Ep 48: Belonging With Sarah Ing And Meghan O’Donnell

Today we're chatting about belonging, and as you'll learn from two of my amazing clients, Sarah Ing and Meghan O'Donnell, you can turn personal challenges into opportunities for growth, and use them as light that heals the world making it a better place. 

When you tune in, you'll also learn tips for measuring your own progress, and why you want to take a moment to pause, celebrate, and see how far you've come! 

So ... get comfy, and settle in because you BELONG here. 

What you'll learn in this episode:

• What it means to turn personal challenges into opportunities for growth 
• Why it's important to honor your progress and accomplishments
• Strategies for overcoming imposter syndrome
• How coaching helped Sarah and Meghan have a sense of belonging in male-dominated industries

How to connect with Sarah:

Sarah Ing is a re-inventor! She coaches women in tech to ask for more and make their tucked-away-dreams into a reality. As an engineering leader and founder with a past life as an English-major journalist, she understands how to adapt and curate life. In her free time, she loves learning to hip hop dance, podcasting, and park sauntering. Find out more here sarahingcoaching.com or @sarahingcoaching.

How to connect with Meghan:

Meghan is a sports analytics and communications professional with experience working for ESPN's Statistics and Information Group, College GameDay, the Philadelphia Eagles, and her own draft analytics company, Character Plus Consulting. 

After experiencing sexism and harassment in the industry, Meghan became an advocate for women in sport and contributed to multiple studies on the topic, including, "A vicious cycle: Women's experiences with hostile work environments in the professional sports industry" and "Scarcity and queen bee syndrome: Women's role in creating and maintaining toxic work environments in sport organizations". In an effort to change the narrative, she launched empowHERed in 2023, an organization dedicated to providing opportunities, mentorship, resources, and support to women looking to break into the sports industry.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Ep 14 : Look How Far You've Come
• The Gap and The Gain
• EmpowHERed on Instagram
• Sarah Ing Coaching on Instagram

How to connect with Marie:

• On the Web | The Local Bloom
• Instagram: @the.bloom.coach
• All Things Marie on LinkTree

JOIN THE BLOOM ROOM!
We'll take all these ideas and apply them to our lives. Follow me on Instagram at @the.bloom.coach to learn more and snag a spot in my group coaching program!

Transcript

Welcome to the Bloom Your Mind Podcast, where we take all of your ideas for what you want, and we turn them into real things. I'm your host, certified coach Marie McDonald. Let's get into it.

Well, hello everybody and welcome to the Bloom Your Mind podcast. Today I have some very special guests for you, two of my own clients that I have gotten to know over the course of the last year, two people that I have so much respect for and who just are amazing examples of individuals that are creating things in the world that are a true expression of who they are and an expression of what you can do when you bring an idea into fruition in the world. 

So, I'm going to have them introduce themselves to you in just a moment, but before I do that, I just want to share that the reason I brought these two individuals together, these two clients of mine, are because they are exemplary in a specific way. 

Each one of them has lived through different experiences in their lives that have presented challenges and growth to them, and what they did is with those challenges and with that growth really has resonated with me in my heart and mind as I've gotten to know them and as I've coached them, as the thing that I love the most in coaching, which is when we take something that we have lived through, that has been challenging for us, and we turn it into something that heals the world or offers something to the world that makes the world a better place. 

And each one of these two individuals are exemplary of that to me, and so that's why they're here together. They haven't met before this morning, so, without further ado, I'll let you each introduce yourselves. 

Sarah, do you want to start? 

SARAH

Yeah, I can start. And, Meghan, I'm so excited to hear about you now after that introduction. You sound amazing. And hello everyone. I'm Sarah and I am a reinvention coach for women in tech. So, my background is I reinvented myself. I was an English major it's like bumbling along. I was traveling a lot, I was a writer, then I worked in insurance, which was super, super boring, and then I switched to a career in tech. 

I was a software engineer for nearly eight years, became an engineering manager and then I realized like the thing that I love the most about that was like doing the one-on-ones and doing the coaching, and specifically for women and women who wanted to ask for more and find that kind of fulfillment. And so, I went to Marie, and we can go into that more, I'm sure, and turn that idea into fruition and like now it's out in the real world and I've been coaching for over a year now. 

