Embracing New Chapters in Education and Podcasting with Dr. Laura Maloney

When life handed Dr. Laura Maloney lemons, she didn't just make lemonade—she launched a podcast, earned a doctorate, and reshaped the educational landscape along the way.  Ex-banker turned educator and now podcaster, Laura is channeling her Floridian sunshine into the hearts and minds of students and listeners alike.

Her narrative is an inspiring blend of dedication and adaptability, as she candidly discusses transitioning from a high-flying banking career to the humbling yet rewarding world of teaching. In her ascent to digital school leadership, she unpacks the dance of managing vast online academic programs and emphasizing the importance of innovative strategies in a virtual learning environment.

We then, step into the more personal side of Laura's world, where the art of podcasting offers solace and self-discovery. Through her show, Happy Thrive Vibes, Laura extends an invitation to embrace our stories, losses, and the quest for life-work balance. It's a testament to the healing power of storytelling and the joy found in embracing imperfection. 

Laura's Bio:

Meet Laura Maloney, the dynamic force behind the Happy Thrive Vibes podcast, launched in November 2023 to inspire listeners to create a joy-filled life, and shift from surviving to thriving, by doing more of what they love.

As an innovative educator and advocate, Laura is committed to breaking down educational barriers. With a rich background in both traditional and digital learning environments, she brings a transformative leadership style and a track record of success in student-centered interventions. Beyond education, her first career was in the financial industry, bringing a unique blend of business acumen to her leadership. 

Tune in to Happy Thrive Vibes to join her journey in spreading positivity and empowering others to embrace a fulfilling life. Experience insightful conversations that elevate the spirit, as Laura shares her transformative insights with podcast listeners worldwide.

You can find Laura's Podcast, YouTube, and contact info here: https://linktr.ee/happythrivevibes?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=b36ff761-3ef7-4227-a537-81e96c4370a8

**The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute  legal advice;  instead, all information, content and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only. Information on this podcast  may not constitute the most up-to-date legal or other information. This podcast contains links to other third party websites. Such links are only for the convenience of the reader, user or browser.   

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

So are you looking for more inspiration and possibility in midlife and beyond? Join me, leslie Maloney, proud wife, mom, author, teacher and podcast host, as I talk with people finding meaning in Moxie in their life after 50. Interviews that will energize you and give you some ideas to implement in your own life. I so appreciate you being here Now. Let's get started. All right, everybody, welcome back to another episode of Meeting in Moxie After 50. And welcome, laura Maloney. No relation to my happy little podcast home and place. So glad you could be here today.

Speaker 2: 0:46

Thank you, I feel like we're just sisters from other ministers, that's all.

Speaker 1: 0:50

I know, I know, as Laura and I were chatting here before we hit record, we were just. Of course, we have the same last name and also really, florida girls and true and blue, and and so we were talking about all the different places we have lived in Florida and it's so nice to to have a conversation like that, cause there's not a lot, a lot of so much in common too for where we've landed.

Speaker 1: 1:18

We do. We have a whole lot in common. She's got her background as an education as well, which we're going to get to, and the thing I really wanted to mention that's really cool happening in her life that really brought us together is she is the podcast host of Happy Thrive Vibes. Let me say that again, I just love the way that rolls off my tongue the Happy Thrive Vibes podcast and that just sounds like a place that I want to go and hang out for a little while.

Speaker 2: 1:48

I think five years ago when I created that title, it wasn't like now you can look it up and they're like thriving and vibing and vibing and thriving and happy thrives and there's. But you know, a couple of years ago my husband just would say I don't know, that doesn't roll off the tongue and it's kind of clunky and I'm like I like it, it's, it's what I'm going for Happy, thrive, vibes.

Speaker 1: 2:09

So now it's my thing. I think it's t-shirt worthy, you know. I can see it on a t-shirt somewhere.

Speaker 2: 2:16

That needs to be my next endeavor, for sure, after business cards. I have one step at a time, so so, laura.

