The Art of Turning Obstacles into Opportunities with Judi Moreo

What if everything was figureoutable? Join me and uncover the inspiring story of Judi Moreo, a personal growth trainer and author who transformed her dreams into reality. Judi takes us through the highs and lows of her personal and professional journey. With determination and the unwavering support of a landlord, she built a successful business that thrived for 21 years, teaching us the invaluable lesson that resilience and self-belief can overcome any adversity.

My conversation with Judi is a deep dive into self-discovery and empowerment, beginning with a high school memory that reflects on the power of determination and supportive influences. We share insights into the philosophy that "everything is figureoutable," instilled by Judi's resourceful mother, and discuss how fostering self-belief is crucial, especially in creative pursuits. By sharing practical steps from her book, "You Are More Than Enough," we guide listeners on a path to realizing their purpose and potential, offering stories that illustrate the transformative impact of perseverance and self-confidence.

Guest Bio:

Judi Moreo is one of the world's most recognized personal growth trainers and coaches. She is the author of 29 books including 2 international bestsellers, “You Are More Than Enough” and “Conquer the Brain Drain. Judi's latest book "Chronicles Of A Divided Land" features a female journalist and her adventures during apartheid in South Africa.  It's a great book club read!  

A self-made success, Judi started her first business with $2,000 and a lot of chutzpah. Judi learned to succeed step-by-step over many years and now has a worldwide following of clients enjoying outstanding success resulting from her guidance.

Judi has received many awards including the prestigious Certified Speaking Professional designation from the National Speakers Association, Nevada Business Person of the Year from the US Business Advisory Council, Woman of Achievement Entrepreneur from the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and many more!

Find Judi:

Website, Youtube, Free E-Book, Amazon, Facebook, X(Twitter)

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Karen Sarmento is a passionate and dedicated Nurse Practitioner for more than 18 years, CEO at Sarmento Mentoring Services LLC, and a Proctor Gallagher Certified Mindset Mentor. She specializes in empowering women to tap into their true potential. She understands the unique challenges faced by women because she too has battled some major challenges in her life. Karen does not let that define her; she believes it’s the challenges that have made her the limitless woman she is today. She whole-heartedly believes we hold all the power within and that we should stand tall together in the pursuit of greatness.

Karen has served thousands over the course of her career and has spent many years studying directly with world class mentors to gain a deep understanding of the science behind human behaviour and learning about the success principals that create lasting change and transformation. She will share her insights with you so you can feel unstoppable and limitless too.

Find Karen:
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Transcript

Karen Sarmento:

0:01

Have you ever felt that inner whisper nudging you towards something greater? We truly are a force of nature possessing our own incredible power within. We are all here to identify our own personal definition of success. We all have a story to tell. Join me as I dive into empowering concepts and have powerful conversations with extraordinary humans who have shattered limitations, overcome adversity and created remarkable success. I'm your host, Karen Sarmento, and we are meant for more. Hello and welcome back to another episode of We Are Meant For More. Today, I have the absolute privilege and honour and I'm so excited about this to bring to you Judi Moreo.

Karen Sarmento:

1:04

Welcome to the show Judi.

Judi Moreo:

1:05

Thank you, Karen, I'm so happy to be here.

Karen Sarmento:

1:08

Oh gosh, it's our pleasure. So I'm going to tell the audience a little bit about you, and I'm actually going to read right from your bio because I want to get this right. And you're so accomplished, you've done so much and you give back to so many. So let me just tell the audience a little bit about you. So Judi is one of the world's most recognized personal growth trainers and coaches. She's the author of 29 books yikes, two international bestsellers. You Are More Than Enough and Conquer the Brain Drain. You actually have two books on their way to coming out very soon, one being your first fiction book, which is a trilogy. So we'll talk about that after. That sounds exciting. It is exciting Very. Another new book coming out. You Are More Than you Think you Are.

Judi Moreo:

2:03

Yes, it's a follow up to you are more than enough.

Karen Sarmento:

2:06

Wonderful topics I absolutely love. I just love the title in itself. You're a self-made success which to me is fascinating. You started your business with $2,000 and a lot of you use the word.