MARIE

Amazing. Thank you, Sarah. What about you, Meghan? 

MEGHAN

Well, nice to meet you, Sarah and Marie. Thank you, I'm Meghan. I have been in the sports industry my entire career. I started at ESPN, kind of in statistics and analytics, and that's pretty much been my path this entire time. 

Spent the last five years working in the Philadelphia Eagles doing draft research and then recently, with my good friend and one of my former intern roommates, actually with ESPN, we just launched Empower, which is a company designed to create more opportunities for women in sports and really diversify the pipeline. 

That's too often, I think, there's people kind of cheerleading or saying we want more women in sports but we're not doing enough to actually create those opportunities and take those actionable steps. I'm very excited to be here and excited to learn more about you, Sarah, and just continue this conversation. 

MARIE

Beautiful. 

SARAH

Yeah, I can absolutely see now why we were meant to meet each other. It makes sense, right. 

MARIE

Super cool, really cool. Yeah, we've been scheduling and had this interview in our minds and hearts for a couple months now, so this is like for all you listeners we're really excited to be here today. So, I think that I am launching this group, the Bloom Room, which is women usually, but people coming together to turn an idea into a real thing. 

And one thing that's really interesting has been having people talk through what idea they want to work on, because some folks have an idea for something that they've always wanted to do, like write a book or start a podcast or start a business in their mind. Other people have no idea what they would do, right, what idea they're like. 

Okay, I want to be in a program or be in a space or be in a position in my life where I'm helping myself to grow, I'm pushing myself to realize my dreams and my potential, but I have no idea where I'd start or what I do. And then there's sort of a third category. 

That are people who take something hard that they've lived through and actually turn that into something beautiful. And I kind of see both of you in that category, as I said, and I would love to zero in on that to start and just hear about each one of you. How do you think that the specific challenges that you've lived through are feeding into who you're becoming and what you're offering to the world? 

MEGHAN

Okay, I think, like I said, I started my career at ESPN and being in the sports industry in general as I imagine with Tech 2, was very male dominated, but specifically on the analytics side. So, I was in kind of a department with probably 45 people and there were two women, myself included, and it eventually got up to three. But while I was there experienced a lot of challenges. 

You know, I loved the work that I was doing. I loved working on college football, that sort of thing but at first it was just kind of these sexist comments or misogynistic things being said or done, and then kind of progressed to sexual harassment. You know, my manager was very. He'd use our one-on-ones to talk about his sex life. 

He'd come up behind me and rub my shoulders. He told me that my end of year evaluation depended on me setting him up on a date with my roommate. And this is all when I was 22 years old, just out of college. And it's funny because, looking back at my college experience, I always was the only girl in the room in these sport management classes and my professor would always say, you know, as a woman, you're going to face different challenges. 

And I was like, oh my gosh, it's 2016, 2017, whatever it was, I was like that's like a thing of the past. And then I got there and realized like no, this is like still very much a challenge. And it got to the point where I hate going to work, even though I love the job. Like I said, I loved my role. I hated going in, being in the research room, being surrounded by these people and dealing with the comments. 

I tried to take it to HR and to the woman who ran the department and was told basically, you know, I've been places where you know I came up in the sports industry in the 60s and the 70s like I know actual sexism and sexual harassment you're not dealing with that. It was kind of made to feel like I was insane, and I got to the point where I was getting physically ill and I went to the doctor and they were like it's stress, like there's nothing. 

As you know, it's nothing else besides that, because I was just so stressed out being in this environment and I'm so worried. You know, is this I'm 22, 23 years old, is this the end of my sports career? Do I need to leave? Like, is this what every job in sports is like? Is this the industry itself? So thankfully I got to the point where I was able to come back to the Philly area, left that situation and had much better experience, kind of throughout my career since then. 

But it was always something in the back of my mind at first. It was like it was enough to be out. I was like I just want to be done with it; I want to forget my experience. But then I got to the point where I felt like no, I need to do more because there's going to be other women who go to that specific department and are still dealing with these same challenges or assigned to my manager. So, I need to speak out about that, and I also think more needs to be done. 