Speaker 1: 2:23

so take us back to um. You have, uh, you know, as I mentioned, you've got a a uh, very pretty deep background. You have your doctorate, so so I'm actually talking to Dr Laura Maloney here, although I know that's not something. You know that'sa portion of who you are and I so get that. But there's this other place that you want to play as well, um, which I think is true for a lot of us. Um, you know, we don't want to get pigeonholed into different boxes, which is what people want to do.

Speaker 2: 2:56

Um and a lot of people think of doctor and they think very formal, but honestly it was my goal. I mean, it was just one of my goals. I'm a very goal-oriented person and I had set goals for myself, like by 40, I want to be trilingual I had very lofty goals. The only one that I got was my doctorate, and it was not by the time I was 40, but it was close to it. But I was past 40 when I ended up graduating with it and it was just one of my goals. I always thought I just wanted to be involved in higher education and I've been in public K-12 education for so long and when I finally got my doctorate and I got into higher education I do love higher education because I love mentoring and working with and teaching and developing, but I love kids so much and I I I just found myself staying in public education more than helping in higher education and I just love working with.

Speaker 2: 3:56

I just love working with students and teachers and I feel like they they're still moldable when they're in public school, but when they're in high school, you know, when they're in higher education, they've got their mindset, they've got their own goals. And it's hard, it's easier to work with the students, even the ones that aren't. You know, they don't appear very lovable, but they are all lovable in their own way.

Speaker 1: 4:19

Yes, and you're always, you're always planting seeds in those situations, more than you ever realize.

Speaker 1: 4:30

I, you know, I used to think I've told a story many times, or told a story like this that I so many times.

Speaker 1: 4:33

I'm sure you can relate that I had a student this would have been when I was teaching high school and a student that seemed very disinterested, you know, wanted to put their head down all the time, just, and and I and I kind of just thought to myself, well, they must not like me or something like that. You know, and I just sort of, you know, you get to a point in education where you don't take it, you try not to take it personal, and you really don't after a while, take it too personally, and I, that would be the student that would come up to me at the end of the year and say, oh man, I love this class, miss Filoni, I got so much out of this class or something, and I and I would just be on the inside going, well, I learned, I learned. That's why I didn't take it personal, because you never really know what is going on by the body language and what is on the outside, the external, what is presenting itself. Can you relate to that?

Speaker 2: 5:27

I can. I mean immediately. I went to a student who would come to my class and they would fall asleep and I would think, my God, I must be really boring. And education was my second career. My first career was business and finance and and I taught at high, in higher education, even before I was in public education. So I thought, well, maybe, you know, I must just be out of touch with these kids. You know, I'm a non-mom, I'm a step mom and an aunt, but I don't have school age kids. So, you know, I came in and I was very formal and very business and I thought I must just be knocking this kid out every day with my, with my presentations, because you know, he just would fall asleep and I and I and, and, and you know he wouldn't, he didn't, he didn't really want to talk to me, he wasn't really. You know, he didn't want to be, he didn't want anybody to break into his shell. And I thought I'm going to get. I'm figuring out what's wrong, what's wrong with this kid, I'm figuring out what's going on. And I stopped taking it personal because I could tell that it wasn't personal. I mean, I could tell that very early on, but I still wanted to just connect to find out what was happening. And he said so.

Speaker 2: 6:28

I always taught electives and so usually the my students chose my class and I taught six class periods. But I taught grades nine through 12, four different preps, six class periods a day, and they usually chose my class. So I would still have the students who were a little unruly, but it's not like they had to take my class to graduate high school. You know, I was just. I was their elective he's. Finally he said to me one day I'm like, do you need food? Like, are you so exhausted because you're starving? Do you need, do you need, a protein bar or something? And then he would let me like squirrel them some, some protein bars every now and then.

