The Speech Source
Mary Brezik and Kim Dillon are two pediatric speech-language pathologists with over 25 years of combined experience. As speech therapists, we are often the first professionals to assess young children once they are referred by their pediatrician. Either they are not talking well or they are not eating well. We get to know our patients, their families, and how they are developing. We have a front row seat during the first critical and formative years of development for those who receive our services. Because of this, we have developed relationships with other professionals, observed what parent questions and concerns often arise, and see a need to share the resources and information we have compiled over the years. Join us as we dig into topics that show all of the overlapping aspects of child development and intervention. We invite you to be a part of our collaborative platform as we discuss, learn and grow for the betterment of our kids!
The Speech Source
S3E9: Noticing What Matters with Sisters MaryAnn and Emily
In episode 9 of The Speech Source podcast, hosts Kim and Mary are joined by sisters MaryAnn Means-Dufrene and Emily McAnelly who share their story into the world of podcasting and self-discovery. Together, they recently launched The Great Noticing Podcast, encouraging listeners to pause, observe, and engage more deeply with the world around them.
MaryAnn shares how a casual conversation nine years ago planted the seeds for The Great Noticing. Emily recalls being invited into this dream by MaryAnn, noting her initial hesitation but expressing admiration for her sister’s vision and leadership.
For MaryAnn and Emily, “noticing” is a transformative practice that helps break cycles, encourages nonjudgmental awareness, and allows for personal growth. MaryAnn developed this concept while working in leadership and coaching with her company Collective Growth Leadership. Emily, too, finds herself using “noticing” to manage emotions, better understand relationships, and bring curiosity into her daily life.
Emily recently made the brave decision to step back from her tech career to focus on her family, a transition that has prompted self-reflection and a reevaluation of identity. This conversation between the sisters goes into the common struggle many women face in balancing career and family, as well as the societal pressures surrounding these choices.
Through The Great Noticing Podcast, they hope to inspire listeners to become “noticers” in their own lives, allowing mindfulness to guide their responses rather than reactions. Their ultimate goal? To help others gain insight into their experiences, build a deeper understanding of themselves, and foster growth in both personal and professional realms.
Tune in to hear more from MaryAnn and Emily about their journey and the lessons they’ve learned from each other and from those they interview. Plus, hear Kim and Mary reflect on their own personal experiences, illustrating the powerful impact of community and connection. Don’t miss out on these inspiring stories—subscribe to The Great Noticing Podcast and The Speech Source Podcast for more genuine conversations.
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And so people now will say, of course you have a podcast, of course this or that that stuff was going to happen. I didn't believe that I could do it. I was the one that was in the way of it coming true. And so, while there's a lot of hard work that goes into these things like the stuff that we're meant to do is born of us we can't not do it, and that's what I want to help my kids know is that let's work on over these next 20 years that we have together what you are designed to do and what your unique skills point toward, and let's practice it as much as we can, because you have something special, whatever it is, and I want to help you develop that and be who you're supposed to be in the world.
Kim :Welcome to season three of the Speech Source podcast with your hosts Kim and Mary. This season, our title is Changing the Game.
Mary :We are highlighting small business owners and entrepreneurs who have unwritten all the rules to starting a business and use their talents and their creativity to be able to build a business that is a lifestyle designed just for them and is making incredible impact in our community of Fort Worth, Texas.
Kim :So don't forget to subscribe to this season so you don't miss an episode. Welcome. Today we are so excited. We have two guests, marianne Means Dufresne and Emily McAnally, and they are sisters, moms, business owners, wives, ceos, vps, philanthropists and community members. Most recently, they are hosts of the Great Noticing Podcast, and we wanted to have them on today because we want to know how they're taking their skills and their talents and creating something unique, not only in their business worlds, but specifically on the podcast that they've created, really encouraging and challenging others to notice what's going on around them. So welcome, marianne and Emily. We're so glad you're here.
maryann :Thank you, kim and Mary. We're just following in your footsteps and watching a podcast and trying to do important things in the world, so thank you for setting a great example.