Just to it wouldn't have necessarily happened if there was more equity, if that room was more of a 5050 split and not 45 men and two women involved. So, it was something that just kind of in the back of my mind is myself and my friend Sam, my business partner. 

She and I had always kind of thought that we wanted to do something more and the time was right within the last year here to try to create and empower, like we said we always talk about, like we did this for our younger cells, to try to make it a more equitable space, to provide mentorship, to show young women now people and women in positions that they want to be in in the future. 

While there's a horrible time, while I was there, I think it's really kind of shaped my career path since and shaped the way that I manage and interact with people and how I want to do business and work with people. 

MARIE

And where are you now with Empowhered? 

MEGHAN

So, we launched like five or six months ago at this point and we are kind of fully launching. We have our mentor program up and running with industry professionals. We have over 40 sports organizations who are partnered with us. 

We're working with a number of college programs and college students and, which is very, very exciting, we had a call with some of our members last night and it's just like a really like not the play on words, but it's like empowering to like talk to these people and see that like you're actually able to kind of make a difference, even if it's just connecting them to somebody else in the industry. They're so grateful and it's just like a really like. It feels really good to be able to help. 

MARIE

Amazing. Thank you. It's so amazing how much you've done in such a short period of time, and I have one more question for you before we pass over to Sarah. How do you, how does that story or that goal to help your younger selves, how does that live in the day to day for you? Do you stay in touch with in day-to-day? 

MEGHAN

I think it's something and you've really helped me with this, especially Marie is that sometimes we get so caught up in like our to-do list because it seems never, I mean it really is never ending. As soon as you cross one thing off, you know, like Sarah and Marie, you both know like something else gets added to it. So sometimes we can get so stressed out about that We'll call each other. You know my jaw is so tight. I haven't stood up all day. I've been at my desk, I panicked about it. 

And then, like I said, we had a call last night with a few members, just like a quick, like you know, a Zoom call, to like meet and greet and kind of learn where do you want to go in the industry, who can we introduce you to, how can we help facilitate that? 

And just having that like it was just so refreshing to hear their perspectives and see, wait, like this is actually making a difference. So, I think we try when we get into that space, like and again you've helped me with this like to remind ourselves, like, even if we don't get the meeting that we want with this team next week or we don't add this service next, you know, next month. 

It's already helping people and it's already like such a you know, something that we didn't have when we were in college or young professionals, and it's already being able to kind of provide that mentorship, that piece. 

So just reminding myself that it's not about the to-do list, it's kind of a bit taking that broader view has been helpful, because I admit that I get stuck in the day to day. I didn't do enough, I didn't accomplish enough today, I didn't check things off my to-do list. I was just talking to Marie about this earlier, so yeah. 

MARIE

Beautiful. And two things I just want to pull out for everybody listening that are so important for all of us to hear are that sort of extrapolation. Meghan and we were just talking about how you know we should look at the calendar and see back-to-back meetings and feel frustrated or something around that. 

Yeah, just like, when am I actually going to get to the work? But always being aware of that thought and think, wait, this is the work. This is me like my calendar is back-to-back with all these people interested in what I'm offering, and this was just an idea, however, you know, six months ago or a year ago or whatever it was. 

And then the other thing that you're referencing is this practice that we talk about on the episode Look How Far You've Come, which is our brains are so focused on measuring where we are now in comparison with our ideal or where we want to be. 

And it is so much more efficient and beneficial and such a happier way to live, but also more productive, to measure where we are now against where we started, and that's measuring the gain instead of the gap is what that's called from a book called The Gap and The Gain. All right, what about you, Sarah? Let's hear about how your challenge informs what you're up to in the world. 

SARAH

So much of what you said, Meghan, about those challenges. It feels like solidarity, but it's also super frustrating because I'm like I've had those experiences too. My first job as a software engineer was in my early 20s and same sort of things Like I remember I would be. I was at a startup, my first job in tech I would code. I was coding maybe at like five o'clock.

A reasonable time to still be working. I'm like boss would pull like pull me over to like take shots and talk about his sex life, and I thought that was normal. That's just like how it is in tech. And we didn't really have HR. It was like a 30-person company. The person that was HR asked me once to make it rain dollar bills on her once and filmed it. 

