The Everyday Apostle
The Everyday Apostle
The Everyday Apostle - Ep003 - Amelie Ferro
What happens when a high-powered career intersects with a deep spiritual awakening? This episode of the Everyday Apostle features Amelie Ferro, who provides an inspiring narrative of how faith can seamlessly integrate with professional success. From her early days in Boston and Miami to significant roles at the Walt Disney Company, Yahoo, and Publicitas, Amelie shows us that it's possible to excel in the corporate world while nurturing a profound spiritual life. Listen as she recounts her journey from a lukewarm faith to a fervent devotion that eventually led her to co-found companies and serve as president of Christa Ray Miami High School. Amelie’s story is a powerful testament to the extraordinary things that can happen when we truly surrender to God's will.
Have you ever wondered how prioritizing faith can transform not just your life but also your career and family dynamics? Join us as Amelie shares the pivotal moments that prompted her to align her professional ambitions with her spiritual aspirations. We discuss how her decision to transition from a secular career to a fulfilling role at a Catholic school brought peace and unity to her family. The episode also highlights the significance of community, service, and continuous learning in strengthening one's faith. Through engaging anecdotes and personal reflections, Amelie encourages us to make God the central focus of our lives, illustrating the profound changes that can occur when we do. This is not just a story of success, but one of transformation, purpose, and enduring faith.
Welcome to the Everyday Apostle, where ordinary lives meet extraordinary faith. Join our host, kendall Peterson, as we explore how everyday men and women bring the gospel to life wherever they live, work and play. Let's dive into it right now to it right now.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to episode three of the Everyday Apostle podcast. Thank you guys for joining us once again, Very excited about our guest today. We have somebody that I think has been on my mind since I had the inception of this show a perfect balance of trying to live faith and being a true professional in the world, and that's what we're highlighting here. Excited We'll get to that in a second Special shout out and thanks to all of those who have sent prayer messages this week. I greatly appreciate them. This is a labor of love, for sure, and very excited that people are viewing and watching and that viewership is going up, which is awesome. So with that, we're going to get into our guest this week Today. I'm going to read you the bio because it's quite impressive. Today we have an incredible guest whose life and career are a testament to the power and faith and leadership.
Speaker 2:Amelie Farrow is a devoted Catholic wife and mother who currently serves as president of Christa Ray Miami High School. With over 30 years of experience, amelie has a remarkable track record in identifying and developing market opportunities, building relationships with key decision makers and negotiating in highly competitive environments. I'm already intimidated by that. Amelie's career began at the Walt Disney Company, where she held various roles before being recruited by Yahoo in 1998 as the sales promotion manager and a member of their launch team for Spanish language sites in Argentina, brazil, mexico and the US Hispanic market. She then joined I'm going to get this wrong Publicitas, a Swiss publicly traded company, to launch a US Hispanic market venture and serve as CEO for the Americas, overseeing operations in the US, canada and Latin America. In 2013, amelie co-founded Innova and Simacast, focusing on providing digital advertising and infrastructure solutions for media companies.
Speaker 2:Born in Boston, massachusetts, amelie holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in organizational leadership. She resides in Miami with her husband, manny, to whom she has been married for 33 years I think that's amazing and they have three grown children. Emily is an active parishioner at St Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Miami, florida, where she serves as vice president of the Council of Catholic Women and vice President of Vocations for the Sierra Club of Miami. She's also a member of the spiritual family of the Servant of the Pure Hearts of Jesus and Mary. We're thrilled to have Amelie with us today to share her journey, her insights and, as you can see, all of that coming together in both the professional and the spiritual and the faith world is absolutely amazing. Welcome, amelie Farrow, thank you. Thank you for having us. So I have a tradition that I started Everybody gets a gift, and you are no exception to that, thank you, thank you. So with that, let's kind of dive right into it. I saw that you were born and raised in Boston, massachusetts. How long were you there?
Speaker 3:So I was born there and I came here when I was still a baby, so I've lived pretty much my entire life here in Miami.
Speaker 2:Ah, great, so that kind of qualifies you as native status Pretty much, pretty much. So what school did you go to when you were in Miami?
Speaker 3:So I went to an elementary school. I went to West Lab, which was a school right off of the University of Miami I think I always say it was sort of a magnet school before magnet schools existed and then went on to study at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy.
Speaker 2:Okay, so, like most people, you kind of wind up at a Catholic school. But where was your faith in that time? Was it definitely like a strong, vibrant faith, or was it more of a kind of going through the motions?