Judi Moreo:

2:22

Yeah, yeah, it's really. It's really an interesting story, and an exciting story in that I was a Wendy Ward director for the Montgomery Wards department stores Now they've probably been gone even before you were born, but I taught charm programs within this department store for little kids and teenagers and women and I got to thinking well, you know, if I could do what I did here? Because I took that from being number 500 in the country to number one in the country in over a year, and so I thought, well, if I can do that for them, I could do this for myself. So I took my savings of $2,000 and I rented an office and I opened my first business, universal Models, and it was a finishing school and model agency. And I was open about 10 days when Las Vegas had its all-time first major strike on the Strip and they closed down every hotel, turned off every light on the Las Vegas strip and people weren't sending their kids to modeling school because they were out of work and people weren't hiring models because the hotels were all closed. So there I was, two weeks in, and I'd spent the whole $2,000 on the desk and the chair and the mirrors and all that stuff.

Judi Moreo:

3:44

So I went to my new landlord and I said we have a problem, you and I. And he said what's that? And I said it's time for the second month's rent and I don't have the money. And this was one of those old Las Vegas guys that looked like you know, he wore all the chains around his neck shirt open, looked like he used his daughter's curling iron on his chest. You know he was kind of a thug type but he was super nice man. And he just looked at me and he said well, honey, the man next door bet me you wouldn't last in business six months and I bet him you would. So if you can hang in there for six months, we're going to make enough money to more than pay your rent. And sure enough, I hung in there for six months and covered my rent. His bet. He won. And I hung in there for 21 years and ran that business very successfully. But I wouldn't have ever made it if it hadn't been for having a great landlord. He was a fabulous man.

Karen Sarmento:

4:40

Yes, and he wasn't losing that bet he had made. So yeah, no he was.

Judi Moreo:

4:44

He said he bet the guy yeah, she'll make it. You know, I know she will, and and and. Throughout the six months of getting by and making it happen, my office actually opened into hit the back of his offices. The back of my office opened into the back of his offices and he had a big Mexican restaurant as well, and so every day he would slip lunch through to me through that door. He would slip me Mexican food. So it was. It was really lucky for me that I rented that particular office.

Karen Sarmento:

5:19

So what went through your head? This is. This has me fascinated. You had that moment where you said you and I have a problem.

Judi Moreo:

5:26

I love the delivery. It could never be just my problem. It had to be our problems.

Karen Sarmento:

5:35

Hilarious, so the delivery was perfect. But so, as he decided, I need to give you a chance, I'm not losing my bet, so you have to make it. You walked out of there and thought what?

Judi Moreo:

5:47

Did what. I just was so happy. I was like, yes, I knew I would make it. I never had any doubt that I would make it. I just had that situation, which was unbelievable that it would happen, right at the time when I opened my business.

Karen Sarmento:

6:03

Okay, so it wasn't a self-doubt issue. You knew you'd make it, but that.

Judi Moreo:

6:06

Yeah, yeah. I mean, when I opened the business I never had any question in my mind that I would fail. I mean, how could I fail? I just didn't have any idea and I took myself to every school in the city of Las Vegas, from elementary schools, junior high schools, senior high schools and offered to speak for free to any groups that they had to tell people about how they could be their best self, and if they would, let me pass out a card that said I'm interested in taking courses in modeling and finishing school sort of thing, in taking courses in modeling and finishing school sort of thing. And so all the schools were thrilled to get me because I would.

Judi Moreo:

6:51

I would go and do six PE classes a day, you know, and one speech after another after another, with kids that threw paper airplanes at you and things and and and it didn't cost the school anything. And I got the leads of people who wanted to do it. And then I'd come back to my office and I'd call these kids parents and tell them I'd been at the school and the child indicated they had an interest. And you know, I'd like very much for both parents to come and see me, because I learned early on. You have to have both parents, because if you only get mom, mom goes home and tell dad and dad goes no, and so I have to get both parents there and have dad sitting with the little girl who's going oh, daddy, please, and then he goes okay. So I figured that out real, real early on and it just turned out to be very, very successful.

Judi Moreo:

7:37

And it grew and grew and grew and eventually the Las Vegas Convention Center asked me to go with them to talk people into bringing their conventions to Las Vegas. So I flew with the convention center at my own expense to New York to talk to the consumer electronics show people and spoke with them about bringing their models I mean their show to Vegas. And I had been promised that if they did I'd probably get jobs for about 20 models and I thought that would be great. I had no idea how big consumer electronics was and they hired 200 models and I didn't have 200 models. So I had to go out and ask every other modeling agency in town to share their people with me so that we could do that convention.