So, it was like there was no HR. There was tons of stories that were just thought, oh, that's how it is and that's how I need to like play along if I want to be in this industry and make it. And, like Meghan, like I was, I was the only female in a team of 13 engineers and on top of that, I was junior. 

So, I was like okay, I'm not going to be the outspoken one or say any of this is weird, like this is just how it is and there's so much more knowledgeable. They're helping me. I'm just really grateful to be here and, looking back now, I actually ended up quitting and leaving that job after a year and a half because I was like, oh, this is something feels like not right. I'm not really liking showing up in this and partaking in it All sorts of things. 

And then I realized, like going into different industries and tech. So, I worked in the music industry, and I also worked in ed tech, which is really fun. I worked at a company called SkillShare and there are different company cultures, but there are some things that of being the only person that I'm going to be, of being the only person in the room, especially like for women, when I was a manager of a team. 

There are some things that have come up that we face specifically, and I would say imposter syndrome is super prevalent, especially in tech of holy shit, like oh, I don't know if we can curse, but this is what I hear. 

A lot is like I don't know if I’m supposed to be doing this, like if I'm good enough, if I can even, like, speak up about this with someone, think I'm stupid. Well, they think like I don't belong, and it was just so one to be on that receiving end and hearing that so much from, like, the people on my team. 

It was like, okay, I want to do something about this. And so I realized, like the best parts of management for me we're not talking about like the road maps and nitty gritty of the code, it was coaching, it was the one on ones, and so I took that idea, with Marie's help, and it's like, okay, I know I want to start my own business and I know I want to help these women because I care so much about a problem that doesn't need to be there. 

It's a problem that isn't a problem like just wanting to do our best, like in an industry that's quite difficult to be in, especially like rising up in the ranks. So, yeah, that's how I ended up starting my coaching business and I love it. It's like the most energizing thing, like I can be super drained after a long day and be like, okay, this is like actually making a difference and I'm getting to talk to amazing women and it's the best thing ever. 

MARIE

Okay. So, we talk sometimes about believing in the after until it's real right. I'd love to hear from each one of you and Sarah, you can start to follow up on this like what is the after that you're going for? What is the possibility, like the future possibility and solution that you're contributing to right? What's your hope for women in tech, for the future? 

SARAH

Belonging. So, I think of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, but I think belonging is something that everybody is entitled to feel and is something that we all strive to feel, and it can be so difficult and that happens super prevalent in tech of like should I be here and I would love one to like, have women feel like, yes, I'm owning this, I'm so good at this, like I have come up such a long way and look at me, go and look at me asking for more, and I've talked about negotiating and asking for promotions and self-advocacy at work, and then I also think, reinvention, so the possibility of are there other things that I meant for? And having the bravery to be like let me try and experiment with this and see what I like. 

MARIE

Beautiful, love that word belonging and everything that it invokes. There's so much movement and so much work and so much momentum happening in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and I just love how much I'm hearing that word in everyday, everyday language now versus all these days before, Meghan, what about you? 

MEGHAN

I'd say representation. I think that's especially in the sports industry. The hope is that you get to the point and not just representation in terms of like oh we have like almost 50/50 in our organization but like representation at manager and leader level, leadership levels, because I don't think it's enough to just get women kind of in the door in the building, like they need to, like, you know, like Sarah’s saying, have this sense of belonging and understanding. 

You know overcoming this imposter syndrome, know that you can get to the next level. You should be in these leadership positions, you should be in these meeting rooms, you know making decisions for the team or the organization. So, I'd say that's kind of my big hope and like what, what we're doing, like Sam and I, is the goals to kind of get that representation piece, especially in the sports industry. 

MARIE

So, these goals of representation and belonging, and this through line of this being the experience for women in these industries, where there's been harm and exclusion, all kinds of harm has happened right. So, this is your vision that you're working towards. What is your advice to women who are experiencing this in any field or any facet of their lives? 

What would your advice be? Based on that moment when you got yourself unstuck from being in it and then there was some kind of pivot that happened that shook you up and moved you towards creating a solution or moving out of it. What would your piece of advice be, or I don't know, any wisdom that you have to share? 

