Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome back for another episode of the Unscripted Small Business Podcast. I'm thrilled to introduce today's guest, Anna Rosa Parker, a lifestyle mentor, corporate coach, and NYU lecturer. Anna is a guide for change makers who are ready to step into the story they're meant to lead. With a unique blend of story mapping and heart intelligence, her transformative approach helps individuals and teams embrace their authentic selves. In this episode, we explore how storytelling, intuition, and creativity can empower us to lead with clarity and confidence. We also dive into practical strategies for overcoming stuckness, the power of curiosity, and how simplifying routines can make all of the difference. Anna also discusses the intricate relationship between branding, authenticity, and leadership, offering insights on how to lead with heart and embrace the power of empathy. This conversation is packed with wisdom on how to craft a life and brand that truly reflect who you are.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: Let's dive in.
Anna, it's so wonderful having you in the studio today. Thanks for joining us.
[00:01:13] Speaker C: Thank you for having me.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Tell us a little bit about your background. I know that you do coaching and you're originally from Iceland and now you're in New York. Tell us more about that.
[00:01:24] Speaker C: Yeah. Thank you. Yes, I'm from Iceland and live in New York. I live in both places, actually. I spend a fair amount of time in Iceland as well. And I am a lifestyle mentor and an executive coach, meaning I work with individuals on their lives, and then I also go to workplaces and coach teams.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: That's incredible.
[00:01:44] Speaker C: Yeah. Life has a fun way of connecting the dots, but somehow we often just realize that looking backwards. And I was very eager to find a way how to connect the dots going forward because I found myself going from the theater life into marketing and not understanding why I was in marketing until much later.
But that being said, yes, I was an actor. I went to University of Washington in Seattle from Iceland, and that was a big sort of a thing for me. You know, I grew up with, you know, you have. There are schools in Iceland that I could have gone to, but my parents were like, if you want something else, you figure out a way to do it. And as you know, you know, American universities are very expensive, especially if you're not from here.
You don't get the state, you know, relief. Anyway, so I went to University of Washington and I graduated with a drama degree. And there's a lot of storytelling going on.
You learn how to build out a solo show.
And so when you graduate, you have that tool with you to create your own stories. And I started to use that really early on as I started to audition because I didn't always like what I got, and I didn't always get what I wanted. So I started to write my own material, including a solo show that went. I produced that in Iceland, and then that came here when I was living in Iceland. Anyway, I was in the theater for like 10 years, doing some commercials, a little bit of indie film, and then you have to also have other work. I was working in production a little bit behind the scene, but after a while I was just like, why am I doing this?
It's not. It's not. I don't. I'm not really passionate about it anymore. In a way, there's something. I love working in that team. When there's team of the theater or on set, it's really fun and vibrant. But the waiting in between not have any sort of a power or, you know, because as an actor, you don't have much to say in a way you tell your story with as an actor. But the directors and producers, they're running the show and I just wanted to being, you know, be up there.
So I started to produce a little bit, but I somehow ended up in marketing. I was living on the west coast in Seattle, and I got a job at Nordstrom, the store. I was a shop girl, but in couture. So I thought it was very, you know, interesting because I loved couture and, you know, vintage clothing and the whole history of high fashion, you know, from Paris. And so I'm there for a few months, and then I learned about this open door policy.
And I was like, does that mean you can just knock on any door and ask those people to help you to get a different job? Yeah, that's what that means. So I get an appointment with Blake Nordstrom that goes straight to the top. You know, I'm gonna, you know, waste any time.
He's no longer with us, but he was so lovely and introduced me to a bunch of people and I started to knock on doors and eventually just jumped into the deep pool because the doors I was knocking on in corporate, they saw me as a shop girl. So I decided to end that. So I quit that job. And shortly after, I got my first marketing job as a marketing coordinator in designer division. And I did that for a few or three years or so. So that was my start.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: That's really awesome.
[00:05:41] Speaker C: Thank you. That was such a school for me too, because it really.
You learn a certain polish as well that you just don't learn and, you know, university and in the arts, if you will.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: I love what you said about just knocking on doors and going straight to those big corporate doors, you know, not going through multiple people to get what you want. Where do you think that confidence comes from to be able to just knock on the right doors?