Kim :We are so excited to hear all that you're doing and would love for you to just tell us how you started the podcast and then what your goal is and your thoughts are.
maryann :I'm going to give mine my version. And then, emily, I want to hear yours too. Okay, but probably nine years ago now, I was in between jobs and talking with a good friend of mine who we actually had on the podcast which was fun a few months ago about what I should do next. And he asked that question if you could do anything you could in the world and money wouldn't matter, what would you do? And I said I'd host a talk show, I would try to be Oprah. And he said we'll do it. And I sat there that's funny like cute.
maryann :I don't even know if podcasts really existed then, but the wheels got turning, or with somebody really challenging me saying if it's a dream, see what you can do to achieve that. And I remember calling Emily on the way home from that lunch and saying what if we did it? What if we did it? What if we did something like that one day? And I didn't pursue it, I didn't whiteboard it, I didn't do a vision board, but it just stayed in my head.
maryann :And then podcasts did become a thing and then I started developing my own voice and perspective more strongly and Emily and I started drinking more wine and talking more and more about issues in the world, and so we just thought, ok, do we have to have something so important to say, or is it that we're engaged in conversation and that we're talking about what's happening in our lives and in the lives of other people? And then the concept of noticing as an element or a precursor to mindfulness really just started to impact me in such a big way, and I think Emily as well. And so now, emily, your turn.
Emily :Okay, that was beautiful. Well done, Marianne. Noticing I want to give credit where credit is due noticing a trademark that you've got to do that Marianne is Marianne's brainchild and she invited me in on this journey with her to start the podcast. I was a little trepidatious about it because I struggle with being concerned about what other people are going to think. Other people are going to think, and Marianne has always pushed me to be my best self. She's my soulmate and my best friend and I, when she invited me to do this with her, it was a no brainer for me because I knew that I based. It's just really easy to follow her. She's always been a big hero and leader in my life and so I just literally went along for the ride and I, too, have always wanted to be Oprah. So that wasn't easy. Absolutely, let's go.
Emily :And one of the things that I was especially when she brought this whole idea up about noticing one of the things I was noticing in my therapy practice was the idea of cycles and how we might repeat the same cycle over and over again and seemingly and they're different, they're in different circumstances, but we keep getting to the same outcome, right? The idea this is a marriage counselor that my husband and I were seeing years ago who said in our very first session with her if y'all, my job is not to keep you together, my job is to help you heal as individuals. Because what will happen is, if y'all, my job is not to keep you together, my job is to help you heal as individuals. Because what will happen is if y'all get divorced, you'll be in another relationship in six months with someone who looks and acts and is seemingly completely different than your existing partner, but you're gonna do the same thing over again with a different person and you're not gonna understand why you're going through the same cycle again.
Emily :So when Marianne brought up noticing and was introducing me to that concept, for me I was like, oh my gosh, this is about identifying and breaking toxic cycles in my life, and I don't mean specifically in my marriage. We're in a very good place, by the way, but I had noticed that with my friends, like girlfriends, who would come to you and say the same dang story over and over again and you're like hello.
Emily :I'm like are you noticing any patterns here? And yeah, that's kind of Marianne. Again, work credit is due. This was her brainchild. It has been so much fun to jump into this podcast pond with her and yeah, so thanks Mary.
maryann :Absolutely.
Mary :And to this, kim and Mary have specifically been thinking a lot lately about a name for the name for our podcast. It took a very long time to come up with the name of our business and the name of our podcast and we've titled different seasons. But I wanted to take a moment to just talk about the name of your podcast, the Great Noticing. So. To me it's giving this quest for nobleness almost this like the great.