Speaker 2: 7:05

And finally, when he used to know miss, you know, to be honest with you, my other classes are so loud and I don't get to sleep very much at night because I have to watch my little brothers and little sisters, so your class is actually the most peaceful class that I have that I can actually take a nap. And I was like, okay, that makes me feel good that they, that he felt safe enough, because it obviously didn't feel safe enough to lay his head down and close his eyes in any other class and it was just loud and rambunctious. But I was like maybe I need to jazz it up a little bit in here, but it did make me feel like I was a safe place for him and I that's why I went into education was to be the safe place for anybody who I could be that for I was. I'm always trying to be the educator that I wish that I had when I was younger, and so it did make me feel good.

Speaker 2: 7:57

I did learn not to take everything so personally that first year and when students fall asleep in my class, usually what I would do is I would hand them the PowerPoint clicker and I would say oh my gosh, if you know this stuff already, this is amazing. I would love for you to be my TA. Can you help me present the material, since you already know it? It's obviously boring you because you're so well-versed in it already and they. It actually became a joke and they, they liked it and they would do that so that they could co-present and so that they could feel like they were somebody with that clicker walking around reading the slides.

Speaker 2: 8:31

Um, so you know, in education, you learn to pivot, because oh yeah you can have the best laid lesson plan and it can have an epic fail very quickly. So so I just wouldn't pivot.

Speaker 1: 8:42

Yeah, and I and I like what you said about creating a safe space, because that that became my goal the longer I taught, was? It's not? They're not really necessarily going to remember what I'm saying here. They're going to remember how they felt when they were in this classroom and that is that's. We can transfer that concept to many things in our lives. Right, it's more about you know what, how we make people feel, what kind of energy do we bring to the room? And that really is I mean when we, I mean for all of us and all of you who are listening. I mean, if you think back to the teacher that you remember, it's not probably what they taught you. Maybe it's a little what they taught you. Maybe they really liked the subject, but it was really more about how you related to them and how, how you felt in their presence and they, they essentially lifted you up, right.

Speaker 2: 9:39

I do try to think of my favorite teachers. There's been a lot, you know, I guess maybe because it's the holidays or we're coming on new year's resolutions, um, but there are a lot of analogies now of think back to you know this, these T, which teacher made such an impact? And I think, oh my gosh, am I getting so old? I can't remember all my teachers and I can't remember the ones that you know. I can, and I I easily remember the ones that I didn't care for, but I had to. You know, you really have to think hard for the ones that made a positive impact on your life, because the ones who you didn't care for you feel just as strongly about as the ones that you did care for. But I think that that builds us as people too.

Speaker 2: 10:18

When you go to work for somebody that we know, when, when I get a parent comes to me they ask requests to transfer their student because they don't, they don't, they have a personality conflict with the teacher, my gut instinct is let let them. Let them learn how to adapt to different personalities, because that's that is real life adapting to different personalities. You know we were. I work in a digital school now, but even in public school and when I went to school, I may not have cared for everybody I interacted with, but it made me a better person because I could learn how to adapt to other personalities and it made me be able to understand and have empathy for other people also.

Speaker 1: 10:57

You know what I mean, yeah, so right, yeah, and you got to learn how to to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to move around and and just adapt right to the different personalities that you're going to encounter in life. I'm, I'm curious, um, what, what subjects you taught?

Speaker 2: 11:14

oh my gosh, I taught all the business. I think you know when you're an electives teacher and I have I have subject area certifications for the state of Florida, for ELA. I have my reading endorsement, esol endorsement, leadership, language arts. I really wanted to teach economics but I could not. That social studies subject area, for some reason the geography would get me every single time. So I thought you know what I have to embrace my strong points, not my weak points. But once you're an electives teacher, I think I taught every elective I can ever think of In the high. I think I taught every like I've taught every elective I can ever think of in the high school that I taught at in Port St Lucie. I taught an international business Academy, so I taught international finance and law, international. I taught accounting, international business and I taught computing for college and careers and it was basically I had students nine through 12th grade and every year they would take a different class with me so that they would have that on their diploma when they graduated, that that was their academy that they were in for the school, teaching middle school electives and reading.