[00:06:12] Speaker C: Yeah. Thank you. It's a good question. I think it's probably just that inner Viking in me. You know, you have to survive math.
Just don't waste any time, just go straight to it.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: That's awesome. What do you think has been the biggest lesson that you learned? Changing your passion from theater to more of that heartfelt branding and storytelling?
[00:06:39] Speaker C: You know, in so many ways it's the same. It's always about storytelling. And now in my coaching business it is too. I have created a method that helps people tell their own story that they are meant to step into. We can talk about that more later. But back to your question. It's. There's so many similarities because I like to believe whatever I'm doing, I want to do it authentically.
And I don't want to. You know, you learn a lot along the way, but I don't like to be guessing at what I'm doing. So I will nerd. Just dive in and learn a lot about along the way because I like to know where I am at.
And I think that was always some sort of a. I need to know where I was at at each step of the way and that therefore I was sort of a living my own tale, living my own story, if you will.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: Do you have a framework or a marker where you kind of know how to gauge where you're at within that process?
[00:07:43] Speaker C: I do now. I do now. I, I was so curious, like how so the coaching method that I use now was built out of a brand, brand building, if you will, because I was in marketing. I was in marketing here on the. I'm in New York now. So after the whole west coast and Nordstrom, we moved to New York and I started to work for advertising agencies and in those high end accounts and my job evaporated overnight. In Covid, I was with a lot of hotel accounts and doing rebranding and brand copywriting.
So after Covid, I, when, yeah, everything evaporated overnight and I went on a quest to. I wanted to help artists. So then I go back to like the artist world. Like I want to help people to be able to tell their own story, to market themselves, to market themselves in this digital space that we're only in right now. I'm thinking in the pandemic.
And I created a method that is built from storytelling. So you look at your roots and your knowledge, you look at your objectives, what you want or what you think you want and your values and then sort of your essence or your image, how it's all wrapped up, like how do you show up, what is it that you're coming with you? And most of the time we don't know. We don't know the story we're telling when we walk into a room because we haven't gone through all that.
So that's the method and I call it Evoke.
And it's not just for awakening, it also stands, it's acronym for those earth values, knowledge objectives and essence. And it's a way for people to understand where they are. So we go through a bunch of questions and so after that process they end with a sort of a paragraph and that's where they are now.
So it's kind of like a cold opening of a film, if you will, because then we map out the film for like if I was working with you, your, you know, Abby film for, for your future. So we start with that cold opening after all these questions and we build on that.
And that's the method that I start with and also the building forward in a sort of a film way. And then it's basically comes down to storytelling.
I love when people can step into the story they're meant to tell or want to tell. And the red thread in all this is intuition to be able to look within because we can lose ourselves looking at the neighbor, looking on Instagram, looking at our competitors and all the beautiful businesses and. But we're not looking within then we're not offering anything original. And we also lose our creativity when we're sort of just like mimicking what's around us. And we all have this quality that is our own intelligence and it's through the intelligence of the heart. I studied with HeartMath Institute, I learned a lot from them because their research is insane.
30 year old research about the heart intelligence. And that's where most of our answers are. But we just need to be guided to get there.
[00:11:20] Speaker B: What is your definition of intuition?
[00:11:23] Speaker C: I love this question. I don't think I ever have a answer for it. But to me right now, because it evolves and changes. Intuition is your own divinity, if you will, your own source to look within and through that.
We have an access to the vibration that is around us, the energy that is around us. So looking within intuition, we start to sense what's around and we start to sort of, you know, when you get these thoughts and you don't know where it came from. Yeah, yeah. That's intuition. And you know this is very applicable for parents example when they, you just have this gut feeling or quick just a message where your kid is up to no good, you know. So this is all intuition and this is, you know, when we do look within but when we look without and everything's external, we lose this or we are not practicing this quality. We can always come back to it. We can be guided back to it. But that's, that's our driving, driving force. And it's just so incredible that we all have this and, and the creativity that the axis of creativity we have and originality is just gorgeous.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: Do you think that creativity is directly linked to our intuition?