Mary :Gatsby the great awakening, exactly, no, this is a big event. And then the word noticing that word specifically, and you call your listeners noticers, and I just think that's such an interesting word to choose, as well as what you're saying about that. It's the precursor to mindfulness. So can you talk a little bit more about how you came up with that name?
maryann :And then again, why was noticing the word so important to you and your mission so noticing really took on more importance for me when I was doing my training for my coaching certification, and noticing is a practice that's widely known, of course, but I started just talking about it more. I'm noticing this, I'm noticing that and, in particular, noticing in a nonjudgmental way, and we grew up in a family Emily and I raised by an attorney and a judge, so judgmentalness was a part of our environment and nature, how my parents were trained intellectually and it is of great value in society and it was always a part of my work in leadership, development and business and consulting. But it also can create an emptiness and a sense of being separate from people, from issues, from ideas. And noticing is different in that it's putting a pin in something. It's noticing what I'm thinking about, also how my body is reacting to something, and then I'm stepping back and I'm saying instead of I can't believe X Y, z, like you do in judgment, it's huh, isn't that interesting? And you're probably finding yourselves doing that more and more often as well, because it becomes like this addictive process. But it's really that the stepping back out of the emotion of the situation and out of being so involved in it emotionally to say that's an interesting thing and I get to choose what I do with this information. So, notice, center shift is a process that I teach my participants and people who are doing my executive coaching programs.
maryann :So it had been floating around in my head this concept of noticing of cent, of the centered listening and centered way of speaking, and I did. But I didn't think about the great noticing as being an extension or even really that related to collective growth my company when I started it. But now I see God's plan and how they are so related and really complimentary of each other and this conversation is more in the personal realm. But we're also, we are the same people everywhere we go. So we're business people, your speech source, at the same time that you're Kim and Mary.
maryann :Right, I don't know if the term great awakening was rattling around in my head, because that's what I was experiencing through noticing.
maryann :But I woke up in the middle of the night as Emily and I were saying what are we going to call it? And I was like the great noticing is what it is, because it is an awakening and I'm giving myself chills talking about it. But yeah, it is a conduit of change and, in relation to mindfulness, I don't see myself as a consultant or a trainer to people who are already at this very awakened level. I see myself as wanting to be accessible to every person who's in a working environment and just wants to be better. And a lot of people don't want to talk about meditation or mindfulness even, and so I see noticing as a way to talk about it at its most simple level, in a way that's more accessible and not as frightening as I'm going to make you go in this room for 20 minutes and meditate so you can be your best self. No, actually, let's just start noticing a little bit more about our own experience and the people around us.
Mary :Asking yourself to not discern any sort of meaning from that stillness. It's funny because Kim and I have asked our guests many seasons how, how they recharge, how do they really fill their cup? And one thing that Kim really enjoys and Kim, I haven't even told you this yet is you have loved your bath time ritual and I have lately been a convert to baths because it is.
Mary :it's just this feeling of stillness where I can process the day and, like you said, take in all that stimuli of what I've noticed and just literally sit in those little points for a while.
maryann :Yeah, let it integrate a little bit.
Kim :Yes, I also like the idea and conversation because I know, marianne, when we have conversations, even in a group of two, three, four, and we have that idea of noticing in that conversation, it changes the dynamic of the conversation because you're more thoughtful about what you're saying, you're more thoughtful about how you're listening, you're more thoughtful about how you're listening to it, and I see that as a little bit more of an active approach to noticing like conversation. And then you find yourself saying I've noticed I'm sure just how y'all do after you had started the podcast and we had lunch and then it was just funny how much we were saying I've noticed because you're so much more mindful of what you're talking about, how you're talking about it, and it really can change just the dynamic of a whole entire conversation. And I really like how you've set that kind of precedent in a conversation.
Kim :It's been really helpful for me not only a conversation with you, but just with that thought in mind.
Emily :For me, noticing is something it's almost like prayer, right, like we pray throughout the day as opposed to praying when we go to bed. I don't have a set time in the day that I notice, but what it has done for me is helped take me from feeling like constantly disappointed, coming from that place of judgment, to curious and taking the time to process whatever is happening in my day or thinking, okay, maybe this person, maybe they're doing their best or going from highly reactive, emotional. I am a very like animated, fiery and dramatic person. Probably I enjoy drama bonding. If something happens to me in my day, I call Marianne and then I call my mom and then I like I'm sure about it for 30 minutes and Marianne's practice of noticing has helped me and Marianne from your perspective it hasn't helped that much yet, but I it has. For me I call you about 50% of the time.
maryann :now it's probably true, a little less wound up. And you ask how I'm doing first.
