Tag: Uncategorized

Brené Brown and Elizabeth Gilbert Take the Stage Together at Emerging Women Live 2015

by Chantal Pierrat

30 Minutes of Creativity, Inspiration, and Some Real-Deal Karaoke

If you’re like us and absolutely adore both Brené Brown and Elizabeth Gilbert, you’ve probably seen their selfies with each other, their shout-outs to each other on social media and in the press, and maybe you’ve even been following them side-by-side the last few months as they journey together through their respective book tours. They are clearly more than just ‘author friends’ and share an amazing, authentic, and soulful connection. If you’ve read their new books, Rising Strong and Big Magic, you’ve probably noticed their work goes hand in hand.

 

Did you know Emerging Women helped bring them together? The two met in person for the first time at Emerging Women Live 2013, when we hosted our inaugural event in Boulder, CO. And one of the most magical things about Emerging Women Live 2015 was reuniting Elizabeth Gilbert and Brené Brown on stage for a hilariously inspiring conversation and a beautiful glimpse into their amazing friendship. We have this conversation and all of our main stage keynotes on-demand until November 11, 2015. Login to the free live stream and get ready to be inspired beyond words!

Attendees were captivated as Brené and Liz discussed the inspiration, transformation, and emotional impact their work has had on each other. Brené got a lot out of Liz’s Big Magic, saying writing doesn’t always come easy for her, and Liz shared how she has been able to live a fully expressed life due to Brené’s work on vulnerability and shame.

Plus, they have each other’s back in the uber-competitive literary arena. Liz shared how the second person who reached out after Big Magic hit #1 on the New York Times best-seller list was Brené. Jounalists ask them, “You’re going to be on the same list – do you worry about that?” Their response is “What??? That’s a scarcity mindset.” They want huge, wild success for each other, and also realize there is a trembling, emotive ‘edge’ of journeying towards that.

 

“It’s okay to celebrate when wonderful things happen in your life, “says Liz, “and you have to. Pop the champagne and call your friend. Don’t be afraid of joy. That’s part of not being a martyr. It’s okay if you don’t get there, but my god how nice when you do.” She goes on to elucidate the difference between the Trickster and the Martyr. While a Martyr worries about who’s #1 on the New York Times, the trickster says “Have fun, Martyr. While you’re dying, I’m going to be over here dancing with your date, flipping things, throwing banana peels and pulling the rug out from under reality.”

Brené counters this genius perspective with a perfect, “Hi, my name’s Brené and I’m a Martyr.” But she goes on to show how Liz has taught her that you can flip martyrdom into tough trickster-dom. Brené flipped it by trusting her team in an edgy experiment where she played to her strengths by teaching Rising Strong to them first, letting the writing of the book come out of that process.

When Liz asked Brené about her edge, she opened up about Courageworks, her new online learning community that offers eCourses, workshops, and interviews developed to help people embrace bravery, lean into vulnerability, and rumble with the challenges that come with living a daring life.

Liz poignantly shared that her edge is trying to honestly express what she can and cannot do. Book-signing lines aren’t happening during her Big Magic tour, she explained, because she knows that’s the line she has to draw to stay healthy and sustain the energy it takes to share her book with thousands of people on a 5-country and unlimited city tour around the world. “I am taking a step back for myself,” she says. Major stress and anxiety lead up to making the decision to forgo book signings, but after significant deliberation and soul searching, she came to the decision that she could simply not risk ending up in the hospital.

 

2

In true soul-sister fashion, Brené echoed and applauded her difficult decision, challenging the audience, “Raise your hand if you are exhausted from saying yes when you want to say no.” The audience applauded in turn. The amazing duo ended their conversation by singing “I Will Survive” with the entire audience. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a must. Tune in now to fist-pump your way to a more fully expressed and creative life. The whole conversation plus karaoke finish is available for replay on-demand until November 11, 2015 – click here to watch!

P.S.) You can apply for 10 Behavioral Health Continuing Education credits for participating in the live stream or attending Emerging Women Live in person! Apply here.

Why you can’t afford to miss Emerging Women Live 2015

by Chantal Pierrat

“How can we go to this? Women just like us! This needs to happen!!!”

That was the commentary I sent, along with the link to register for Emerging Women Live 2014, to my buddy Nat on April 5th last year.

Little did I know, this was the start of a journey that would change everything…

(This is a picture taken on my iPhone, when Nat and I accosted Danielle LaPorte in the lobby at EWLive14 to tell her that we came all the way from Vancouver – where she also lives – to see her in New York City.)

And I almost didn’t buy my ticket.

In the months leading up to the Early Bird registration deadline, I went through a huge personal shift.

That July, I walked away from a toxic business partnership that was supposed to have been my solid plan after leaving my 6-figure corporate job in December 2013. I had no income and only a seedling idea for a business called “Secondhand Therapy.”

Paying for my ticket to Emerging Women Live was terrifying. I had to take money out of my retirement savings to pay for it. I kept worrying that I couldn’t afford the conference and the trip.

Thankfully, I listened to that tiny whisper inside of me that said I should just go.

My weekend MBA in NYC.

It is almost impossible to capture the lightening bolt that hit my soul during the four days I immersed myself in the Emerging Women Live experience. I have since joked that I learned enough to qualify for an MBA during that long weekend.

I sat on the edge of my seat as Brené Brown said the world needed more “badassery” and challenged us to discover what we needed to give ourselves permission to do and be.

Right then and there, I gave myself permission to be “little kid” excited, make new friends and play Show & Tell with other entrepreneurs. I still write myself new permission slips when I am scared.

Over the next few days, I was overwhelmed by the wisdom from women who had learned from their battle scars.