[00:12:53] Speaker C: I think so. I think so. You know I, when I was writing I started to. I had no idea I would write just vivid wild stories when I was writing plays and I had no idea where they came from and it's just, you know what I mean? So I started to really listen in more and I think Scandinavians or like the north Europe or Iceland particularly where an island out in the, you know, we're a little rock in the North Atlantic, very arctic weather. And you know, back in the day it wasn't always much to do and even when I grew up and so we sort of, we practice this, we're close to it. You know, I dream differently there than when I'm in New York City.
But you can still practice it being in a crowd, you know, you just really have to take time for yourself too. And self care is huge and awareness.
[00:13:57] Speaker B: What's one of your best self care practices?
[00:14:00] Speaker C: Sleep Prioritary anxiety in my sleep just. It is so important. I'm useless without it. I used to be able to pull all nighters and you know, when I was at the. Because when I went to university, went back to school, I already had my daughter, so I was with a toddler. And you just pull all nighters and then the dark, the day starts and all that. I'm not doing that today. I need my sleep and lots of water.
I eat healthy. I like to do intermittent fasting as in not eat for 12, 13, sometimes 14 hours.
But then I also, I'm also good time. I like to knock down a step on like a martini and you know, you know what I mean? Like I'm not just all like holy and healthy. I live, I have a healthy base and sleep and water and good food, protein.
[00:14:52] Speaker B: You're in this city that never sleeps and so you prioritize sleep.
[00:14:57] Speaker C: I know, right? Yeah. I think that shows that we can create our own lives no matter where we are.
[00:15:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
What does creating your own life mean to you or what does that look like for you?
[00:15:11] Speaker C: Yeah. Thank you.
It is understanding my roots, understanding my story, where I came from and where I'm going.
And out of that you create your life. When you start to know yourself better, you understand your taste, what feels good to you, what do you really want to do, what you're actually curious about. Because you might not be passionate every day, but if you're curious every day, then that's, then that's a purpose, I believe.
And you start to create that. I've always been a huge dreamer. People would make fun of me in Iceland.
And then I look at my life and I was like, okay, I did pretty good. I have a 20 year old marriage that I'm still in love. I live in two places, I work with all kinds of people. Not too shabby. I believe I created that.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: That sounds like such a beautiful life. And it's so inspiring because I feel like a lot of people walk around within their shadow self. They have these big dreams, but they just don't feel like they're worthy of going after them.
[00:16:23] Speaker C: You said such a powerful thing right there. Because the worthiness is what stops us getting to where we want to be because we don't allow ourselves. And you know, I went through so much just like trying to understand and get there to understand worthiness, that's a tough one. But we can get there. And it's always, I believe we need guidance, you know, to, to get there and can't do everything on our own because we constantly hear our own thoughts. But when you can get out of your head and into your heart, that's a different, there's a different story going on there.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: What's that first step? Getting out of your head and into your heart?
[00:17:03] Speaker C: Yeah. If you practice what's called, for example, heart coherence. That means when your heart is coherent, then your nervous system is coherent.
And there's a way you can just take a couple of minutes and you place your attention on the heart and the, and the chest area and you breathe into the heart and out of the heart.
And as you're doing that, you start to imagine or put or go to a place that is. You find appreciation or love.
Can find yourself sitting. Imagine you're in nature, something that makes you feel good.
And once you're doing that, your nervous system start to go into like the Parasympathetic nervous system. That's when you are more calm and that's exactly where you should make your decisions versus the sympathetic nervous system. That's when we're in stress and the fight or flight, you think you have to run or hide or fight or scream at somebody, but it's in that place where you are, your nervous system is in a place of being authentic. You are. That's where you can access your intuition.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that. I love that. Mind, body, connection.
What role do you feel like beyond just the nervous system that the body has when really getting in tune with yourself and living that life of purpose and authenticity?
[00:18:45] Speaker C: Yeah, I think if there are a few ways to explain that, but starting with the heart. If you do, if you practice that coherency and there's. It's called quick coherence practice, you just literally just take three minutes. But if you do that few times a day, you know, I do it on the subway, it doesn't matter. You know, your kids can be running around, but it's for you to sort of have more connection and control, if you will, of your nervous system, and you do that more often, then you start to quiet certain voices in the head and you start to listen more to your heart and your intuition. And once you start to see that you want to do it more and more, and then you slowly get to a place where you are more in control of your own life and. And you start to. Things start to kind of sync up, if you will. You meet different people because you meet people often where they. Where you are. So if you are not feeling worthy, the people you're going to meet are going to have a similar feel. But once you start to elevate your worthiness and you start to listen to your intuition, you'll meet people that are there too.