Speaker 2: 12:18

I really I love literacy, so I love teaching reading and teaching critical thinking skills. And then I've taught ELA. I've taught oh, my gosh, you name it. I mean I taught at one point I was teaching intro to HTML and advanced HTML and of course, when they're like, they ask, you know, when your supervisor asks, oh, can you teach such and such? Oh, absolutely, absolutely, I can teach. That I had no idea I was teaching myself. I was like two weeks ahead of the kids, um, but you know, it always felt, felt into place at the end of the day. And our kids are so smart. I mean, if you, if you give children the space to Excel, they will, they will reach that bar.

Speaker 2: 13:11

So I just had official TAs that helped me lead the class. No one had any idea. I never taught advanced HTML before, but the projects they created were out of this world.

Speaker 1: 13:22

Fantastic, wow. So it sounds like a really, really rich career in all those different subject matter. So you're, you're, you're teaching. So tell us, explain to us how you went from that into. So you're getting your doctorate somewhere in here and then you're now you're teaching for a digital. What are you calling it? A digital school school? That wouldn't be Phoenix, would it.

Speaker 2: 13:47

No, it is out of Arizona but it's not Phoenix. So I I went in. I wasn't banking and taxation, finance, and one of my husband and I were dating. He asked me well, if you could do anything, what would you do? And I said, oh, that's easy, I would be a teacher. And he just laughed. He was like that's so different than what you do. I was a assistant vice president for a bank, you know, and he's like that's so different. I said, I know, but I go into the economics classes at our high school and when they get to the finance part and banking and budgeting and balancing checkbooks, and I go in and I work with the teachers and I get him a guest speaker and I love it so much. And I also taught at a grant program at our community college. I said I just love teaching so much I think I think I could really enjoy it. So after we got married he said, hey, go do it. Just, you don't have anything to lose, just go try it. And so I did and I went into public education as a teacher and I was a department chair. I was, you know. You know, once you volunteer for one thing, they're like, oh, would you like to and, of course, you always say yes.

Speaker 2: 14:53

So it merged and merged. But we live in the Florida keys and it's where my husband was from and he got transferred for his work, and the year that we got transferred down here, these public schools were on a hiring freeze. So I and, and they had really small school like they didn't have. You know, my high school had over 3000 students and we were one of five high schools for my County. Well, they don't have 3000 students here and they didn't have a need for someone who taught all of these electives that I had experience in.

Speaker 2: 15:24

So I applied for an online school and and got picked up, simply because I live so close to Miami and they were trying to blended program, where the digital teacher was the teacher of record, but the kids were working in public schools in Miami Dade, and they would be in a computer lab, for example, for fifth period and they would be taking my class. So then I would interact with them online, but then once a semester I would actually go to the schools in Miami and my all my doctoral research was on blended learning labs and the impact that the in-person experience had in their success with if the digital teacher record visits the school more. Does that then lead to the students being more successful? And that was my doctoral research for blended learning, because it was a new thing at the time. And then I just moved up, you know, my career just continued to move up and I became an assistant principal for them and then an instructional leader for them, and then I and then an instructional leader for them, and then I now I'm at a different digital school and I'm one of the, I'm on the leadership team there and I'm one of the executive directors of academics, and it is a digital school that's in a different state and it has very different components to it with regards to, like, special education and, you know, intervention and ESOL and just the different logistics for the Department of Education.

Speaker 2: 16:51

But my heart is still the same and, you know, doing what I love is just in a bigger school. We have roughly 4000 digital students, so it's just it's different and it's interesting, but it's it's. It seems like. In looking back, it seems like that's where my projection has already, has always been.

Speaker 1: 17:13

Okay, so I'm I'm curious how this whole happy thrive vibes podcast came out of this person who's very much in the academic world, and then you decide you want to start this podcast. So put that together for us.

