My guest today is Laura Baringer.Laura is passionate about living an authentic, values-drive life and continuously figuring out what that means and how to do it.  She’s a former executive and strategy advisor in the global health, adolescence and gender fields and recently opened the first African branch of an NGO, managing a multi-million-dollar adolescent health program.Laura now works as a social impact and start-up advisor with a focus on East Africa, as well as running her own coaching practice, focusing on helping others find alignment in international work and living environments. She also works with entrepreneurs and small business owners helping them expand and grow their businesses.Laura has lived in the US, Central America, Africa, Europe and now calls Utrecht, Netherlands, home where she lives with her husband, two kids, and dog.  She loves the outdoors, running, yoga, and home design.Laura and I first connected through coaching a couple years ago and it’s such a delight to reconnect with her through this conversation.Laura, thank you for your willingness to share these pieces of your story and journey!  Thank you for sharing your insights, reflections, and wisdom.  And thank you for investing in others, helping them find their center and grounding in a way of life that often lacks stability!  Connect with Laura:·      LinkedIn·      Website (Laura & Sarah)Make Life Less Difficult~ Support:buymeacoffee.com/lisatilstra

My guest today is Russ Watts.  Russ is a returning guest and today we're excited to talk all about Story!We recently facilitated a retreat in southern Tuscany, Italy, that had been planned originally for October 2020, and we finally were able to do it in person.  The power and impact of story has left indelible marks in my own life and it's the underlying passion of why I do this podcast.I hope you'll enjoy the conversation today, be inspired to share your own stories, and join Russ and I for a story workshop in the future, either virtually or in person!Make Life Less Difficult~ Support:buymeacoffee.com/lisatilstra

My guest today is Susan Sjolund.Susan is a marketing and public relations professional whose experience spans the globe.  With over 20 years of experience, she has a track record of success in building and managing high-performing cross-functional teams and collaborating with stakeholders across different departments and levels.  Susan is known as a strategic thinker and communicator and knows how to find the balance between data and intuition in decision making.She’s also a certified leadership coach, a support for fellow ex-pats, and the mother of twin boys.Susan grew up in Namibia, giving her life experiences and perspectives that are expansive, reflective, and wise.  She’s lived and worked in South Africa, Sweden, the US, and the UK.  Susan and I met back in (I think) 2015 through her mother-in-law, Margareta Sjolund, who was a guest on the podcast on episode 70, sharing her wisdom on emotional intelligence.  I’m so grateful for the ever-expanding connections that life has afforded me.In our conversation today, Susan shares about some challenging times she’s been through including the loss of her dad through suicide.  If you feel like this will be difficult for you to listen to, please take care of yourself first and foremost, even if it means not listening.Having Susan on the podcast today feels like having a beautiful conversation with a sister.  I’m so grateful our paths have crossed and even though our times in person have been scattered across the globe and time, every time I get to connect with Susan there’s amazing energy and synergy and it’s such a beautiful time together.  This conversation is no exception.Susan, thank you for sharing these pieces of your journey and story.  Thank you for the courage you embody in learning about yourself and those you love in deep and intentional ways.  I love being in conversation with you! Make Life Less Difficult~ Support:buymeacoffee.com/lisatilstra

My guest today is Lt Col Tony Cerella.Tony is a returning guest to the podcast and in today’s conversation he shares insights and reflections on retiring from the US Army after 23 years of service.On episode 99, which was released in January, Tony was looking forward toward the month of May and his official retirement ceremony.  If you haven’t listened to that conversation, I highly recommend it.Picking up today, Tony is now post-retirement ceremony, while waiting for all the official processing of retirement which will be in a few months.So, today’s conversation is about the “in between.”  Tony has had a long and successful career in the US Army.  He also comes from multiple generations of military service.  What does it mean to retire from a career that has also been a lifestyle, not just for Tony, but also for his family?  What is the impact on identity and belonging?  How does one manage the in between phase when what was is gone but what’s coming hasn’t fully formed?Thank you, Tony, for your willingness to enter into conversation about these questions and more.  I know that many will relate and be grateful to know they aren’t alone in the challenging processing this experience brings with it.  I’m especially grateful for your openness to reflect on your journey in the midst of it.  This isn’t easy – it’s difficult.  I’m hopeful that through conversation and sharing, the “In between” can be made a little less difficult. Connect with Tony:  www.kaveoleadership.com tony.cerella@gmail.com | |  | calendly.com/tony-cerella Make Life Less Difficult~ Support:buymeacoffee.com/lisatilstra