Speaker 3:So I guess, like my upbringing I mean, I was raised, I was born Catholic, was baptized and received all my sacraments, but I didn't go to a parochial school so my sacraments were it. I didn't go to parochial school, so my sacraments were it was time for your first communion. So you went to CCD class during that time. You got your first communion. Then you didn't do anything else until it was time for your confirmation. So you know, never really saw prayer at home. We went to Mass, not religiously, we went to Mass every now and then. Not religiously, we went to Mass every now and then, but I wouldn't say it was a vibrant faith in our home. We consider ourselves Catholic and that's what I thought being a Catholic was.
Speaker 2:Probably is to most people. Right, that's still, you know, the kind of the norm, right, go to Mass, unless something else comes up, and maybe go to Catholic school, or at least go through and get the sacraments. So you had your sacraments. You wind up at Our Lady of Lourdes. Where did you go after that?
Speaker 3:So you know, while I was in Lourdes, it was the first time that I was actually in a faith-based school, really liked it, but it didn't catch on right.
Speaker 3:It was still one more class in a slew of classes. Always had that longing that I wish I would have, you know, have gone to a parochial school, went on to college here locally at FIU, and when I was a senior in high school, met my husband and um, I, when I was a senior in high school, met my husband, uh, we started dating shortly after that and, um, right after I graduated from college, we got married. So, um, uh, my husband also came from a similar upbringing, right, where we were called Catholics but there wasn't, um, a vibrant living out of our faith, living our faith in faith in our homes. So I think that, you know, as we had children, both of us coming from broken homes, as we had children, we wanted to provide them with that faith that we never really had at home and we sent them to parochial schools and went to church on Sundays. But we still didn't have a clear understanding, right. So it was very much these external actions or activities that you do and sort of like check, check, check.
Speaker 2:Right, kind of the over and above right, you're living life and then, if faith or church fits in, then you just kind of stay.
Speaker 3:If there's not a football game or the kids have a tournament or there's a good movie that's coming out, then you know we'll make room for it. So initially we went to church routinely with our kids. Really, for all the wrong reasons, we want our children to be in a specific parochial school and later on, as they got older and they would go out you know Saturday nights and you know they would be sleeping in then maybe one of us would go to church just to sort of check it off that we were there. So, yeah, a shame, but that's how we did it for most of our life, Right right, so interesting right.
Speaker 2:So you kind of it's there, it's on the periphery and you're kind of engaged in it, but not all in right, which in my experience is kind of normal. You're not abnormal in that. So during that time, while you're having your kids and you're putting them in those kind of schools, you're also working. I would imagine right, did you start at Disney pretty early?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I started Disney before my children were born, right after school, right after I graduated, before grad school, and that was really what my husband and I were doing. Right, Our marriage, well, we didn't have a model to follow, so we thought it was more like a partnership. Right, we both sort of divide and conquer and our biggest priority was getting ahead in our career. Right, To build stability for our family. When we had kids, our kids became, you know, an incredible priority in our life. Kids our kids became, you know, an incredible priority in our life. It was our children and our jobs. You know, the little two things that we left out was each other and our Lord and Savior. So I always you know we talk about it now we said it was almost like a team tag. You know, when you're in a relay race and it's like, okay, you're it and you know we did a great job of it. We were both very successful in our careers. You know, we were blessed with three incredible boys, but we really didn't make time for God.
Speaker 2:So obviously somewhere along the way that started to change. Tell me a little bit about that journey.
Speaker 3:So yeah, so I always had this longing. I just didn't. I had no idea that it was God right, and sort of tapping you on the shoulder. So what you do if you don't know that is, you find other things to fill that void right, and things in the secular world, right, Consuming things, doing things, traveling to places. So that was how I was trying to, for most of my life, fill that void that we know only you know our Lord and Savior could fill. And it must have been about eight years ago.
Speaker 3:My youngest was in his last year of high school and I was able to, somewhere or the other, respond differently to that call, right, and I decided I was going to start going to church every day. And you know, at that time I wasn't even going to church every Sunday, but I said I'm church every day. And you know, at that time I wasn't even going to church every Sunday, but I said I'm going every day. And once I started doing that, then you know the Lord meets you where you're at, but then he doesn't keep you there, right? So he met me where I was at and I was blessed. I have a church that's five houses away from me, st Thomas. You know we had always gone to Epiphany before my kids all graduated from Epiphany, so we were parishioners at Epiphany, but this was five block, five houses away. So I started going there every day and really loved the community, wanted more. And then, you know he nudges you a little bit more and I said, well, I want to have a relationship with him, I need to start getting to know him, right? So signed up for a Bible class I didn't know anybody in the class and it was Wednesday nights and met this beautiful religious sister who you know was his instrument in nudging a little bit more. Then she invited me to start going to the Cynicals, which was Friday night.