MEGHAN

I'd say that I think the biggest thing for me is recognizing that oftentimes, like the, when I feel like I'm facing this like insurmountable problem so much of it is in my head and my own self-doubt and recognizing that, like you know, in that moment it feels like you can't do anything, you can't take the next step forward and that you're the only one dealing with it. 

But it's been helpful and it's really helpful for me having Sam, you know, having a co-founder who is in this with me all the time, but knowing that we both go through it all the time and all of my friends are dealing with the same thing. So, I'd say, recognizing that what you're going through it's not unique, everyone's experiencing it and you're able to. It's very much kind of Murray's help. 

In my own head it's like okay, I'm the one thinking that this is such a terrible thing or that I can't do, I can't possibly move on and grow from this. 

This was a terrible thing that happened to me, and I can't grow from that. When in reality it's like no, this is an opportunity to get out of a really toxic environment. It's an opportunity to move on from something. I had this experience; I now know what I don't want to do. 

I know what I don't want to be like as a manager or whatever it may be, and I have the opportunity to kind of do whatever I want to. And it's been like having that mindset and trying to be a little bit more relaxed and intentional with those actions. I feel like I see results, like right away, and then when I get back into that super stress, like mentality, that's what I'm like oh my gosh, everything's going poorly again. 

So, I feel like just kind of taking a step back and recognizing that a lot of it's coming from your own thoughts, that you know you're not enough for yourself doubt, and that it's not what's reality. 

MARIE

Beautiful. How about you, Sarah? 

SARAH

I would say two things you are capable and start before you're ready. And so, this goes for other people and definitely for myself. My past self, my current self too, at times definitely need a reality check sometimes. 

So I would say you're capable because I think about the people that I coach or just people that I talk to, women that I talk to, and they're so capable and able to do like a myriad of things, anything really, and there's so much doubt, that kind of clouds, that I just think sticking with that reminder like you're capable of doing things and like go after it. 

And I think this mindset of starting before you're ready, it's a little bit like design thinking of like let's prototype something, let's experiment, and like try a little bit of it and see how it goes, like it doesn't need to be the perfect result. 

And for me and like my career I was senior engineer and I really wanted to be an engineering manager and get that leadership position and I thought this was going to be like my perfect career. And how I got that promotion was I didn't feel ready and was kind of just waiting for someone to like hand to me, for them to tap me on the shoulder and be like, okay, it's the right time. 

And then, after a year of going through review cycles, I ended up setting up a call with the VP of engineering and being like, look, I really want this position. Like here is why I'm capable here. I like some examples of my work and like what I'm capable of, and even though I didn't kill ready and in my head I was like, oh my god, like what happens if they say, yes, it was okay, like let them make the decision with the facts, but let me get my name out there and let them know that this is my dream, and like what I'm going after. 

MARIE

Yes, and there are so many. I love that start before you feel like you're ready, and there are so many different ways that the opposite beliefs manifest themselves in our minds. I talked to so many clients who feel like I need to learn more first. I want more passive action. I need to become more of an expert. I need to know more before I will be worthy of starting something. That's one thing, right. Another thing is but I don't know how. I don't know how to do this yet, and the answer is always just starting, you'll figure it out, right. We can't know how until we've been through it. 

And another thing that I hear from people is I don't see anybody that looks like me having done exactly what I'm trying to do. 

Right, and that's another reason that feels like you might not be ready because you don't see an example of it out there. 

But that's the whole trick of innovation and of change is that you're not going to see exactly what you do exactly whatever it is that your idea is until you do it. And so being willing to sort of pioneer and put yourself out there, so good, and I love that idea of, as we talk about our vision, opportunity comes to us, because not only do we recognize it through our opportunity bias more easily, but other people think of us and suggest things to us. 

Right as we start to talk about what our idea is or what our dream is, things start flowing towards us that match it. Okay, so tell me a little bit about what your own journey with coaching has been, and has there been a transformation in you, what has it been like, and what tools and practices have been most valuable to you and to each one of you? I'd love to hear a little bit about that, as you've taken your idea and made it into more and more of a real thing in the world. 