[00:20:01] Speaker B: You know, I love that you mentioned that, because one of my mentors had told me before that we live in cycles. And so I'll sometimes notice that in my life where I'll attract certain people and it will almost invoke a healing of a cycle that I needed to kind of get through.
[00:20:19] Speaker C: Yeah, that's beautiful.
And, you know, there's also. And I believe that too. I also believe in that you can change those cycles and you can sort of stop them and you can start to change the pattern and. Because if you look back, we look back at our year and we know when we were really driven, when we put that, you know, side hustle or a passion project underneath, you know, into the drawer or something weren't practicing it.
So studying that. And that also goes back to understanding who we are and what we want and where we came from. Why are you doing that? You know, there are so many, we have so many questions to answer, but they, it all simplifies, it all becomes more simple the more you do and you know, it looks like you're understanding what I'm saying.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Well, it's about having that awareness.
[00:21:14] Speaker C: The awareness. Yeah, that's everything. And you know, when we do get upset and we do get stressed, to be able to go back to the heart and, and quiet our head and ask those questions, ask ourselves those questions. Why did I get upset? So you start to turn these moments into learning moments and that's, that's when it's just really fun to, to live. Because you're always learning something.
[00:21:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:41] Speaker C: And you do can, you know, change your behavior.
[00:21:45] Speaker B: You mentioned something earlier that I, I want to touch back on, which is this sense of creativity and where does your curiosity come from? And what does that look like for you on a day to day basis?
[00:21:59] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a really good question. Curiosity is, I believe it's aligned with passion. But I also believe that we're not super passionate every day about our passion topic, but we can be curious every day about it.
So when I'm doing a research or just for example, the other day I was like, huh. I remember when I loved existentialism when I was in, you know, drama, studying Sartre Day. And you know, and the choice that you come here to the earth to make your life and to choose your own path in a way.
And so this is 28 years ago that I was very passionate about this. And then life happens and then all of a sudden, now talking about a cycle, I'm thinking about, you know, existentialism again and diving into it. And I'm saying this because I'm so curious, you know, I'm curious about Sarte and his wife when they were sitting at Simon at, you know, Parisian coffee shop chatting. Because I find my husband and I do the same thing, being our own little philosophers, you know, and it's, it's something you are interested in that is a curiosity and therefore passion.
But you can also think about. So when you're a teenager or you know, when you're at a, that time in your life, you know, you're changing. I'm going to, you know, use my daughter right now. When she was a teenager, she wasn't interested in doing. She didn't care about everything. Right so, you know, making the bed and these, you know, basic things didn't care so much. Right. So she didn't do it. But the things she was curious of, interested in, that's what she did. And we're still those people. We just have grown, and we're more, you know, into our own being in a. In a more sophisticated or, you know, complicated way and are able to simplify our complicatedness. But it's sort of is the same way still. You know, you do the things you're curious about, but if you're not curious or not passionate, you just gonna ignore it.
Right?
[00:24:19] Speaker B: So curiosity almost gets us back to that root part of ourselves.
[00:24:24] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also, it. It drives you.
It drives you. It gives you that drive and discipline that if you are working on something that you're curious about, you want to solve it, you want to build it, you want to. You know, for entrepreneurs, we all have ideas, and we want to get to it and want to create this amazing idea. So the curiosity, you know, aligned with the passion. But like I said, some days are just not great. And you don't feel the passion, but you feel the curiosity. That's why I think that's a bigger driving force.
[00:25:03] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that. Because I think, like you said, it is hard to keep the passion for something every single day. And I think that's why a lot of times with the shadow artists that I mentioned earlier, people get kind of stuck in that and they don't move forward because they've lost that motivation or passion. But to be able to utilize curiosity to get you back in touch with that is huge.
Do you have any other tips for when you're feeling that sense of stuckness, how to kind of navigate that?
[00:25:33] Speaker C: Yeah, it's often. Yeah. Thank you for asking. I think. I mean, obviously, so many different ways. I think when we do get stuck, often we're not doing the thing we really want to do, or often it's. We're doing too many things so we get overwhelmed.