Speaker 3:Granted, my husband was still not on this path with me, so, you know, thinking it may be midlife crisis or something. And then, after that, you know, nudged me a little bit more and said you know, why don't you consecrate yourself to our blessed mother? And as that was happening as sort of I was responding to what before I don't think you know my heart could see he was also revealing those things that needed to change in my life, right, and it started off with silly things, right. The first one was like the TV programs we were watching. My husband and I loved Dateline, you know, and that sort of murder, you know, whodunit type of thing, and we used to record them and there's like different variations of it, and all of a sudden I would watch them and I just want to feel good, you know, like something was off and I thought, you know, I need to start protecting my eyes. There was nothing edifying about watching those shows. So I started changing what I was watching and then started changing the music I was listening to. And he was still calling me deeper.
Speaker 3:And I think that at one point, you know, he was saying and again he puts his perfect timing right, because it was I just sold my company and was trying to figure out I wasn't ready to retire yet, so what was going to be next? And he told me he showed clearly that there was a disalignment in between his will and what my career path was. And then it was like oh, hold on. Now, you know, again, my husband's not on this path with me yet. And that's where, you know, I came to understand that I needed to change my career. I had no idea what else I could do, but with that, so many other things became clear right. You know, even my friends, my beautiful, you know sisters in Christ that I have now and my old friends. You know there was again a disalignment. So what started to happen was those things that, to me, I wanted to do before. I no longer had an interest in doing them Right, and I think that that's how it happened.
Speaker 2:So kind of back to excuse me, back to you're starting to feel these things right, he's nudging and pushing a little bit and he's a gentleman right, so he's not like smacking you in the face, it's just these subtle little movements. So you're still operating your company at that time, right? So I'm curious how are you starting to change the way you are, let's say, in your business and the way you're dealing with clients or vendors or whatever Like? Were there changes in that as well, or was it mostly just at home?
Speaker 3:You know. So initially it was almost like I I put in different compartments, right. So when I was at work, you know I was, I was doing what I knew I had to do to be successful in my career. I was doing what I knew I had to do to be successful in my career. I would go to mass before you know and so. But then it was just, it wasn't comfortable, it was. It was evident that there had to be an alignment, right. So so I wouldn't say that, you know it was the first day, oh wait, everything's out and things that make sense.
Speaker 3:It was something that I fought for a good amount of time because I didn't want to change my career. I had been very successful in my career. You know it was what? Because we didn't have God in our life. It was sort of what we measured success on, and even ourselves. You know who we were. So no, so it was initially it was sort of like I could be a Catholic in the morning and then later on when I leave, and, you know, on weekends. But then, you know, when I'm at work, you know it's roll up your sleeves and get to it. So that gentleman kept telling me you know I want all of you. I don't want you on weekends, I don't want you work, I want you all the time" and really showing me my true identity as his daughter, and that changed everything.
Speaker 2:So what did that change? Look like.
Speaker 3:So that change looked like I was praying. What is it? Okay, you're saying this, I can't. And I was at a prayer meeting and this young lady, who I really didn't know very well, but I had met her, was applying for a position. She had been out of work, she was a full-time mom for a while and she was going back into the workplace and she was applying for a job at this Catholic school. And you know, she asked for prayers and when people ask for prayers, you know you pray for them. You don't need to know them Well, little, little and again, just understanding how God puts things in your, in your, in your path.
Speaker 3:That job that she got was at this Catholic school and she invited me to go out to a cocktail just to learn more about what it was. And I went to see it and secure jobs for the students. I was like I don't know anything about nonprofit, I don't know anything about education, but I know how to build relationships with the corporate community. So that's it. It was God put it there in a silver platter and and I joined crystal ray, which is where I work now um, building their uh partnerships or job partnerships and, um, you know, initially, when, again, when, when I when I was thinking about I mean, it was a complete shift in anything that the secular world tells you to do.