Judi Moreo:

8:21

And from there Las Vegas became the convention capital of the world and so I had all the people that worked all the booths and all the coat rooms and all the information booths and all of that. So at one point I had a little over a thousand part-time people working for me and the business was great. And then someone offered to buy it and that was about the time my speaking career was going really well. So I sold the business and great. And then someone offered to buy it and that was about the time my speaking career was going really well. So I sold the business and became a professional speaker.

Karen Sarmento:

8:51

Wow, yeah, that is amazing.

Judi Moreo:

8:55

Yeah, I did really well. It was a fabulous time to start a business in Nevada. We were still a small city then Las Vegas was and we didn't have convention business. We went out and got it and brought it here, and we also went out and got a lot of movie business as well and I cast. I did a lot of the casting for the movies and TV shows that were filmed here, and so it was. It was exciting and glamorous and fun.

Karen Sarmento:

9:22

Very exciting and, to put your experience somewhat into context, you've been given a lot of awards and a lot of recognition along the way.

Judi Moreo:

9:31

I've been very fortunate, yes, that I have gotten a lot of recognition.

Karen Sarmento:

9:35

Yeah, the Nevada Business Person of the Year Award from the US Business Advisory Council. Outstanding Achievement and Public Service Award from the American Women in Radio and Television, Las Vegas Diamond Star Visionary Award and this year inducted into the Business Hall of Fame. Yes, Very accomplished. Yes, Were you always driven like this and did you always have this belief in yourself that you were meant to do these amazing things and just never doubted the possibility?

Judi Moreo:

10:26

young man that I went to high school with in Humboldt, kansas, and he was the president of the class and he said you were always driven. You know, you were the one that, as president of the class, I could always ask you to do something and you'd just make it happen. You just always knew and I, you know, I never felt that confidence. But you know, I just would go and give it my best effort and if it worked, it worked. And I mean here he and I are 60 years after high school and we're still in touch and he's telling me you were always like that and I was like I didn't think I was. I never felt that confident really. But you know, my parents were very good about supporting me. If I said I wanted to do something, they would do whatever they could to help me make that happen. And my mother always said everything was figureoutable. If you didn't know how to do something, you could figure it out. And I've recently written an article for a magazine in Nevada about my mom and her figureoutable theory, because she would just always make it happen. You know, if it wasn't possible, she would figure it out somehow or another.

Judi Moreo:

11:28

I'll never forget one time in high school I came home and said I have to have a white dress tomorrow, mom, because the choristers are going to be doing this event and I'm a chorister and I have to have this white dress. She said you don't have a white dress. I said I know she goes, well, let's call your sister and see if she's got anything. I call my sister and she said no, she didn't have a white dress, she had a white blouse, but she didn't have a white skirt. And my mom said OK, fine, you know it's too late to go to the stores, they're all closed. We'll do what we can.

Judi Moreo:

12:07

Her out and made me a dress and she put she put lace on it and red ribbon and I was there the next day looking wonderful, but that dress like to never wore out. You know that she lasted forever. I must have worn it for years, but she always did things like that, you know. Oh well, we can make it happen. So I guess I just learned that from her, that you can. You can make it happen if you just believe you can. I love that.

Karen Sarmento:

12:28

I absolutely love that. So your book you are more than enough. On the coattails of everything's figureoutable and you can make anything happen, you are more than enough. Or your other book coming out, the second piece of that, or the sequel to it you are more than you think you are. What role so for the person that's listening and they're hearing this and they say that's great for her, judy can do that. I could never do that. What do you say to that person?

Judi Moreo:

13:00

I teach art at the University of Nevada, las Vegas, part-time, and I have people that come in every day to art class and they say I don't know what I'm doing here. I've always wanted to paint but I never could and I can't draw a stick figure and my second grade teacher threw my picture in the trash. And you know they all have all this stuff about what they can't do. And my purpose in teaching this art class is the same as my book. You Are More Than Enough. It's to help people realize you can do whatever you want to do. So they come in, they say I can't draw a stick figure. I say good, because we don't draw stick figures in this class. So I'm glad you can't do that. You know we're going to try this and it's amazing. They turn out the most incredible paintings and they just get so confident and they're like I didn't know I could do it.

Judi Moreo:

13:51

I had a whole watercolor class start with me a few weeks ago and I had them do a portrait of a little boy and everybody in the room had to do the same portrait and they're all going we can't do that. We've never painted in our life. How are we going to do a portrait. Well, every one of them turned out a little boy that looked just fine. It was all the same little boy, but they all looked just right. And then they were just amazed. They were like, wow, you know, I can't believe I did this. And then they went home and showed everybody and then everyone, of course, said, wow, you have talent. And then they came back and now they'll try anything I want them to try.