Simplifying is always a very good thing to do, and we can get stuck by the overwhelmingness of trying to figure out what it's supposed to look like versus scaling a little bit back, simplifying, and find a way to enjoy the process of it, because that's just simplifying and doing less.
It takes you so much further because you've seen that image of somebody trying to lift a huge rock, and they can't versus taking a tiny piece of the rock. Right. And they get there. So it's Just do less.
Stuckness is. Is where, you know, I was reading that 80% of Americans admit they are stuck in some kind of a routine.
And like 30 million Americans between age 44 and 70 are like, stuck. They want to reinvent their lives.
So that often means they need to sit with somebody to go through it to help them, and it's just unfolding. So I also talk about innovation instead of innovation. So you innovate, as in it's. You look at all the parts you already have and you can sort of sort through it and repostle it. Rewrite that story, make it more simple.
[00:27:17] Speaker B: I like that. Tell us more about that. And also this idea of reinventing your routine, because I know, especially as an entrepreneur, it's good to have a routine. You wake up at a certain time, you spend two hours doing this, two hours doing that. How do you finesse that in a way that you're still able to achieve what you need to do throughout a day, the day, but restructure it in a more effective way?
[00:27:43] Speaker C: Yeah. I think again, to look at what, what is on your schedule, Is it too much? Are you just. Are you gonna do too much? If you, if you don't feel like you have 20 minutes to meditate, then do it for 10 minutes and look at the schedule. Look at everything that is there is. Do you need to do all of it? It's always down to, I think, simplifying because it really gets us there faster. But I do understand if you, especially if you're an entrepreneur and let's say you're in some kind of a mastermind program and you feel like you need to put everything into play and you need to put in systems for your business, and you also need to do social media and you need to do all these things, and it's just overwhelming. So you literally just want to go under the comforter and take a nap. Right.
But it really is to find a way to prioritize, Go back to your original story, like, who are you? What do you really want and why do you want it?
Yeah, yeah.
[00:28:47] Speaker B: That's so important.
[00:28:49] Speaker C: Yeah, Simplify. Do one thing at a time. And then also I think, because that might sound a little bit unrealistic, but see if you can sink in the one thing. It's all connected. So you're not doing vastly two, three different elements of the same business. For example, if you're going to start to start a marketing agency or copywriting agency or something like that, you don't have to do just serve by. Start by Niching who you want to work with and then also simplify the social media, make it look really good. But just don't be active right now.
Do the work you need to do behind the scene.
Because I think it's just so overwhelming to look at all the parts we have to do and it's okay to do it in steps just to you know, understand where you are, find your own worth and confidence in the service or the, the, the creation you're doing.
And then you start to. Because once you have that, once you have the confidence in your creation, in your service, your story is more simple and you don't have to be everywhere. And then you also when you, you get this confidence and when you have the confidence it's easier for you to niche and once you niche you just serve that, you know, the top of the pyramid. You don't have to serve everybody there.
[00:30:26] Speaker B: Where do you think authenticity lies within developing brand?
[00:30:33] Speaker C: Yeah, that's again about the story. So if you're building a brand you want to. Are you talking about a personal brand or for a business?
[00:30:42] Speaker B: Business. But I feel like a lot of times our personal brand almost becomes our business.
[00:30:47] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. So if you are doing a brand that are like a personal brand that is your, and you're using your name and then you, you use your own story and then you sort of, you know, you do a find that story and you create or create the story you want to tell.
So it's authentic. Authentic to you. You understand it, it's you, you. It doesn't mean you're sharing everything. It means you're sharing that added that is that personal brand.
And then if you're building a business, a brand that's sort of the same thing, there's a mission and a vision behind that. And that's the story that what gets complicated of course is when businesses grow and there are a lot of employees and then it gets more complicated. So that's a whole different animal.
And not very few businesses have this sort of follow through to the front desk and to the salesperson that actually is carrying the same message as the creator. But it's out there though.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: How do you lead teams to have that heart based authenticity within a larger brand?
[00:32:11] Speaker C: I think that there has to be an active employee sort of a do something with your team, you know, get your team together, do team activities, get somebody to come in and, and do a fun training with them.