Speaker 3:You know, when you're in your mid-50s you don't leave your career to. You know to go into another job. You know that's you're going to be making a quarter of what you were making before, in something that you've never done before. But I felt so at peace with it and it's been the most rewarding experience of my entire career. Yeah, it's amazing. So then, you of my entire career.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, that's amazing. So then you have to reconcile that with your family, though right. Right, so tell me a little bit about that, yeah.
Speaker 3:So just to go back a second. So, as you know, I was doing some of these small changes, like I don't want to watch the Dateline shows. I was like what's going on here?
Speaker 2:How long is this going to last? Yeah?
Speaker 3:exactly, exactly, it's just a phase, but little by little. I remember I went to an all-night vigil at our leader of Guadalupe and when the vigil was over, I got home and my husband was like you were at church all night. And I'm like, yeah, I got home, you know, my husband was like you were at church all night. And I'm like, yeah, you know. And all of a sudden he said, at what time is that daily mass that you go to every day? And I'll tell you something he went the first day and he doesn't miss a day and he actually ups it because he goes to the rosary before that. And he just came on board and, all of a sudden, things that we would have thought impossible became possible.
Speaker 3:And it was, you know, it was perfect timing. It was also, as you know, my youngest was leaving our home. So to be able to, now, both of us, you know, in our marriage, which living it as it's supposed to be, which is a sacrament with Jesus, you know, in the middle of it has been, um, you know, we say we're living our best lives ever and and it it's the, the. The change is that jesus is in the center right. He's our number one um, with our spouse being number two, where before it was like number one was most probably our children, then our careers, and then, you know, we were each other's number three and the fun and the grocery store and like the 57 things.
Speaker 3:So I think you know God is a God of order, and to be able to put him in order in the right order has changed everything.
Speaker 2:Wow, if you were to articulate that change right changed everything, like that's a big term. So change.
Speaker 3:Everything I would tell, tell you is surrender Okay, and what I mean by that is entirely open to God's will at every moment of every day, right, not certain times, not in certain things, but just it liberates you from I mean things that normally you would lose sleep over, you know, you would lose your temper over, you would definitely lose your peace over, because he's in control. Right, he's in control. And when you give him control, you know, someone told me the other day, you give him control but then sometimes you want it back. You know, no, when you give him control, you give him control, and sometimes that's what you would have wanted. Sometimes it's not what you would have wanted, but it's the only way that you're going to continue on that path towards holiness. If not just, you know you got to be all in.
Speaker 3:There's no lukewarm, and that is clear to me. When you're asking, you know, for specific examples, it's God first. It's putting everything that has to do with that relationship and how I'm going to continue to strengthen that relationship. Number one, it's acknowledging everything that comes from that relationship, which is the gift of my husband, the gift of my children, the gifts of my talent, as you know, those things. That that's the order of them. Right. They come through him and then making the most of those right, and in many cases it's been having to remove things that weren't edifying or weren't helping me in my path to holiness, and that sometimes is hard and it could possibly even be hurtful to people around me. But it's not that I love anybody less. I love them more, right, and what I'm hoping is that my life could possibly be an invitation for them to take that step forward.
Speaker 2:So the big question your three kids. They're front row seats to this entire transformation, this entire journey. How has that relationship been with them?
Speaker 3:So it's been incredible. So initially they had also left the house. So, again, god has this perfect timing right. But they come to the house on Sundays. We've always come to the house on, you know. They've always come to the house on Sunday for Sunday dinner and all of a sudden we're praying you know, we didn't pray before meals, you know, and Manny is, you know, making these incredible, beautiful, you know prayers and so, little by little, they started seeing that.
Speaker 3:And then, you know, we were big movie buffs and you know we made a decision that we weren't going to see certain, you know, movies that had violence in them, and those are the majority of the movies out there, you know. So, all of a sudden, you know they were so kind and they, they started doing a list of all the movies that are rated pg that we could see. So we have, like this list of things that we could continue to see and, um, you know, they've, they've welcomed that. I don't know if they've understood it 100, but they've welcomed it. Uh, my middle son, you know, is now taking his own bible classes and building his relationship, and I know that the other ones, the seed has been planted and in God's perfect time, you know they'll come around.
Speaker 2:He'll move on them when he's ready, absolutely.
Speaker 3:And the power of prayer right, because we pray every day for them and for their you know full conversion for their future wives. That's amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, full conversion for their future wives, that's amazing.
Speaker 1:So, emily, what do you do?
Speaker 2:personally, to stay grounded in that faith, that faith that you've come to trust and know and believe. Are there actions that you take?