Emily :Do I really Uh-huh, yeah, oh, I'm so glad.
maryann :How are you? And then you launch in yeah.
Emily :And then you launch in what I am doing intentionally is I say are you able to talk right now? What it has done for me is to be more curious, not only about, maybe, someone else's behavior or reaction to something, but then also curious about my own reaction and go why is that activating me? Why is that triggering? Where am I feeling that in my body? Am I getting defensive because that's tapping into my ego or my sense of shame? And they don't know, they don't care about my inner child. They're not trying to hurt that, they're just trying to do their best too. So that is where noticing has been, in certain ways, transformational in my life, as opposed to just flying by the seat of my pants and reacting, shooting from the hip constantly.
Mary :You've taken this practice of noticing that has been so helpful in your personal lives and created an entire business and podcast out of that. So I would love to hear from each of you where your backgrounds are in your own businesses and then what kind of skills or talents or experiences that you have had that you have taken to create the business and podcast. The Great Noticing, yeah.
maryann :It's funny because, as you asked that, I started thinking about, okay, all the things that I've done that have led to this point. But when I really look at it and these are the conversations I'm having with leaders right now and this card that I have next to my desk you already have what it takes that I worked really hard for a long time to try to be good enough and get the right degrees and two master's degrees and the whole thing to say I'm worthy of doing this thing and there has been a lot of practice and there's been training. But really the great noticing, and the podcast in particular, is a part of how I was made. It's a part that I've always had in me and I had this experience not long ago. So we have our first sponsor for the Great Noticing, Hannah Azul Skincare, Korean Skincare and I recorded my first testimonial for her on our last episode that we released in June. She's Autumn Awakening's sponsor and she's doing giveaways and I think one comes out this afternoon.
maryann :But I wrote it, I wrote the script and recorded it and I had the best time and I realized when I finished it that was a childhood dream, Like I was standing in front of the mirror with a spoon or my hairbrush and I would do commercials and I would do my hair flip and the whole thing. And I thought and I even said this in front of people recently like I've always wanted to be famous. It wasn't that I wanted to be famous, it's that I wanted to be heard. I've always had a voice, and even high school summer camp, whatever it was I've always had a different perspective and a way to articulate it. And so people now will say, of course you have a podcast, Of course this or that and this is in the podcast that was released today with Carrie Pittman Hill that stuff was going to happen.
maryann :I didn't believe that I could do it. I was the one that was in the way of it coming true. And so, while there's a lot of hard work that goes into these things, the stuff that we're meant to do is born of us. We can't not do it, and that's what I want to help my kids know is that let's work on over these next 20 years that we have together what you are designed to do and what your unique skills point toward, and let's practice it as much as we can, because you have something special, whatever it is, and I want to help you develop that and be who you're supposed to be in the world. I want to help you develop that and be who you're supposed to be in the world, Emily.
Emily :I don't know how I'm supposed to follow that up. My story is much less profound, not true? It is because I had a you. I had you, so I didn't have to go through a lot of this kind of blossoming that you're experiencing now because I got to just have that person in my life who was affirming me and building me up and making me feel heard. You've always made me feel heard and seen and understood. It has genuinely impacted, probably, my ability to make every however brave decision I've ever made. I have demanded good things from my life Like I have not settled, and I think a lot of that is because of the person that you built me up to be Again, my story being much less exciting.
Emily :I was working with our mother for 10 years managing her private law practice and also managing our oil and gas, mineral and royalty interests, and I had a lot of shame around I'm pressing the easy button and I'm not reaching my full potential, and so I pivoted into tech and just jumped into the startup scene, was there for 4 years, reached a VP level, and now I'm jumping into another deep end and we talked about it on the podcast that just came out today where I'm?