Speaker 2: 17:34

And I am so analytical, so the creative side is draining. Like, by the time I teach myself how to edit something, I'm like, and I was trying to create my own website, I was like and make my own business cards. I was like, and I was trying to create my own website, I was like and make my own business cards. I was like I'm exhausted because I'm very analytical, I'm very, um, the opposite side of the brain than creative. I think I'm creative in my own way, um, but I just I've always been a really, really hard worker, workaholic. A lot of people say I have very few boundaries. I work from home too, so that's another culprit. You know, it's just easy to work because your computer's there and I I've always had multiple jobs. I've just always been a yes person, for if someone needs something on there, you know, and it always turns into something bigger than what I intended it to be.

Speaker 2: 18:25

And a couple of years ago I wanted to start a blog and I got this domain of happy, thrive vibes, so I could have hypey, thrive vibescom for my blog. And I created a blog three different times on three different sites, because I created the blog and I would post to it all the time, but I never published it. And it happened three different times. The the site would say we're no longer and since you never published, you weren't grandfathered in. And I would say, well, that's crazy. So I did it again, and so three different times I started blogs. I never published any of them. I just I thought, why would anybody care what anything that I'm thinking or that I have?

Speaker 1: 19:05

in my what were you?

Speaker 2: 19:06

writing about. I was writing about life and my experiences and um overcoming challenges and choosing to be happy and manifesting a life by making decisions that you have control over. Because I feel like a lot of times I used to live from, you know, not necessarily victim mentality, but just I felt like I didn't have a lot of control over things, that I probably did have control over certain components, so I felt like life was always happening to me, not for me, and so I just was, you know, as I was learning things in life. You know, I lost both my parents when I was young and I was 25 when I lost my dad and I lost my mom about five years ago and just my life lessons. I was just sharing life lessons and trying to be clever by putting them in a blog and just thinking well, maybe someone else needs to hear today that they're not crazy because they're feeling this way, that I'm also feeling, so maybe I can make that connection for them.

Speaker 2: 20:08

But I never had the confidence in myself to hit publish. And then when I I signed up for Kathy Heller's you know her podcast group in class and I thought I'm doing this, I'm going to do this and I think, interviewing other people in a podcast, I can still talk about all the things I want and I can still have about all the things I want and I can still have an audience of people who may need to hear the things that can uplift them. But it's not me putting pressure on myself that I've got to produce this fantastic product that is written so eloquently. That's going to, you know, you know, make someone have an epiphany that changes their life. That's.

Speaker 2: 20:46

I kind of felt like I had that kind of pressure on myself for this blog. But interviewing people and I feel like I'm interviewing in my podcast like everyday unsung heroes I'm just interviewing people Like I interviewed my husband because he has so much leadership experience and he doesn't give himself credit for the amount of people that he's mentored and helped reach success. You know, I mentored friends who are. They don't consider themselves anything special, just like I don't, but that's what makes them special is they are, you know. So that's how I made it today to to just go for it, and that's why I launched my podcast last month.

Speaker 1: 21:25

Yeah, I love that because there are so many, and that's one of the things that I love about the podcasting world too, is there are so many unsung heroes and this. When I started thinking about doing this, you know, I just thought just cool people I know in my own life. You know they're not celebrities, they're not, you know, but but you, you talk, talk to somebody, you get to know somebody. You happen to just meet somebody you know um one evening somewhere and you and you start hearing your story and you're going oh my gosh right this is incredible.

Speaker 1: 21:57

I want to know you more, I want to hear more of your story, and so, um, that's what really motivated me. So it's very similar, similar sort of thing, and I I think that's why podcasting is really taking off as well, because people any you know, people can be interviewed from all walks of life. It's not just the celebrities sitting down on the Johnny Carson show or the you know, whatever you know the Kelly Clarkson show or or any of that. We're all telling our stories. We all have stories to tell.

Speaker 2: 22:30

We do, and there are people who sometimes need to hear that because they're they just need to know that that's their situation. It's like, oh my gosh. It just gives them relief to that they can take pressure off of themselves for feeling like. I know, I often feel like I must just be crazy that this crazy things are happening to me. They're totally inconvenient at this time, and why is this happening to me?