SARAH

Oh, it's my turn. I would say so. My coaching experience and starting my own business has been a lot of talking at the beginning. So much talking, so much telling people I think I should do this, but like, maybe I should go to school, maybe I should do this, maybe I should put this other blocker in the way, maybe I need the perfect website, and so my background is engineering. 

I could make that website, but I still, like it took me like months to actually put it together. I was like maybe I need a higher writer my backgrounds in English. But I still was like, let me make like a to-do list basically of all those blockers, those excuses essentially. And so that was, oh, maybe it was two or three years ago. And so, I started coaching a little bit there, and that was mainly pro bono, to just get a feel of what coaching would be like. And then I ended up getting promoted as an engineering manager and getting more coaching under my belt that way. 

And then I realized I want to kind of go full steam ahead and really figure this out and accelerate, like get some kind of catalyst going where I can unblock things in my way and just like build my coaching business and I also was really struggling with like figuring out my niche, and so I heard a podcast with Marie. 

This feels very Meta, and Marie was talking about her experience and has built her career like very quickly and very effectively and just with a lot of empathy and like clear how thoughtful and like holistically you also view building your business. It's like a part of your life, with balance. That was really important to me and so that's why I started coaching. It's like I really need someone to see what I'm not seeing and to talk me through my thought patterns of my excuses and help me figure out. 

Marie helped me figure out like this is your niche based on, like you know, my experience and what I keep talking about and what I care about, and so that was, I think it was last year, and since then Marie's helped me figure out like pricing and my where to find those clients, and it's worked out really well. 

And in terms of tools, I would say I mean one coaching has been so helpful in doing that and I think one of the tools you mentioned this earlier, both of you is looking at how far we've come and just being like these are the things I'm super grateful for and like I'm appreciative of. Like look at all this stuff that I've done and appreciate it and be like okay, let me take a moment to be like wow, okay, now we can continue on. But like, let me take a moment. 

MARIE

Yeah, recognition and celebration of ourselves. I want to pull out something that you said, because we don't have this the audience for the podcast isn't mostly coaches, and but something that you said related to building your coaching practice is so applicable to everyone, which is you didn't know what your niche should be. 

I see this with a lot of coaches, and you said but what I kept talking about and what I clearly cared so much about was what my niche actually was, which is women in tech. 

And I think that's so common for people who are thinking well, okay, I don't feel fully like myself in my life, something is missing, but I don't know what it is. I want to do something more, but I don't know what it is. Or, you know are just kind of reaching for something to put their energy and their love and their time into. 

It always tends to be that what is the thing you hear yourself talking about the most? What is the thing that, when you really look back at all these conversations with people that you love, that sparks you up and brings you joy? 

And you hear yourself and have heard yourself for many years saying oh, I don't know, maybe someday, right. Or you hear yourself going back and back to caring about a specific topic. You listen to podcasts about it, you read books about it. You find friends that have that common interest.

So, often the thing that really gives us so much direction and joy and purpose in life is right in front of us, but we just don't value it as that. So, I really love that part of what you said. Where's that? You, Meghan? 

MEGHAN

I think for me, with starting empowered, I view myself as a very high achiever, and so I will make to-do lists, like I said, and then get even if I have 100 things on the to-list and get 90 of them done, I'm like, oh my gosh, today was a failure, I didn't do enough. I want everything that I'm doing. Like, oh my gosh, it'd be great if we could implement this tomorrow. Or you send an email. I'm like, oh, I want it. It's been 24 hours. Why haven't I heard back from somebody? 

And very much kind of get stressed about productivity and that sort of thing. And so, I think that was something I was already kind of going to try and know, whether it was reading books or listening to podcasts, being like, okay, how can I be more productive? What do I need to be doing to calm myself down? Why am I always so stressed about this? I think it would be in a better place if I could relax and actually execute some of this and not get in my head so much about take that step back and be able to see what I've done and where we've come from, the steps we've taken. And so, Marie was recommended to me by a co-worker and was able to kind of start meeting with her and I think it's been really helpful. 

The Gap and The Gain you mentioned earlier is one of the things that we talked about that really early on and I come back to that all the time, especially on days where I get that I am really stuck in my to-do list or thinking like I haven't done enough. 

