As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police.
If you like what you hear or read or would like to see photos of Leslie, visit my Fertile Ground Communications website.
This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I reflect back on the last 13 months. My little podcast is now one year, one month old after starting on July 6, 2020. I’ve interviewed over 70 amazing individuals.
I’m grateful to my guests for letting us have a little glimpse of their lives. As I describe this podcast in a nutshell, it’s about people who have gone through a shit ton in their lives and have survived, resilient, on the other side.
I recently watched the documentary “The Octopus Teacher,” about a man who befriends an octopus in the ocean. Craig Foster is a free diver, who dives without a wetsuit or oxygen. He is able to hold his breath for up to 6 minutes. The movie, and the friendship he develops, is miraculous and exquisite.
At one point the octopus has one of her arms bitten off by a pajama shark. She retreats into her den, traumatized, stunned, and in pain. Eventually she comes back out, with a tiny new arm. Over the course of three months, the arm completely regenerates itself.
Watching this exceptional part of the story, I realized: the people I have interviewed on my podcast are like octopus. (For you word nerds like me, the plural of octopus is not octopi; it is octopus.)
So many of them have been deeply traumatized in one way or another: from political strife, racism, illness, sexual assault, homophobia or transphobia, childhood abuse, xenophobia, body shaming, anti-semitism or Islamophobia, substance abuse, death of a loved one, or sexism.
They have grieved losses and hurts deeply, but found a way to rise up again.
They have regrown their arms and regenerated their hearts. For whatever reason, they have developed backbones and resilient spirits, and they are stronger than ever before. I’m fascinated by this incredible resilience, and I’m aware that it does not come naturally. Some people seem to have higher-than-average levels of resilience, while others need to actively cultivate it.
How can one person experience horrible abuse and hardship as a child, not knowing love and affection, yet emerge as a positive, upbeat, and resilient person? While another person could feel slighted as a child, but overall have a good life, yet they end up feeling cheated and sad?
I’ve discovered that I love interviewing Black women. I find that they are so real, honest, and direct, and in spite of the fact that they have no real reason to trust me, a white woman, they are incredibly open and authentic. I guess it’s because of all they face in life…they simply have no f-bombs left to give. I admire that quality so much.
For more information about the people I mention in this episode, go to my website and look for Finding Fertile Ground podcast tab.
Hello listeners!
I hope you are doing well and staying healthy.
Welcome to the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, where I discover stories of grit, resilience, and connection. I’m your host, Marie GG, and this podcast is brought to you by Fertile Ground Communications.
As a writer and marketing communications consultant, I can turn a piece of lackluster, jargon-filled or technical prose into clear dynamic narrative. I help people discover what makes them special and help them share that with the world. If you need help with your website, marketing materials, or any kind of document, look us up on fertilegroundcommunications.com.
Each week I alternate this Finding Fertile Ground podcast with my other podcast, Companies That Care, which is about business leaders making a difference in the world. On both of my podcasts, I strive to highlight voices from historically excluded populations, especially people of color, women, people who are LBGTQIA, non-Christian, and immigrants…the people who don’t always get a platform. You can find all the information on my website and social media.
This week I am going solo, reflecting back on my last year producing and hosting this podcast. Today I’m going to explain how my podcast guests are like octopus.
My little podcast is now one year, one month old after starting on July 6, 2020. In the past 13 months, I’ve interviewed over 70 amazing individuals.
I’m grateful to my guests for letting us have a little glimpse of their lives. As I describe this podcast in a nutshell, it’s about people who have gone through a shit ton in their lives and have survived, resilient, on the other side.
One of my friends teased me for jumping into a person’s life story right away. What you don’t hear is the preamble I have with my guests before I hit “record.” But it’s true—we do get intimate fast.
That’s one of the many things I love about being a woman. We often get intimate and honest fast. I’m always interested in completely authentic, real people, and their willingness to share what they have learned in life.