Emily :I'm doing a little bit of a pivot again and I'm a mom right now. I just had my third baby and he's almost six months old and I decided to not go back to work, and that is rife with its own emotional and psychological minefields. I'm doing a lot of noticing how I'm both loving it and really scared, and I miss certain aspects of my professional life as far as it was in the tech scene. But doing the podcast with Marianne and continuing to work with her in certain ways on a daily basis has helped me keep my mind sharp, so to speak. But right now I'm just focusing on being a mom and I've never done that before. I've always had a lot of help, and so it's scary in its own way. But yeah, long-winded answer to say that's my background and it's all because of you.
Kim :I love y'all's dynamic. It's one of my favorite things about your podcast. I love hearing your guests and the guests that you have on, but when it's y'all's episodes, just you two.
Kim :I love it because while I have a sister, mary has sisters. I think anyone that has sisters that they're close with you just get very nostalgic listening to both of you. But y'all are also so just open and honest with each other and talk through things. I love being able to hear that dialogue. But two questions, one one's just something I'm noticing after your answer, emily was. I didn't know that, so I'm excited to listen to the episode today.
Kim :I did not know that you had that shift in your job. So I'm excited to listen to the episode today. I did not know that you had that shift in your job and I think that's going to be so amazing for listeners to hear you talk through that process, because I do think that's something that women struggle with just recognizing what season of life that they're in and what they need to be doing, and that that can change from months to years to, however.
Kim :That needs to change, but that being able to be fluid in that is okay. So I think that's going to be amazing that you guys are going to be on different ends of the spectrum being able to talk through that.
Emily :So true, thank you.
Kim :How are you finding your guests, cause I do love all the different guests that you have on. How are y'all brainstorming those and do you have an overall umbrella? How does that work?
maryann :It was a word document and now I have an incredible operations manager helping me, so it was magically transformed into a spreadsheet, right Haley, and we throw names in it. That's how we do. We're like I know this person and I know this person and Emily, who do you know? And we reach out to that person. So it's very scientific.
Kim :You know what? If there's anything we've learned by doing this, is that we'll have an idea and we'll have a plan. We'll have someone we want to reach out to and talk to about a specific topic, and then we never even talked about that topic once we get that person on which is also what we love
maryann :about it. That's right. Have y'all experienced that some of your topics are merging together? Yes, yeah, and so, emily, give your perspective on that. I won't ruin it.
Emily :About the merge, about the great merge. We will go into a for lack of a better term like an interview. Right, we'll have a plan, and then it just goes out the window, because then we just have these really deep conversations where people bare their souls and we do the same. And I've noticed one thing I'm a little nervous about is they're very thematic. We all have the same struggles how do we prioritize self-care, money and finance, especially when it comes to women? And so I hope that listeners find that there's enough variety. And back to your original question when we do select who we want to hear from, we do so imagining that we'll talk about something that's specific to them, and then it ends up always the great merge comes back into what are we struggling with today? Let's talk about it. And it's also quite comforting because, to your point as well, kim, like when I talk about not going back to work, I'm sure there are lots of women who have had to make that decision, and whether they wanted to or not. And it gets back to these conversations about the cost of childcare in America, the fact that we want it all. Can you actually have it all, or do you have to choose one thing at a time.
Emily :One of the things I loved about working was networking and going to events. Am I losing a part of myself that I really loved? Is that tool going to become duller and duller and then, if I try to pivot back into the workforce, is no one going to want me? Am I going to be unhirable? Or am I going to be working for somebody who's 20 years younger than me? These are all massive hypotheticals that aren't doing me anything and I know that, and that's a part of noticing, like noticing all of these fear-based thoughts that are going through my mind. And sorry, I totally just went on a tangent, but appreciate the faith and grace to do that because it's clearly something I'm a little nervous about right now.
Kim :But I think that's what's attractive about your concern about things merging together is that those are all the thoughts that are on people's minds.
maryann :And so.
Kim :Mary and I have talked a lot lately about the idea of storytelling. People really like to just hear stories and and ours was a it is an a speech therapy podcast, but what we were noticing was that the stories that people were telling, even though they might've been very specific to speech therapy, we're resonating with a lot of listeners that were not speech therapists and because of a lot of those topics that did come together out of all those conversations that everybody could connect to.