It allows me to take a step back and be like, oh wow, actually it's only been five months, it's only been six months, and this was just an idea, or we didn't even have a website. We've gone to these different events and opportunities that I wouldn't have necessarily been able to have and then to appreciate more of those times when we're getting to talk to, like I said, interacting with members or talking to people and actually realizing that the impact you're able to have, I think that makes it all worth it. 

It's like that's what I want to be doing and I'm able to kind of appreciate that now more than I've been able to in the past. 

MARIE

Yeah, the moment that you're in right now, yes, yes, I love that so much. In so many ways, we often either are past oriented or future oriented, depending on our brains, on our own unique human brains, and so we're thinking about something before that's happened, before that defined us, that we're trying to get unstuck from, or a goal in the future, and we miss what we're in right now, which, of course, is so commonly experienced in the human condition. 

And I love that idea of understanding the impact like that, as a form of a way to be present understanding the impact that you can have in the moment that you're in right now. Every one of those meetings can be an opening for somebody. Every conversation that you have could be somebody's moment when they realize that they don't have a voice, that they want to break out of a cycle that they're in. 

For each one of you, you're doing such incredible work in each day-to-day moment. I love that. 

Okay, y'all, I want to make sure that everybody can hear how to find you. If they're interested in hearing more about what you're doing. Can you each share sort of whether you have a website or Instagram, or how can people find you? 

MEGHAN

Absolutely, so we have a website. It's myempowhered.com, but I'll spell it, because we spell it with an H-E-R, so it's M-Y-E-M-P-O-W-H-E-R-E-D.com. And we're also on Instagram at E-M-P-O-WH-E-R-E-D and that'll be in the show notes for anybody that wants to grab it. 

MARIE

And what about you, Sarah? 

SARAH

Yep, so I have a website, it's the same thing, so it's Sarah, my first name with an H as well, so S-A-R-A-H. The last name is Ing I-N-G coaching Like, should I spell that out? coachingcom. Or on Instagram at Sarah Ing coaching. 

MARIE

Beautiful, okay before we wrap up, I just want to say thank you, both of you, for who you are. 

My grandma used to tell me to the she had dementia and her name's Marie she's who I was named after and she was such a special relationship and to her very last days, even when she didn't really recognize who any of us were, she would have a moment of clarity and she would say thank you for being you. 

And I always hear her voice and I still feel that for both of you, thank you for being the person that you are, that took something that was challenging and hard and painful in your lives and overcoming it and transmuting it into something that is an offering to heal the world. 

I'm just so grateful for each one of you and to have had the opportunity to get to know you and support you and hopefully bolster up your voice and what you're doing in the world, because you are making the most of it, what you're doing in the world because you are making the world a better place, both of you. 

So, thank you. And also, before we wrap up, is there anything else that you want the audience to know or people to know, now that you have this microphone and in front of you for the moment that you haven't said yet. 

MEGHAN

I was going to say thank you, Marie. I don't think I have anything else to add, I just appreciate thank you and for introducing me to Sarah too. Sarah, it was so good to kind of hear your story. I think so much overlap obviously different industries but it's really just cool to hear and again upsetting to hear kind of what you went through, but very cool to see what you've been able to do from that and I'm glad that Marie introduced us. So, thank you both so much. 

SARAH

Yeah, thank you, Marie, thanks to your grandma as well. I love that phrase and that story is very touching. And, Meghan, it was great to meet you. I, we just have a lot of, like you said, similarities and it's so cool that you're like building this business with your co-founder and it just sounds like you've made so much progress. 

You're doing all the things you have such a long. I have no doubt that you're like accomplishing so much and getting so much stuff done and also making a difference, like, more importantly, the outcome of that, and it's just so clear how much you care about it too. 

MEGHAN

Thank you so much, I appreciate that. 

MARIE

Well, thank you both. Everyone, find Sarah and Meghan in the show notes and reach out to us. Also, if you have any questions about anything you heard here today. Thank you both again for being here and everybody. That's what we've got for you this week and we will see you next week. 

Thanks for hanging out with me, friends. If you like today's episode and you want more of them, please take two minutes right now to subscribe and give me a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. Then send this episode to a friend. See you next time.