Speaker 2: 22:56

Then someone will, you know, I'll be in line behind someone in the grocery store and they're like I don't think anything for me has gone right today, and I'm like, I know I feel the same way, but it's like, and then I laugh, and then I think, and then it's not, and then all the things that weren't going well for me and weren't happening to my favor. It just seems like a joke because you know what? There's other people and things aren't going right for them either, and that just must be. It must be a full moon or something, but it makes it. It just takes it from like pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure to oh my gosh, this stuff doesn't even matter, the things that I'm stressed out about you know, yeah, the cosmic joke, right, um, that we, yeah, we get.

Speaker 1: 23:34

We start to take things so seriously and get so much into our especially, you know, those of us who are goal oriented and this and that, and it's like, all right, let's step back here and zoom out a little bit and get a little broader perspective. Exactly, do you think that you're so? So the what you wrote in the blog, the three different times, you will you be able to incorporate some of that? Is that lost for the time being? I mean it you be able to incorporate some of that? Is that lost for the time being?

Speaker 2: 24:03

I mean, it's not really lost in your head, it is I know it sounds so silly because we have Google docs and we have all these ways and but no, I actually was typing in the platform. So for most of that, I do not have that. I wasn't typing it in a Google doc and then copy and pasting it. I was just like, let me just type my heart out and then and it is gone. But I think it's just me and I. I think that it's going to come out in my podcast because it is my personality for storytelling and for sharing things and it seemed I seem to have common themes throughout my life for things. So I'm sure it'll all come out. But yes, I did lose it and it's just. You know, I can appreciate the irony in it now and that's why I'm going for it, and I also save everything now and and you know my intros, my outros, the interviews, the notes and all that it's it's it's it's in Google docs and the cloud and everywhere else that I can send it to myself.

Speaker 1: 24:56

So that I don't lose it. Sure, and maybe that was just your way of, of brewing, maybe you were. You know you were you. It hadn't quite this idea hadn't quite taken form yet. And so, through the writing and through the blogging and all of that, this that was an exercise for you to get you to this point, because oftentimes life works that way.

Speaker 2: 25:23

I think it was therapeutic for me too, because there were you know there were. I went, I didn't have, and I you know the most rainbows and unicorns childhood and there were a lot of things I had to work through, especially through losing two parents. And you know, when I lost my dad, I inherited my little brother. I was 25 and he was 15. And I talked about some of that in there and you know, when there's so much bottled up, I feel like it's so emotional and there's so much attached to it emotionally. But when you put it out there on paper by writing or typing or just sharing it, and then you can read it back and you can take out the layers of emotion that have been there for so long, it's actually therapeutic. And I think my writing those blogs for wherever it landed in cyberspace, it was all part of the process and I'm I'm not sad that I lost it all, because I feel like I'm in a better place because I typed those things out.

Speaker 1: 26:25

If I'm happy, that if I don't have access to it.

Speaker 2: 26:27

no one else does, Cause it was like a dear diary of sorts. When I think back on it I think, oh my gosh, thank God I'd never hit publish on some of those things, but it was therapeutic. So, yeah, I feel like I'm in a better place for it.

Speaker 1: 26:40

And I and I know I I'm not a big writer in my I mean journaler myself, but at certain times, certain times, but I have some friends, that that's their, that's their point of entry. We all have our different ways. We get balanced right and we can clean, clean house in our house and that it's it's's, it's a daily practice for them. Um, as far as just putting it, like you're saying, putting it on paper, getting it out there, reading through it and sort of getting a little bit perspective, somehow, when it's down on paper, you're, you can step back from it and see it a little differently oh yeah, and it's powerful too, because you know I I'll write something out that I used to not even be able to talk about without crying and I used to think I mean, it just used to be so, such, so heavy.