I learned how to “snatch back my dignity” (Wokie Nwabueze), to create my own “I have to’s” list (Arianna Huffington), to play bigger and “share what I already know” (Tara Mohr), to “know the season I am in” (Kris Carr), and to trust that the NO’s I say will be the key to my success (the inimitable Danielle LaPorte).

In the midst of all this was this woman, Chantal Pierrat. As Chantal introduced various speakers, she shared parts of her own story. I was in awe of how she created this Emerging Women Live experience through her passion, determination and her belief that we must surround ourselves with incredible women.

The new friends.

Although I came to NYC with my dear friend Nat, I was excited about the opportunity to meet new women who were on similar journeys.

During the Power Circles that kicked off the conference, I met Katy, who just two weeks ago told me that it was time to enjoy a new phase in my business because of what I had accomplished. She insisted that I pitch this blog idea to the Emerging Women team – and it worked!

I also met Chelsea, who was also on the verge of “going live” with her business. We had regular check-in calls after the conference to encourage each other to take brave steps.

During dinner on Friday, I met Dawn. I ended up having to take my glasses off because I was sobbing as Dawn shared how her husband had passed away a month prior, and her brave next step was to head to this conference. For the record, I don’t cry in public, but this weekend changed that permanently.

Dawn is a kindred spirit who has brought me light and encouragement and joy in the most unexpected ways. I feel as if we have known each other for decades.

And there were so many other smaller interactions with like-minded women who left their fingerprints on my life…

The after-math.

Simply put: I became a woman who stepped fully into her calling.

Within weeks of the conference, I was published in both The Huffington Post and Tiny Buddha, a self-improvement blog with 1.5 million followers.

I used my new status as “Huffington Post contributor” to start a series of interviews with inspiring authors such as Gail Larsen (speaking coach for Danielle LaPorte and Kris Carr) and Shasta Nelson.

I went on to secure several speaking engagements, appear on a couple of podcasts, become an official blogger for my local TEDx event, contribute to the Tiny Buddha book being published by Harper Collins in Spring 2016, and write bi-weekly for Vancouver’s largest blog, Vancity Buzz.

I built and launched my own website, and hustled to complete an 8 module “Introducing You” eCourse. I developed a workshop called “The Seduction of Stress,” which I presented to 200 women this past May, and was recently booked to transform the presentation into a full day workshop this coming October.

My email list had 60 people on it when I showed up at Emerging Women Live 2014. It now has over 1600 subscribers on it, without having to spend any money on advertising.

None of this was due to extraordinary talent or connections or luck. It was a direct result of putting into action everything I learned at the Emerging Women Live conference.

I decided to be brave and hustle and pitch and trust and relax, and most importantly be the woman I want to be.

Reflecting back.

“What if we had not gone to EWLive14? It scares me to think of how small our lives would be,” I recently observed during happy hour with my buddy Nat.

It is frightening to think how close I came to deciding I couldn’t afford to attend.

I would be a shadow of myself if it weren’t for those four days.

I wouldn’t have known what I was capable of. I wouldn’t have connected with the women who are now my biggest cheerleaders.

Am I going to Emerging Women Live 2015? You bet!

I couldn’t risk missing out on another life-changing weekend.

How about you? What impact did EWLive have on your life? Please share with us in the comments below…

Fear and Courage

by Chantal Pierrat

When we are emerging, we feel that nothing can stop us, right? We feel the fire of our own inner alignment, and the clarity of our truth is rocket fuel for making our dreams manifest. We ride high on what we know is right and we feel like we have super powers.

Until the fear hits. And just like that, Bam! We become paralyzed, we procrastinate, we stay up at night spinning in our repetitive negative mental constructs, we do everything we can to fight the fear or avoid the pain. It’s exhausting! And it has never worked for me.

I am tired of fighting fear.

In my podcast with Emerging Women Live 2015 speaker Elizabeth Gilbert (best-selling author of Eat Pray Love and The Signature of All Things), we question the standard meaning of the word “fearless.”

There’s a sense that fearlessness means we will try anything without regard for consequence, that we will take risk with no attention to repercussions, that we will leap off of buildings with nothing holding us back. These actions are brazen, but real fearlessness – real courage – is when we take action while feeling our fear and discomfort at the same time.

“People who are without fear actually scare me.” -Elizabeth Gilberttwitter

Here’s a little secret that I don’t often share – I dread public speaking. Or I should say: I dread the time leading up to the time when I am to speak. Once I am on stage, I feel comfortable, but the minutes, hours, and weeks leading up to that time are sheer torture. I feel like I am carrying a big weight on my shoulder that follows me everywhere.

But guess what? No matter how hard I try, I cannot avoid the public speaking part of what I am creating with Emerging Women. And so I stick with it – and bring my fear with me. Liz Gilbert goes so far as to say “have some reverence for your fear,” for it has treated you well, kept you alive in a world filled with dangers.

Courage comes from the French word coeur, meaning heart.

I love this because it brings a feminine perspective into the word courage, which for many years I have associated with the masculine paradigm – swinging swords, life-risking heroism, dangerous acts of self-sacrifice. But when we think of Courage as coming from the heart…..well, Sisters, we got this!

How are Fear and Courage showing up in your life right NOW? Share your story with the tribe in the comments section – we learn so much about ourselves by hearing from each other!

Big Love,

Chantal Pierrat

Founder, Emerging Women

Join Chantal Pierrat, Elizabeth Gilbert, Dr. Jane Goodall, Dr. Tererai Trent, Brené Brown and more at Emerging Women Live 2015 in San Francisco. Early Bird tickets to see are available NOW. Get yours before they’re gone!

ew_633x350