Kim :I think people also just like to hear that, because if it's something that they're dealing with or they're thinking about, and that's what's important, keep thinking. That's what's going to keep you sharp, and where you are is thinking about it and hearing about it and talking about it and working through it and not just getting complacent.
Emily :That was one thing that Marianne and I talked about in the very beginning. Marianne and I obviously are incredibly close and we tell each other everything. Are there women out there who have certain thoughts or certain fears that they're afraid to verbalize, or they don't have anyone to verbalize them to, and I wanted to say some things that maybe people weren't willing to say. I wanted it to be a space that was really raw and real and not like we were holding anything back, and so I hope that we've achieved that.
Mary :I think that everything that you've been saying is just so relatable. So so relatable.
Mary :A lot of what Kim and I have talked about in the creation of the speech source is how lucky are we to have the relationships and the community that we do? And that was one of the huge parts that came into deciding to interview other women and men and just say you know what? Not everyone is as privileged, frankly, to have friendships at all stage of life or to have these kind of connections and that's cyclical too is when, as your kids are going through different grades or stages and your friends are changing with it different grades or stages and your friends are changing with it, we just realized professionally your friends and your connections are evolving as you're in different communities and we felt the same way that we really valued our community so much.
Mary :And one of the things we were really scared about going off on our own was feeling like we were on an island not connected to anyone, not having those networking or that coworker to just go next door and ask a question to or tell them what's happening. Personally, and I think back to how it relates to your podcast is that the first thing we had to do is just have awareness. That was a fear that we had is not being connected, and once we were aware of that need for connection, then we could act on it and do something.
Mary :And so Kim and I created a professional networking group for small business owners and entrepreneurs in Fort Worth Because, again, once we recognize the need and figured out what was missing, we could actually act on it, and I think that what your podcast is doing and what you all talk about it does lend itself to own self-reflection so that your listeners can then act in their own life so that your listeners can then act in their own life.
maryann :That's right and respond instead of react, which most of us are moving at such a pace that we're just constantly even as Emily was bringing up the choice that she's making around really focusing on being a mom right now rather than contributing to the household income in that really literal way. We tend to react based on our fears and based on a sense of scarcity, and that is biologically wired into us to keep us out of trouble, to keep us alive. Right that we need to anticipate every fear, every challenge, every need so we can get out ahead of it. And when we do that and we don't stop to reflect, we don't stop to notice. We are acting out of the fear instead of looking at the positives of whatever situation, because there are more positives in this for Emily and more positives for most of us that have the ability to make that choice than negatives. But we have our joy stolen and we have our peace stolen by not relaxing and giving ourselves the time and the space to make decisions that are best for us overall.
Mary :And the ability to get creative. Yeah, really, is that when you don't plan ahead and you don't have every little thing planned out for you, then you give yourself the ability to be creative, the space to think. You know what? Let me be proactive, or let me look at the scenario and come up with a solution, instead of reacting in the moment, like you said. Such a great point.
Kim :This has been so much fun, Emily. I'm so glad I got to meet you today.
maryann :I feel like I know you, because I know, marianne, and I listened to your podcast but, marianne, I'm so glad I got to do this with you.
Kim :I've known Marianne personally for gosh six, seven even longer than that, because seven. We've chaired galas together. You have just been a huge mentor and inspiration to me both just personally in my personal life and professionally also. So this has been great that I've gotten to talk with you on this podcast. I'm so excited about what both of you are doing and thank you guys so much for taking the time to talk with us today.
maryann :Thanks y'all. Thank you, kim and thank you, mary. Lovely to get to meet you, and y'all are doing incredible, kim. And thank you, Mary. Lovely to get to meet you, and y'all are doing incredible things.
Kim :We're cheering you on. Thanks for listening. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss an episode.
Mary :Leave us a review and tell your friends all about the amazing guests you're hearing on the Speech Source Podcast.