As many of you know, I’m a relatively new entrepreneur. I’ve learned more new things in the past two years than I did in 10 years of working in the corporate world. And I’ve learned more things from podcasting in the last year than I ever imagined.
Some of my guests are going through tough times.
Skye Leybold, my second guest who is living with metastatic breast cancer, recently discovered a breast cancer tumor showed up on her thyroid. They had to remove half of her thyroid to get clear margins. Then at her CT scan they found what is probably a new tumor on her liver. So she will be going in for an MRI of that area to get a better image so they know what to do next. During our interview Skye said it feels like the universe is playing whack-a-mole with her body and spirit. That whack-a-mole continues, but her spirit is strong.
Nono Osuji, who I interviewed in April, is a second-generation Nigerian immigrant who has been living with lupus for over a decade. The lupus turned into chronic kidney disease, and now she’s at end-stage kidney failure with only 8% kidney function. She doesn’t have it in her to fight on dialysis, because she’s all fought out. Her only chance is a kidney transplant. She is trying to find a kidney donor in Texas. If you know someone who could help, please let me know. Nono still has one ounce of hope left to be able to live to see 40.
Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
Other guests have been doing all sorts of new things!
Kris Gowen, the woman who sang karaoke across the country after her best friend died, has picked up and moved to Toronto! Continuing her adventurous spirit, she began looking for a job in dream places she wanted to live or new places she wanted to try. She landed her dream job in her dream city – she’s now director of monitoring, evaluation, and learning at Camp Ooch & Camp Trillium, which provides programs for children with cancer and their families (www.ooch.org).
Olive Bukuru Kabura, my resilient refugee who comes from Burundi and my very first interview guest, has also been doing wonderful work to help children. She is pursuing a graduate degree and working on her thesis. She’s also working on her practicum hours with Beauty Out of Dust. This web-based non-profit program supports education, healthcare services, and business loans for children and families in need in Burundi. Olive has been creating curriculum materials for their education department. Next year when they officially open their doors again to the general public, Olive will be teaching some of their participants. She has also been working with B.O.D to raise money & provide feminine hygiene products for the girls who end up staying home for a week or so before they head back to school because they have nothing else to use. She is also polishing her immigrant story to share at a live event in September for The Immigrant Story nonprofit. Olive feels like everything she is working on is finally coming together.
I recently watched the documentary “The Octopus Teacher,” about a man who befriends an octopus in the ocean. Craig Foster is a free diver, who dives without a wetsuit or oxygen. He is able to hold his breath for up to 6 minutes. The movie, and the friendship he develops, is miraculous and exquisite.
At one point the octopus has one of her arms bitten off by a pajama shark. She retreats into her den, traumatized, stunned, and in pain. Eventually she comes back out, with a tiny new arm. Over the course of three months, the arm completely regenerates itself.
Watching this exceptional part of the story, I realized: the people I have interviewed on my podcast are like octopus. (For you word nerds like me, the plural of octopus is not octopi; it is octopus.)
So many of them have been deeply traumatized in one way or another: from political strife, racism, illness, sexual assault, homophobia or transphobia, childhood abuse, xenophobia, body shaming, anti-semitism or Islamophobia, substance abuse, death of a loved one, or sexism.
They have grieved losses and hurts deeply, but found a way to rise up again.
They have regrown their arms and regenerated their hearts. For whatever reason, they have developed backbones and resilient spirits, and they are stronger than ever before. I’m fascinated by this incredible resilience, and I’m aware that it does not come naturally. Some people seem to have higher-than-average levels of resilience, while others need to actively cultivate it.
How can one person experience horrible abuse and hardship as a child, not knowing love and affection, yet emerge as a positive, upbeat, and resilient person? While another person could feel slighted as a child, but overall have a good life, yet they end up feeling cheated and sad?