If there's a sort of a morale and I think also that that that helps it and I think what's hugely important is that you, as the person, the employee, you want to understand. You need to understand and know your own values and then the values of the business you work for or with, and if they're completely apart, it's not going to happen.
You're not going to thrive there. If you're working with people that you disagree with their values, that's a disconnect. And you don't want to thrive. You don't thrive in that environment. You want to be in an environment where you can thrive. And so it's very important. So the values of each business, it's very important for every employee to know them and to understand them.
And I think Nordstrom did that really well when I was in Seattle. It's been many years since, but I'm still a naughty girl. I shop there and I feel like I see their value still. I mean, I'm having a little bias because I work for them, but it can be done by spending time and funds on the teams and it goes a long way. There's so many different dialogues out there. You hear these guys, they're like, yeah, success, you hire fast and you fire faster. It's like, okay, that's okay. That's your formula. That's fine. But then there's a whole different set of values that the rest of the world also believes in. Or, you know, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, women, we might have different set of values.
[00:34:13] Speaker B: What were some of those values that Nordstrom kind of invoked in you that have stuck with you?
[00:34:22] Speaker C: Yeah, it was.
They have so much integrity and they tell their story, you know, whether it's their grandfather of the family that runs it that came. It started as a shoe store, but the integrity was just through somehow. And they also tell this story of they would just serve everybody. And there was a person that came with a set of tires that they wanted to return it to Nordstrom because there used to be a car body shop or tire shop there, and Nordstrom took the tires. So that's an. Yeah, so that's an old story.
But they still have that sort of value and they. They want to serve everyone. And there's. They use the word love sometimes and they're just dialogue.
There's a lot of. Lot of women that work for that company, or at least did when I was there.
It's a family value and of quality.
[00:35:33] Speaker B: You know, but they do have a great quality. And I mean, you said you still shop there, which is. Even speaks volumes into the quality that they have. And I love what you mentioned. About that story, because it goes into, you know, storytelling and how important that is and integrating storytelling with your values.
[00:35:54] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. And it's how you make people feel as a customer, you know. So my aunt, who lived on the west coast, she shopped for Nordstrom. We're not supported by them anyway, but I don't know.
[00:36:10] Speaker B: Anyway, Nordstrom is not sponsoring this podcast.
[00:36:16] Speaker C: So my aunt shopped with them, and therefore she sort of, you know, trained me, quote, unquote, to shop there. And then I worked there. And then my daughter, you know, she's the next generation. She shops there. So you see how it goes. Yeah. And there are other retailers. I'm not going to mention their names. They sort of miss that mark to know how to train the daughter to continue to shop there, because then you are not preparing for the future. And now in this time where we are moving so fast with AI and we have to be a part of this modern time and the solution.
And if you don't do that, then the generation dies out and it doesn't continue, if you will.
[00:37:06] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. How do you think that AI and just the advancement of technology is impacting brand and also storytelling?
[00:37:15] Speaker C: I think it's huge pros and huge cons. I think there's so much to do. I'm currently actually building an app. I can't go too deep into it, but it's built on my method that I created.
And there's a lot of possibilities, even for children to build a storytelling into AI that helps kids so they can understand who they are, for example, and they can tell their story and to sort of bring that curiosity out of youth and children so they can be excited. So they. With the technology, you can evoke something in them that makes them curious about our history, for example.
So you can use that. You can use the technology to sort of evoke a lot of things. And then also, if it's interactive in storytelling, they will write their story and then the AI will maybe point out something. You know, if you are feeding your machine your AI, they will know you. So they might bring something out that you might have missed.
[00:38:33] Speaker B: What do you think is the negative of AI in storytelling?
[00:38:38] Speaker C: That's when people have AI completely write their brand story and the copy, I see through it right away because it's lacking personality. And AI knows to be sophisticated.
I don't know. I don't think they understand consciousness or empathy necessarily yet, or if they ever will. But they can be sophisticated and they can make it sound beautiful. But if there's lacking that Divinity or the, you know, the authenticity that is on a deep level.
That's, you know, then it's very just, you know, generic and we're not gonna pay attention to it. And so that's, it's, it's a tool that is very exciting to work with, but it's not going to write the stories for us. But it can help us sort of. I use it more like an assistant in a way. And then there are so many different ones. There's a Claude, which I use for sort of a. With writing, you know, to bounce back and, and polish. And then there's perplexity, which is they, they can pull a lot of information for you.
