthdays and due dates are very important! Note them in your calendar. Reach out on those days and let them know their son/daughter is not forgotten.
3. Don’t Minimize Loss – Loss hurts at six weeks. It hurts at 40 weeks. It hurts everywhere in-between. The loss of a child shouldn’t be minimized by their gestational age. Those babies are someone’s sons and daughters. Many of them were very much wanted and prayed for. Saying words like, “at least you were only “so” far along in your pregnancy”, or “you can always have another”, or at least you’ve already got a living child” is not helpful and doesn’t reduce the pain of the child lost.

Resources

We like to refer people to the resources page on our website for a comprehensive view of support: https://www.lukeliveson.org/resources

Some of my personal favorites are:

Websites or apps:

• https://stillstandingmag.com/
• http://facesofloss.com/
• https://www.october15th.com/
• www.1in4app.com

Local Support Group:

• Hope Perinatal Loss Group

Book:

• Grieving the Child I Never Knew, by Kathe Wunnenberg

Melinda Garvey became an Austinite in the spring of 2001, and after just a few short months, she knew she had a mission give a voice to the incredible women in Austin. Garvey decided to use her media background to empower, engage and inspire the women of Austin with the launch of Austin Woman magazine, now in its 19th year.

Then, in 2016 On The Dot was born so that women around the globe could have that same access to role models. And to expand her mission further, in 2019 Garvey developed and launched a software platform to bring employee communities and membership communities together in our ever-expanding virtual world with On The Dot Global. In 2020, with the pandemic bearing down and virtual events becoming the norm, Garvey expanded her software capabilities to become the most robust and interactive platform for both virtual events and virtual communities.

In Garvey’s words: “It’s really all about leveling the playing field for women and diverse individuals in companies and members of organizations by giving them access to mentors, peers, content and events within their organizations, creating opportunity for advancement, connection and ultimately equality.”

When not on her soapbox, you can find Garvey and her Kiwi husband and business partner, Kip, at a soccer or football game cheering on their 13 year-old son, Beckom. Other than that, you will find her surrounded by a gaggle of women drinking wine and dreaming up how to create change in the world!

Garvey recently received the prestigious Diversity First Certification from the National Diversity Council and is a frequent speaker on the topics of women’s advancement and diversity, equity and inclusion issues.
Melinda's Calls to Action:

1. FIND YOUR TRIBE! They will be instrumental in helping get you where you want to go.
2. Make Introductions—SHARE your network and it will grow exponentially
3. Quit trying to get off the roller coaster—manifest the “kiddie coaster” instead!

Melinda's Recommendations:

1. See It To Be It Podcast (by yours truly😊)
2. Reading: READ FOR PLEASURE! Let it be an escape for you—if you can actually escape, your mind becomes more creative when you are back in reality. Don’t over-do the business and self-help books!

Melinda's Companies:
Austin Woman Magazine - https://atxwoman.com
On the Dot Global - https://onthedotglobal.com
On the Dot Woman - https://onthedotwoman.com

I am SO excited to speak to today’s guest!! This is the first man I’ve had on the show so far, and not only that, but he is one of my favorite humans - and I suspect, many of y’all’s favorites as well.

Brad Chandler a strategic business advisor, and owner of Brightspot Enthusiast. (...even though, he tells me, he’d rather be known as a theater geek, meditation guru, and champion of the underdog!, which I seriously think he should put on his business cards...)

Brad provides a variety of services and, at the end of the day, helps businesses scale quickly – without imploding - using leadership & culture as a backbone.

When I asked Brad for a bio...this will tell you a lot about his playful personality...he included facts like...

1. At 8 years old- he had my own lemonade stand.
2. At 9 years old- he paid my friends hourly to run it while he played video games.

Since then, Brad has leveled-up a smidge, and among other things...managed an international brand in Hong Kong, founded and scaled a hybrid music studio in Hollywood, serves on non-profit boards and does fundraising...I happen to know he has 3 of the cutest dogs I’ve ever seen...
Resources Recommended by Brad:

• The Dark Night of the Soul, Thomas Moore
• Embracing Your Inner Critic, Hal Stone and Sidra Stone
• When Things Fall Apart, Pema Chodron

Three "Failure-Wins" from Brad:

• Once you've seen the worst, it doesn't scare you anymore.
• Embracing your vulnerabilities let's you have compassion for others in the same position.
• The label of 'failure' is self-imposed. You are the judge and jury– not the world. Have grace.
• Your experience of failure is a bridge into new blessings. Be willing to receive what's coming.

Where can you find and connect with Brad?

• TheBradChandler.com
• Instagram - @thebradchandler
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradley-chandler/