Judi Moreo:

14:25

You know, it's you just got to help people have a success. If, if you can help people make successes, they'll. They'll soon believe, yes, I can do it. But you have to take them step by step. And I guess you know from being Wendy Ward and teaching little kids how to do their fingernails and and taking those steps to become a modeling school director and owner and working with teenagers. And then their mothers would come and say they wanted to have a program. And then before long, companies were hiring me to go in and talk about image to their executives, men and women. And I think, from learning step by step how to be successful myself, I've had to break it down so I can help other people take those steps one step at a time at a time, and that's what I did in the book you Are More Than Enough. It's every woman's guide to purpose, passion and power. But it's basically the same things I would teach in a finishing school program if I were doing it today. I teach you how to present yourself, how to walk into a room, how to speak up, how to say what you believe, how to communicate with other people, especially people that might intimidate you. I'll give you an example.

Judi Moreo:

15:44

When I first started my business, I said I don't know how to go out and get companies to hire my people. And my girlfriend said well, you have to go to the Chamber of Commerce. I said well, what's that? Well, you have to go to Chamber of Commerce meetings. They have meetings of all the business people in town. Oh, okay, so I go to the meeting and I come back. And she said how did it go? And I went didn't go up so well, why not? Well, I didn't meet anybody. She goes well, did you introduce yourself? No, I just went in and sat down and listened to the speaker and blah, blah, blah. She said okay, go back, go back. So next week I go back.

Judi Moreo:

16:20

And I'm there and looking around and there's a man sitting by himself down at the front of the room and I thought well, maybe he's all lonely, you know that. Maybe if I talk to him it'll be OK, because you know he's by himself. Other people are all like in their little cliques talking. So I go down and I sat next to him and I said hi, I'm Judy Morio, I own Universal Models and blah, blah, blah. This is me. I said, what do you do? And he said oh, I run a little hotel over on Las Vegas Boulevard South. Well, those of us who lived in Vegas back then, las Vegas Boulevard South was from downtown to the Strip, but the Strip was where the big hotels were. And he didn't say that. He said it Las Vegas Boulevard South. Well, the strip is also Las Vegas Boulevard South and people from out of town would refer to it that way. But I didn't know that Right. So.

Judi Moreo:

17:13

So I'm thinking, oh, he runs one of those tacky little pornographic motels down on Las Vegas Boulevard. So I talked to him, we had a time and I couldn't move because I'd already sat down and I thought well, this isn't going to help me any, but I'm going to be nice because I'm here. So we chatted and then he gave me his card and he said if I can ever help, you give me a call. And he gives me the card and I go back to my office and my friend comes and she goes well, how did it go? How did it go? And I said I don't think it went real well. I only met one person.

Judi Moreo:

17:46

And she's like well, what did that person do? I said, well, I think he owned a little a rent or something, a little pornographic motel. And she goes oh my God, why would you sit next to him? She said what motel is it? I go, let me. He gave me his card. So I handed her the card and she looked at the card and she looked at me and she looked at the card.

Judi Moreo:

18:06

She ran out of the office, down to the drugstore down the street, she buys a Time magazine. She comes back in, she goes with the Time magazine. She goes is this the man? Is this man? He was on the cover of Time magazine. And I go yeah, that's him. I said he must have really done something to get on the cover of that magazine. And she goes yeah, he did something. All right, she said Howard Hughes just hired him to run the whole Hughes empire here in Vegas.

Judi Moreo:

18:34

She said what did he say to you? I said, well, he said if he could ever help me, I should call him. He goes, call him, call him, call him. You need all the help you can get, you know so. So I called and I made an appointment and I went over to see him and he asked me you know what my business was and what I was doing? And I told him and he goes.

Judi Moreo:

18:52

As a matter of fact, we're going to reopen the Desert Inn Hotel and you know what I'm going to need? About 70 girls. I need you to put those girls all in the same outfits and I want you to teach them about the suites and the hotel and have them stand in the different rooms so that when people are visiting the hotel, they can talk about it. And do you think you could do that? I mean, it's going to be about a month and a half away. Can you make that happen? Oh, yes, I can do that.