So it's kind of like Google and Cloud together in a way. I get. I nerd out about these things.
[00:40:01] Speaker B: No, I love it. There are so many different platforms now and I've used Chat GPT for writing emails and helping me with that polished finish on some of my ideas. But you're right, it's about making sure that you're still sticking to the authenticity and integrity of your own voice when you're writing.
[00:40:20] Speaker C: Yeah. And also being careful of where did it, where does it come from? You know, in my experience with ChatGPT, they. I don't see where they are pulling the source from. I like to know where it comes from. Right.
Because otherwise they're just stealing from others, you know.
[00:40:37] Speaker B: Absolutely. Tell us more about your app. That's really exciting. What was that process like to start building that out and when did you start this process?
[00:40:47] Speaker C: Yeah, so it's unfortunately, I can't say too much because it's still in process, but I'm hoping to have. To. Have to come back later this year. Let me just tell you. So I'm building it with people in Iceland, I'm in New York and then there is a team in Kenya.
And.
Yeah. And we're just, we're still in developing process. I was going to do the app for my method, Evoke and then like often in entrepreneurial life, you partner with someone and then the idea keeps growing and now it's so big that we're in the process of.
Right. We're writing grant applications because we. It went bigger than us. Yeah.
[00:41:36] Speaker B: That's amazing. Congratulations.
[00:41:39] Speaker C: Thank you.
So I don't know how long it's going to take, but if it's going to take too long, I'll try to get my Evoke app out there before because then that would be, you know, you have your own coach in a way or like a mentor and you can build your own story and it pulls your narrative and it helps you sort of a grow and make decisions. And then you know. Do you do duolingo?
[00:42:04] Speaker B: No, I haven't heard of that.
[00:42:06] Speaker C: Yeah, so duolingo is for languages and it's sort of. It would be something like that. Duolingo is reminding me to practice French if I skip it in the morning.
So this will be. Somebody will be with you to ask you questions. If you've done certain self care, you know, that's one way. But then it's also career building. But it's endless possibilities.
But like I said, as of now, it's in a state where I can't fully talk about it. And I'm excited to be a part of the future. I'm excited to.
We want to practice our adaptability.
That's really important. So awareness is good. And also adaptability, meaning to incorporate what is happening and to understand it. Not just to jump on AI and have them do your work, but to understand what it can do, how it can enhance your work, how it can save you time, for example, whatever it is that you need support with.
So adaptability is, I think. And then I also think just to add this, as we're talking about entrepreneurs and getting stuck and what sometimes gets lost is adding value. Not our values, but adding value to their industry or their community.
Because I think that really helps us grow and it gives us that different substance that also curiosity can thrive really well in. It's that way of giving back. Whether it's your volunteering, whether you are giving advice through content on social media, or if you're showing up at a community college to share your idea and have kids work with you on your idea. There's so many ways to incorporate your community and it's sometimes hard to figure that out as an artist or entrepreneur to like, how can I give? What can I give? I'm just trying to figure out who I am.
But there's so many ways and it's interactive and there are so many little entities around you and you know, geographically that you can be a part of. And I think that's huge to incorporate that in your entrepreneurship.
[00:44:32] Speaker B: You touched on a word that I wanted to say again, because it's so powerful, empathy. And I think about that in what you're saying, in giving back. Where do you think that correlation lies with empathy and giving back and just ultimately having a brand that impacts people?
[00:44:53] Speaker C: Yeah. That is again, in the the seat and seed of the soul of the brand. I believe it can Go away. We all have it, we all have empathy. But I think it can really go away with being, living everything externally.
So we go back to the heart, Go back to finding that coherency and thinking about your nervous system.
And in that is authenticity. Authenticity is very healing.
So what we're talking about, like you and I doing this whole time, we're talking about being ourselves, who we really are, true to our core, from our like inside of our hearts. So if you carry that, you will have empathy.
But if everything is external and it's about what you look like, how much money you have, if you have a better car than your neighbor and you know, handbags and I mean, I like beautiful things too, but it's not about them. Once it's about that, then I'm afraid that people lose track of their empathy.