Speaker 2: 27:30

And now I can go back and I have journals. I have a daily gratitude journal, but I do have a journal where sometimes I just write like I just give myself the time and the space, I say I'm going to just write for 20 minutes. Whatever comes out comes out, and then I can read it back and I can actually talk about those things. Now and I've noticed that it doesn't have that emotional connection to it anymore, I think just because you know how at night everything seems worse, everything. It doesn't matter what it is If you think about it, if you wake up at 3 AM and you think, oh my God, did I forget to send that email or did I forget to pay that payment?

Speaker 2: 28:05

And you think of all the things that could stem from that one wrong decision that possibly you did, possibly you didn't. But then when the morning comes, you're like I don't even know why I was so triggered by that in the middle of the night. It wasn't that actually that big of a deal? Well, I think that's what it feels like when you have things bottled up inside. When they're bottled up inside, they feel like they're so much worse than they actually are and feel like getting it out just puts it in a new light and it puts it in a new perspective and it just takes the weight off the emotional weight.

Speaker 2: 28:32

For sure.

Speaker 1: 28:33

For sure Will you will. You're the academic world that you live in a lot. Uh, will they know about your podcast Will? Will there'll be crossover there, do you think, or will you keep them sort of separate?

Speaker 2: 28:49

It's funny that you say that because I didn't even have on my original cover art, I didn't even have my name and I wasn't going to have my picture. It was just going to be something generic. And I thought, well, I don't, you know always why I didn't publish my blog is because I'm in education. And I thought, well, I don't want anybody to think negatively of me If I say something, like if I mentioned someone coming from victim mentality and they're like, oh, she's one of those. I don't, I don't know what those are, but you know you just I didn't want to to ever make anyone who works with me or families feel like I'm a certain way that I'm not because I am so open, I'm just a. I'm just an open book. But some people don't care for that and I thought I'm just not going to connect myself personally. It doesn't matter, everyone knows that I'm doing it. It, I told, is one or two people and they started posting in the Slack channels at our work like, oh my gosh, you go.

Speaker 2: 29:42

Laura, laura launched her podcast. I'm like, oh, so much for keeping it on the down low. And it is, and that in and of itself is a weight lifted, because I didn't know how I would keep those two separate, because I'm a passionate person and I love education and I love helping others which, I feel like, is what my podcast is is ultimately for and helping people tell their story for how they overcame and shows a path for themselves that led them to happiness. So I, I, I wanted to do both. I didn't know how it would interconnect and you know what, when I let it, when I let go of trying to figure it all out, it all worked out.

Speaker 2: 30:20

But I was so in my head and I was so trying to figure everything out and when I was trying to figure it out, I wasn't moving forward. I said I'm just going to keep moving forward. Everyone knows everything. My name is now connected to it. It's, it's all out there and people have embraced it. And I've interviewed people from my school who are doing really cool things with their life because it's it's all out there and people have embraced it. And I've interviewed people from my school who are doing really cool things with their life because it's not all about work, it's all about loving what you do and it's all. You know, educators love what they do, they, they show. We chose this field on purpose, um, but I love being able to showcase what they're doing with their life too.

Speaker 2: 30:59

So, it's all out there now and everything's combined, and I I hadn't anticipated it being that way and I couldn't be happier with how it's all come out.

Speaker 1: 31:08

Yeah Well, you let go right and you kind of let it all fall where it was going to fall and and and let go of judge. You know, be feeling, feeling like somebody was going to judge you or it wasn't going to be perfect, all those things we all go through at different times that keep us from doing things. They really, they really put us in a box A lot of times.

Speaker 2: 31:29

My perfectionism is what stopped me every single time from hitting publish. And you know, I mean I don't regret it, but I feel like I could have been doing this for the last five years. And how fun would that have been? Because I didn't realize how much fun I could have prioritizing fun. I've never had fun. I always had my job and I always had my to-do list and I always had. I have to do these things today to earn my worth and I got to cross it off my list. Cross it off my list, but actually having fun, finding my own hobby. I mean I'm, I should be having a hobby. I always thought how can I retire? I have no hobbies at all Like reading a book, that's it. I can't just read for the rest of my life. And now I actually have a hobby and I never had one before. So for all you workaholics who don't have hobbies, I say you find a hobby because it is so much fun. It really is fun to have fun.