Speaker 3:I've heard you mention, you know daily mass and things like that.
Speaker 2:But tell me some.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I mean I'll start with you know I'm way too weak to not go to daily mass. I mean I need, I need my dose every 24 hours and sort of like a reset button. But also it's community, right, and that's why the different organizations that you mentioned, you know the different mission work that I do. It's it's because it's it's my brothers and sisters in Christ, right, it's because it's my brothers and sisters in Christ right, and we're all there trying to help each other grow in holiness and it's this other level of love that we have for each other, right.
Speaker 3:And so I think it's the power of community, is a game changer. And then, after, continue to grow in your faith, right, I have, you know, 55 years of building a relationship that I didn't do, and so I would just want to get to know him better, I want to get to know myself better through his eyes, right, and through that then I'm able to really live out his will and it becomes effortless, right. So so I would say, you know, for me, you know, going to mass and with the mass, receiving the Eucharist, right, so, so, so, being replenished. Second is, you know, the opportunities to to grow, continue to take Bible classes become very involved in the Life in the Spirit seminars which are offered at different churches across our parish, our different parishes across our community. And it's been a beautiful again family that we've developed there. That ties into those charisms that bring my faith alive.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, Amazing Any advice that you have for those watching or listening on how they can strengthen their faith or get closer to that point where they're just with absolute trust.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I just think, the challenge of trying to live two different lives, you know, in other words, being all in certain times and not all in, you know you have to really take, let the Lord reveal to you those areas that are not aligned with his will and then trust that, even though it's the craziest thing in the world to leave those things to a side, leave them to a side. He will always provide. If we're true to him, he will always be true to us and he has not failed me and boy, you know I'm a stubborn one.
Speaker 2:Aren't we all? When it comes to doing that, that's amazing. So daily Mass receiving the Eucharist being intimate in that relationship, yeah, and community is important I heard you say I also heard service in there, although you didn't call it out but being able to use that faith for service and continuous learning and just constantly draw closer through that relationship and understanding who Jesus is, who God is and who we are in that whole story.
Speaker 3:And I think, just two other things is, I mean, obviously, to be able to receive the eucharist, making sure that you're, you know, fully reconciled with god, right? So, um, I remember, when I went back and and I'm just a side note when I went to go do my um, my first, you know, confession, after many years of not doing it, I went down to Homestead to this priest that you know, I could not know, there was no way, and God was so gracious that the gentleman was, you know, haitian, and I don't think he understood half of it. God knew, you know. So that was a great thing.
Speaker 3:And now it has completely changed, right, I long to go confess, right, and when I fail, I'm looking forward to being able to recognize it, call it out and start afresh. It's such a beautiful gift that we have, you know, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and it goes hand in hand. And I think if you're not doing that, you're going to plateau, right. And the next thing is prayer, right, so I'm continually in prayer and it's become not so much— I mean, I still do my prayers but it's more of an ongoing conversation with him, inviting him to every meeting, to every talk, when I'm predicting when things may become difficult, and then you know asking him, you know to really guide me in that.
Speaker 2:So yes, yeah, a little preemptive prayer.
Speaker 3:Exactly yes.
Speaker 2:Emily, thank you so much for sharing all of that. Unfortunately, I mean, I could sit here all day and chat with you and I knew, as I said earlier, when I got started on this journey, that that story is so beautiful and so true and it's not that unlike what my wife and I have gone through either in ours. So I can relate very much to that and I'm sure a lot of our listeners and viewers will as well. Guys, that's it for this week. This was a real treat, emily, having you on the show.
Speaker 2:Next week I have another wonderful guest, someone who has been able to bridge that professional and faith gap and be able to bring them together. Excited for that, I had no sponsors for this show or any coming up. So, once again, shameless plug. If you like the work that we do, if you want to support the work that we do, everydayapostlecom is where you can check that out. You can look to see how you can support us. You can also look at all the past episodes there as well. Emily, real quick any prayer intentions that you would like the viewers to join you on?
Speaker 3:I think for the holy souls in purgatory.
Speaker 2:That's always a good one for the holy souls in purgatory, and with that, I encourage listeners to continue to pursue your faith, continue to learn. If you have questions, just you seeking the truth is what will bring you to the truth, so continue to do that. Thank you for listening, watching and we will see you next week. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thanks for tuning in to the Everyday Apostle. Don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube, on your favorite podcast outlet, and at our website at everydayapostlecom. Until next time, stay blessed.