My guest today is Freya Birdie.Freya has 17 years of global experience working across three continents in the US (NYC, SF, Silicon Valley, Miami); Europe (London, Rome, Brussels), and Asia (Mumbai) focused on management consulting, leadership coaching, organizational and team effectiveness, learning & professional development.Freya is a graduate of the Leadership Coaching at Georgetown University, and is a certified MBTI personality assessment facilitator. She’s also a Global Manager for People Development at McKinsey & Company.  Freya is passionate about intercultural discovery through experiential learning and has traveled 60+ countries.  She also loves spending time in nature, hiking and biking, and is a yoga and meditation practitioner.Freya and I met through the Georgetown’s coaching mentorship program.  We felt an immediate connection around travel, living in diverse places around the world, not really knowing where home is, and each of us being in different countries each time we set up a call!  It’s really a joy finding someone like Freya who understands this unconventional lifestyle!Freya has an abundance of intriguing and inspiring stories and we only skim the beginning of them today.  I’ll just mention one briefly here and that is that Freya is part of the extremely small remaining community of Zoroastrianism, one of the world’s oldest religions.  It was fascinating to learn more about this ancient religion and Freya’s experience exploring these roots of her family.Freya, thank you so much for sharing your stories, your reflections, and your wisdom.  You have a beautiful presence and I’m grateful our paths have crossed.  I look forward to future conversations, both there on the podcast and in person!Connect with Freya: LinkedInMake Life Less Difficult~ Support:buymeacoffee.com/lisatilstra

My guest today is Kenza Barrada.Kenza is the founder of the “We Are One World” or WAOW Project, which is designed to support leaders to realize that each one of us impacts all others, and that change starts with us.Kenza is a senior advisor for leadership development and team alignment, a Mindfulness and MBTI practitioner, and she collaborates with distinctive practitioners and specialists of other transformative tools and methods.  Kenza has worked and lived in 15 countries. She’s fluent in 4 languages.  And she spent 12 years in management consulting for McKinsey & Company.  She has a deep knowledge of public sector work and agriculture development in emerging countries. Kenza is a returning guest, having first been on the podcast back in April on episode 113.  There, she shared her journey to mindfulness.  I highly recommend listening to that part of Kenza’s story if you haven’t yet.  Kenza is an amazing storyteller, and her storytelling continues today as she shares more about her family’s home and farm near Marrakesh, Morocco.  Their home is much more than a home, as you’ll hear.  It’s a permaculture and agroecology project, an opportunity for work-away visitors, a place for community, music, presence, and intentional living.One word of caution, you will definitely want to visit after listening to this episode!Kenza, thank you again for your gracious presence and sharing.  I love being invited into the descriptions of your home, your life, your community.  Your vision for life, your invitation for others to join you (be it for a few days, weeks, or longer), and your clear passion for this work is inspiring and motivational.I’m honored to host this continuation of your story and look forward to continuing our conversation (hopefully one day in person!).Connect with Kenza: LinkedInMake Life Less Difficult~ Support:buymeacoffee.com/lisatilstra

My guest today is Miranda Holder.Miranda is returning to the podcast after being a guest in February 2022 on Episode 38.  We recently reconnected and Miranda was kind enough to turn our catch up into another podcast conversation and I’m so grateful!Miranda has an amazing story including starting her career as an endurance athlete and at 25, finding herself training for the US Olympic Rowing Team.  It was during this time that she discovered she had a congenital heart condition and she had to abruptly end her career as an athlete.  She transitioned to coaching and served as the Head Coach for the Georgetown University’s Women’s Rowing Team.  Finding herself burned out after about 10 years, Miranda transitioned again, this time to leadership coaching!  For more on those stories, listen in to episode 38 (back on February 4, 2022).Miranda now runs her own company and focuses much of her coaching work on somatics or embodied coaching.  If you aren’t sure what exactly that means, stay tuned because it’s what we explore and dig into for most of our conversation today.As we explore the embodied work that Miranda does, she shares generously from her own journey.  I gain some beautiful insights about my journey that have been enriching to continue contemplating since we talked.Miranda, thank you!  You share with amazing authenticity, generosity, and warmth.  I can’t wait until the day when we’re neighbors!!Miranda's WebsiteUpcoming Course: Building Leadership Presence Through Embodied IntelligenceMake Life Less Difficult~ Support:buymeacoffee.com/lisatilstra