Speaker 1: 32:21

Such good advice. I mean such good, and I know it's. You're not intending it to be advice, you're just speaking your truth but it it really is such so good for all of us to hear that Cause we all have walked that at different times and and so you're preaching it. You're definitely preaching it. So where can listeners find out more about you? Do you have a website as well?

Speaker 2: 32:49

I'm working on my website. I'm working to overcome my perfectionism with my website, but once it's launched and I will hit launch on that a lot sooner than five years later it will be happy thrive vibescom and I do have an email at happy thrive vibes at gmailcom, and I am on Spotify and Apple and I have a YouTube channel that's also called happy thrive vibes. So all the social and Instagram, everything is happy thrive vibes.

Speaker 1: 33:16

Yeah, and and all that listeners, all that'll be in the show notes and so you'll. There'll be a variety of ways that you can reach out and contact Laura, because she's really doing some cool stuff here and I think it's so interesting that bringing your educational perspective to this is giving it a unique twist. Do you feel that, as you're, as you're in it and kind of playing around in there with the podcast?

Speaker 2: 33:43

I do feel like that, but I think it's because so much has gone on in the last couple of years that, more now than ever, people just need to know that it's okay for them to feel what they're feeling and that they can reach out to people for help if they need it, and that they can make small choices for themselves, that they will be okay in the end. And I think it just gives me a different perspective. You know, the business person in me always was like what are the numbers? How many listeners, how many downloads, how many of this, how many of that? And when I go there, my husband's like why do you care? You didn't do this for that. You have a job, your job. The reason you're doing this is to connect with people and it and it reminds me of that.

Speaker 2: 34:27

But the educator in me is that connection piece. So, and that's why I thrive, those for those connections. It's the whole reason I wanted to be an educator to make those connections. So I do think that I have a different perspective because I am an educator and I also just, you know, care about people in general. It doesn't matter what age they are and everyone has something that they need, you know. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 34:52

Yeah, and we all just want to connect. We all just want to be validated and connect and feel that connection with those in our lives. Whether you know there there's somebody, you know, somebody, part of our, for decades of our lives, like family, or somebody that we just, you know, spending a season with, or a week with, or a day with, it's still. Connection is connection, and we're really are all looking for it. So I always like to finish up with this with this particular question what does a meaningful, moxie, filled life look like to you but also feel like?

Speaker 2: 35:32

Oh my gosh, she told me that in advance, so I could process. I'm an internal processor, so let me think A meaningful, moxie filled life.

Speaker 1: 35:40

What does it look like and feel like to you?

Speaker 2: 35:44

I feel like I'm finally getting there. If you would have asked me that a year ago, I would have said well, I met all my goals that I have for myself, and I was successful in that and all my endeavors. And I think now that I just have something else that I'm passionate about and I feel like it's a whole different way of connecting with people, because I connect with people all day long, I think my, my meaningful, moxie filled life is doing more of what I love to bring out the best in others, and that would make me happy, that would truly make me happy just to continue doing that.

Speaker 1: 36:23

Such a great answer and such a such a great way to end this podcast. So thank you so much for spending time today and chatting and letting us get to know you and come into your world and learn more about what you're all, what you're doing and what's you know, your thought process. So many good gems, so many wonderful gems for us all to relate to and to take back and apply in our own lives. Thank you again.

Speaker 2: 36:51

Yeah, it was so nice to meet another Maloney, of course.

Speaker 1: 36:54

I know I feel like we'll be talking again soon.

Speaker 2: 36:58

We will be, we will be All right.

Speaker 1: 37:00

Thanks everybody for listening. Take care. Talk soon. Bye now. If this podcast was valuable to you, it would mean so much if you could take 30 seconds to do one or all of these three things Follow or subscribe to the podcast and, while there, leave a review and then maybe share this with a friend if you think they'd like it. In a world full of lots of distractions, I so appreciate you taking the time to listen in. Until next time, be well and take care.