[00:46:03] Speaker B: Do you think that empathy is a learned trait or is it just something like you said, that's kind of naturally we're born with it?
[00:46:10] Speaker C: That's such a good question. I think that varies how we come into the world.
And then before we are 7 years old or so, we have developed so much and then that's depending on your environment, on the home you grow up in.
What's the value in the home? You know, is your family for human justice? Do they care about their neighbor? You know, do they care about quality and kindness? If not, then you might have to learn that later.
Yes.
[00:46:47] Speaker B: Going back to your roots and understanding yourself. How do you think people can start to give themselves that compassion and empathy if they've, you know, weren't in an environment as a child where that was invoked?
[00:47:03] Speaker C: Yeah, I think if they go and into their roots again to the story, for example, when did I come into this world and how, who was there? What was the message?
What was the core message in the family? You know, what role did I play as a child? Was I like a go betweener? Was I a pushover, a rebel? Understanding those patterns from early on is really valid. And then if we can find what we were really interested in as children, if we don't have the luxury of asking our parents or what we're like as children, we have to do this through our intuition. And finding what we liked as children is really interesting because that might be the very thing you are doing right now or related to it.
I see you're like nodding head. Do you connect with that?
[00:47:58] Speaker B: I do because I feel like I really want to live a life of creativity and so this kind of is in alignment with that. But I think that life is A creative force. And it all kind of stems from that childlike wonder and having that curiosity, as you've mentioned.
[00:48:13] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:48:16] Speaker B: Such a beautiful thing.
[00:48:18] Speaker C: I think it's beautiful. I think. And I think it's so much more simple than we make it out to be. You know, it's. I find a lot of creativity in silence. You know, I, like, have the need to be by myself. And I understand when people have small children and, you know, loud house hold, they don't always find that time, but I think there's always a lot of moment you can find, and if you don't, then practice that hard coherency in the noise. You find the silence inside.
[00:48:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
What advice do you have for moms who maybe they feel like you mentioned, they don't have that time for themselves?
[00:49:01] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a. That's a good question. If they can find a way to understand what they want out of life that is outside of the household, or even if they do the work inside, but that is not about their children or their spouse or maybe the job they are doing, you know, to pay bills. If they can find something that they really, really are interested in, find a way to explore it. You know, find that time on your lunch hour, on the train, wherever you can. Because I think once we have something we're interested in or curious in something, it just. There's a whole new meaning to life. I get, like, giddy about being curious. I'm like, total nerd like that. I think it's just so much fun to be curious about certain things.
[00:49:45] Speaker B: I can see the passion you have for curiosity just as we're talking, and it's lighting me up just seeing your joy for curiosity and creativity. It's amazing.
[00:49:57] Speaker C: Oh, sweet. Thank you, Anna.
[00:50:01] Speaker B: This has been so fun. I am so excited for people to listen just to this conversation. And I definitely want to have you back when you finish your app, because I'm excited to chat about that more, too.
Um, but to wrap up our time, there's a question that I love to ask all of my guests, and it's sort of one of those mad lib, fill in the blank questions. So the question is you have to blank to blank.
[00:50:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
Okay. I would say you have to know your story to create your future.
[00:50:37] Speaker B: I love that. Can you dive into that a little bit deeper? What does that mean to you?
[00:50:42] Speaker C: Yeah. So if you understand who you are and going back to the. Your authentic self.
So if you.
So you have to understand your authentic self to create your future, and that meaning what you really are about. What's your core, you know, what your heart is telling you and your intuition, what you're all about authentically. Not because your parents asked you to study this certain subject or there's a pressure from the external environment, but who you really, really, truly are.
That because there are so many answers in that and once you have that, your authentic story, you can create your future. You build it block by block, brick by brick.
I love it.
[00:51:32] Speaker B: Anna, thank you so much. This has been such a joy.
[00:51:36] Speaker C: Thank you so much. Appreciate you.
[00:51:42] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening. If you found value in today's conversation, make sure to subscribe, subscribe, rate and leave a review. And as always, don't forget to share this episode with anyone that you think could benefit. And for more information about today's guest.
[00:51:58] Speaker B: Be sure to check out the show notes. We'll see you next time.