Judi Moreo:

19:19

I said, well, I had to find those people, I had to find those dresses, I had to get them up to speed and we did it. We did it and later he told someone. He said if you want to do the possible, you can hire anybody, but if you want to do the impossible, you hire Judy Moria and and that kind of became a uh, a slogan. Several of my friends overheard that and to this day they still say that to me. Yeah, well, if we want them possible down, we're going to call you and I'm like right, but it um, you know, he gave me that account and therefore I got all the Hughes account for all their events and, uh, we did all the hostess and all the models and all the people and the spokespeople and so on for them for 20 years. So it was very successful. All because I sat next to somebody who looked lonely.

Karen Sarmento:

20:18

And you didn't even realize the magnitude of that moment at the time.

Judi Moreo:

20:22

I had no idea who that was. You know, we never know who someone is and we go and we sit there sometimes and we don't say a word. But better if we just open our mouth and start talking and let them talk a little and find out who they are, and you know, you'll meet the most fascinating people that way. But so many times we're just intimidated, we're afraid, and especially if I had known who he was, I probably wouldn't have sat down there at all because I would have thought, oh, he doesn't want to be bothered by somebody like me. But because I didn't know, I was just like, and that served me well. And in the years of starting the business and growing the business, I mean, I met some of the most famous authors in the world and didn't have a clue who they were when I sat down next to them, when I joined the National Speakers Association, I sat next to people like Ogmendino and Zig Ziglar and Les Brown and didn't know who they were and just blah, blah, blah. But it worked. So why do you?

Karen Sarmento:

21:25

think that is. So. Let's say you're sitting next to Les Brown. You don't realize it's Les Brown or Zig Ziglar, but then you realize it is. Why do you think we? All of a sudden it feels different? Why do we feel small all of a sudden, and it feels scary.

Judi Moreo:

21:43

I think we have a tendency to overestimate everyone else and underestimate ourselves. I think we look at other people and we think, oh, they're so important and they've done all of this and they just got there and it was probably. We think it was easy for them. We don't realize they probably had it every bit as hard as we did, so we just don't. It's just a lack of confidence, I think we just don't think we're as important as we are, and that's why I keep saying you are more than enough. You're not just enough, you're more than enough. There's so much more inside of us that we don't even know how to tap into so many times. And so you know we have to learn. And my you Are More Than Enough book is it's about how to present ourselves and how to be there. But my you Are More Than you Think you Are book, which is coming out soon, is more about finding out who you really are. It's about meditation, it's about going inside. It's about connecting with the universe. It's about realizing that everything in this universe is connected and that we can be a big part of that if we'll just quit playing small, if we'll just go out there and be who we are and let people see who we are authentically. It's okay if we've had a crappy background or a poor upbringing or we've been broke all of our lives. It's okay. Everybody's been somewhere that they didn't want to be at some point or another. But we're so many times we're ashamed of things you know. So we need to get past the shame and get on with it.

Judi Moreo:

23:19

My dad taught me something very important. He said you must always stay future focused. Don't don't look back. You know you've been there, you've done that. And he would say to me as a teenager you know, don't think you're so important because you're pretty, because I was a bit of a snob. And he would say God made you look like you. Look, you didn't have anything to do with that. God did that. You have to develop who you are. You have to be who you can be, and the only way you can do that is stay future focused.

Judi Moreo:

23:57

Where am I going? What am I doing? What are my goals? What can I achieve? What can I help other people with? And my dad would drill that into my head over and over as a teenager, and I do that a lot with my even my art students. I just say to them. It's not about what you used to do or what you can't do or what you think you can't do. It's about what can you do now? What is your goal? What do you want it to look like? And you just can make that painting anything you want, as long as you don't give up. Until you get there, you just paint and paint and paint, and if it's ugly, it's okay, they all go through ugly stages.

Karen Sarmento:

24:37

You just keep doing it until you get what you want. You know it's about persistence. I love that word persistence, Just not giving up like it's got to work.

Judi Moreo:

24:44

It's going to work because you're never going to give up on it. That's right. Someone told me that the reason that the Indians have a rain dance that works is because they don't quit dancing until it rains. I believe it.

Karen Sarmento:

25:02

When you were talking about the process of, say, running, meeting the gentleman with all the, with the hotels, and then stepping into all of a sudden, this major opportunity and it really required you to step into this role. And how did that journey look for you? Was it difficult? Like building up your self image in a way that you had to see yourself differently because you were expanding and you weren't going to play small anymore?