My guest today is Andrew Kauffmann.Andrew is a coach, a writer and a teacher of creative writing.   He believes that writing be a transformational aid for healing, in coaching, and in all contexts.Trained and accredited by The Professional Writing Academy in the use of expressive and therapeutic writing, he uses stories, metaphor and narrative tools to help his coaching clients cope with life transitions, and to derive meaning from challenging life events. Open about his own experiences of living with OCD, experiencing depression, and being a kidney donor, he is the UK Centre for Mental Health Writer-In-Residence from May 2023. He leads London Lit Lab´s Queer Storytelling course, facilitates Out on the Page´s workshops for LGBTQ writers on exploring their personal stories and runs workshops with The Write Salon on writing challenging material. He was shortlisted in 2022 for The Literary Consultancy's Pen Factor award. He was also a winner of the 2021 Spread the Word and Scribe UK competition for works of narrative non-fiction. And as a freelance journalist, his articles on lifestyle, health and culture have been published by HuffPost UK.Andrew and I met almost two years ago and I’m so honored to have him on the podcast today.  When I met him it was in a group setting and while I met lots of people, it was his introduction of himself stayed with me, as he shared very briefly about being a kidney donor.  In our conversation today, we only begin to scratch the surface of Andrew’s stories and life experiences – there’s so much more!Andrew shares his stories and reflections today on coming out as gay around age 18-19, and also being a kidney donor to his father.  Throughout our conversation, Andrew shares with profound authenticity, vulnerability, and thoughtfulness. Andrew, thank you.  For your willingness to show up in this space (and many other spaces), bringing your whole self… sharing vulnerably and with great intention.  You are an inspiration as you model the challenging work that you also facilitate and invite others to do as well, for the sake of healing and making the world a better place – for the sake of making life less difficult.Please check out the links to Andrews work, his workshops, and to connect directly with him:Writing what's tough, The Write SalonTender and fierce: writing with self-care and determination: with Out on the PageHuffPost UK articleUK Centre for Mental Health: Writer in Residence (The Strangest Times: Are we increasingly out of step with this weird world that we live in? published May 18, 2023)Find Andrew on Twitter: @JKaye82Make Life Less Difficult~ Support:buymeacoffee.com/lisatilstra

Today is a monologue where I share some thoughts that I'm still formulating.  I'll work on putting resources here over the next few days, referencing books I've read that have influenced my thinking on this topic.Thanks for listening!Make Life Less Difficult~ Support:buymeacoffee.com/lisatilstra

My guest today is Amanda Walters.Mandy is a world traveler, a Florida Gator, storyteller, and Human Resources professional.  Mandy grew up in the southern United States.  Her father was a Southern Baptist minister turned hospice chaplain and her mother a special education teacher.Mandy is a graduate of the University of Florida (Go Gators!) and has worked in HR for various organizations.  During what she describes as her “quarter life crisis” she moved from the US to New Delhi, India, as a trailing spouse (her first time leaving the US!).  Living in a different country was life-changing for her.  She returned to the US but realized she wanted to live abroad again.  In 2012, Mandy joined the US Department of State’s Foreign Service as an HR Officer.  She learned Russian and took her first assignment in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.  Later, she learned Portuguese and lived and worked in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where she met the love of her life.  Together they moved to Yangon, Myanmar (aka Rangoon, Burma), and are now in Frankfurt, Germany, and about to move back to the US.Mandy and I met through my work as a trainer for the Department of State.  A few months ago at a training, the subject of podcasts was being discussed and I had the change to share about this podcast and my experience being a host.  The very next day, as I was walking to work, I ran into Mandy on the sidewalk of a busy street in Bangkok.  She blurted out, “I didn’t know you were a Gator!  And you used to be a chaplain!”  I think I looked a bit taken off guard because she quickly followed up: “I’m listening to your podcast!” It was an awesome moment for me to run into someone in Bangkok listening to my podcast!  And even better, it led us to conversations about Mandy being a guest and sharing these pieces of her journey.Mandy shares about her journey of coming out, the courage she gained by others who led the way, coming out as gay in families and settings where it wasn’t easy.  Mandy also shares about the recent loss of her cousin, one of the people in her life who went before her, making the path a little less difficult.  And then, the loss of her father, going back home and giving the eulogy in the church where she was told she was wrong for being her.  There are a number of themes in Mandy’s stories and through each theme she demonstrates amazing courage, forgiveness, and proactive grieving.  Mandy, thank you SO much for your willingness to share your stories.  For sharing the insights from some sad and difficult times of loss, most poignantly, the loss of your father.  I know people will be touched and inspired by your authenticity, vulnerability, and wisdom.  And I know your dad would be very very proud of you.Disclaimer: Disclaimer that Mandy’s opinions and experiences are her own and in no way represent the policies and opinions of her employer.Read Mandy's blog at http://www.myplaidpants.com/Make Life Less Difficult~ Support:buymeacoffee.com/lisatilstra