I’ve discovered that I love interviewing Black women. I find that they are so real, honest, and direct, and in spite of the fact that they have no real reason to trust me, a white woman, they are incredibly open and authentic. I guess it’s because of all they face in life…they simply have no f-bombs left to give. I admire that quality so much.
Deborah Douglas, author of Four Hundred Souls: a Community History of African America, 1619-2019, said, “Hurricane Katrina is easily a metaphor for America's attitude toward Black women: rejected, neglected, and never protected. But Black women's persistence and their insistence on survival and restoration are a metaphor for their attitude toward America.”
And Sister Maya Angelous famously preached,
“You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.”
My podcast was inspired by a conversation with a Black woman, Jackie Capers-Brown. She was interviewing me, but I learned that her mom had died when she was a child…and later Jackie’s son died as well. We bonded over the song “Rise Up,” and our shared love of the word “resilience.” Jackie has been highly successful in her life, both in the corporate world and now as a small business owner, author, and coach.
Reflecting on how much I resonate with the word resilience and how fascinated I am by stories of grit and resilience, I decided to start this podcast.
And 51 episodes later, it’s perfect that my most recent episode was also with a Black woman who has endured great trauma and triumphs. Lisa Marie Simmons’ childhood was marred with abandonment and abuse, but her natural resilient spirit got her through the worst. Now she uses that childhood trauma to create beautiful music and writing. My new friendship with Lisa is a precious gift. Last week she even dedicated a song to me at one of her shows, “What a Wonderful World.” I realized no one has ever dedicated and sung a song to me before.
I asked Lisa about a grit and resilience story that inspires her. She talked about traveling through the American South with her recently found birth family and thinking about all the ghosts along the road. She found out that her great-grandmother and great-great grandmother were slaves and thought, that’s resilience. She is inspired by the resilience of Black people in America…and the fact they’re still in America and thriving in so many ways.
That’s the other thing I’ve loved about my conversation with Black women. So many of them have thanked their ancestors and are daily aware that their lives and successes are their ancestors’ greatest dreams.
Going back to the beginning of Finding Fertile Ground, I have to thank George Floyd and Christian Cooper for my inspiration. Because of that fateful day in May 2020, when George Floyd was murdered and Christian Cooper was “birding while Black,” I wrote an article about the weapons of white women’s tears. Incidentally, the woman who called the police on Christian Cooper who was calmly bird watching in Central Park—Amy Cooper, is still portraying herself as a victim, demonstrating my point so well. She’s continuing to weaponize her white women’s tears. I imagine her employer, who fired her ass, feels highly vindicated in getting rid of her.
I feel incredibly fortunate to have participated in these intimate, honest conversations in the past year. I think back to my college years, when I had a few Black women friends but we rarely talked about race. Back in the ‘80s, few people in interracial relationships talked about race. I realize now how much intimacy and connection I lost from what we didn’t discuss.
I’m grateful to all of the guests who have opened up their hearts and lives with me, sharing so deeply of themselves. These conversations have inspired me through the pandemic and give me hope for the world.
My life is so much richer for these connections with real-life resilient octopus all over the world.
You can find further details about some of the guests I mentioned today on my website. Go to www.fertilegroundcommunications.com and look for the podcast tab.
Next week I interview Amber Taggard, owner and founder of the Organizer Chicks on the Companies That Care podcast. Amber is a professional organizer, time-management coach, and public speaker with an M.S. in Clinical Mental Health. She is passionate about using her counseling psychology background to help people improve their mental and emotional health by creating peaceful and productive physical spaces.
I love to hear from listeners. If you’re inspired by this episode or any others, or have an idea for a guest or topic I should cover, drop me a line at marie@fertilegroundcommunications.com.
Thanks for listening to the Finding Fertile Ground podcast. If you liked today’s episode, please subscribe and leave a review.
Our music in this episode is by jazz pianist Jonathan Swanson. This podcast is brought to you by Fertile Ground Communications.
Thank you for listening! Have a wonderful day.