Judi Moreo:

25:32

You know, when you say that that's an interesting question, because I don't think I ever thought about it. I think I just, you know, I got the contract. Here's what it needed. Now you got to get busy and there was so much to do I couldn't think about can I do this or can I accommodate? I just had to do it. I mean, I had to find those dresses, I had to get those girls he wanted them all the same height, with the same color hair. I had to interview a million people, you know, and pick out who was there, and I mean, it was just like do, do, do, do. So I guess the thing is just keep doing until do, do, do. So I guess the thing is just keep doing until it gets there. And I didn't, I didn't stop and think about can I do this? I just always thought I could.

Karen Sarmento:

26:22

That's so interesting, that's even. That's even cooler because you did.

Judi Moreo:

26:24

You took the action and you came out on the other side. Yeah, I'm not saying that everything I've ever done has been successful. No, I mean, I've done some things, I've been a mess and I've I've really screwed up some things and I've kicked myself for it, but I just never thought, oh, I should give up. You know, I just thought, oh well, do it again, try it again, do it differently has to do with my mom making me learn how to sew. I would learn how to sew, sew and I would sew something wrong and she would say, just rip it out and do it again, or start over, or try another one. And you know, and that's so. I guess that's just if we could implant that into people. You know, don't give up, just just keep going until you get what you want. That's the important thing Persistence.

Karen Sarmento:

27:09

Well then, tell me more about your books coming out. You Are More Than you Think you Are. And then the experience writing your first fiction book.

Judi Moreo:

27:19

Well, you Are More Than you Think you Are. It's like I said, it's an expansion of you Are More Than Enough. It's kind of a spiritual book. It really gets into overcoming your perceived limitations, because that's the subtitle overcoming your perceived limitations because all limitations are perceived. We think them up. We really don't have limitations. I mean, God made us in a way that we have incredible brains, we have incredible bodies. We don't think about making our body work or we don't even think about walking, we just walk, we just go places. We just we don't even think about thinking. You know so when we read you are more than you think you are, it takes us into thinking about meditating, thinking about thinking, thinking about connecting with the universe, thinking about how what we do affects others and that affects others and so on. And you know, this is all about how we don't have limitations, even even my friends.

Judi Moreo:

28:22

I have one friend. I love this woman. I met her in an art class a few years ago. She was there and she was in a wheelchair with only one leg, and I met her and we got to talking and everything. This woman has no limitations. I mean, yeah, she's only got one leg, so she can't walk like the rest of us, but she has an artificial limb, she has crutches. She can get up and get around, but she doesn't let that stop her. She just wrote an incredible book called Skiing Uphill. She was a professional skier after she lost her leg. She lost her leg in high school, but she skied and then she kept skiing and skiing and she went on to ski worldwide with one leg and taught skiing with one leg and she's written this wonderful book called Skiing Uphill. And I just am so impressed with her because when I met her, I kept saying to her you need to write your story, you need to. And she's like, no, no, you know who wants to read this? Well, she wrote her story and I helped her, you know, write the story and get the book out there. I helped her get it published and and I mean she sold like 10,000 books the first year. It was just like amazing that that she did what she did, but she can do it. And so people might look at her and say, well, she has a limitation because she only has one leg, but she doesn't. She doesn't have a limitation, she can do whatever she thinks she wants to do, and that's what my book is about. It's about that and then the other book is is my first journey into fiction writing.

Judi Moreo:

29:58

I I took a challenge. Somebody said you know you're you're so good at writing self-help books, did you ever think about writing fiction as story? And I'm like, no, I don't think I could do that, I don't think I could do dialogue, I don't think I could put words in people's mouths and, you know, create characters and so on. But I was helping another author with his book. He wrote a fiction book and it's kind of a Lord of the Rings type book, that type of book, and he made up characters. I mean, he made up critters, he gave them names and named the species they were. It was all made up in his mind and I was editing his book and helping him with it and I thought, well, maybe I could do it, Maybe I could try this, you know. So I thought, well, I don't have that much of an adventurous spirit to totally make up a whole new world like he did, and a new universe and new critters. So I just took a setting from when I lived in South Africa.

Judi Moreo:

30:58

I was in South Africa for nine years during the apartheid regime and it was a very difficult time in that country because black people did not have the right to vote, they didn't have a lot of the right, they didn't have any of the rights that white people had.

Judi Moreo:

31:14

So there were a lot of uprisings and a lot of problems and Mandela was in prison. And so that's when I went there, I got to watch Mandela walk out of prison, I got to interview Mr Mandela before he became president a couple of times, and so I took that kind of story about apartheid and I wrote a story about a white American woman journalist working for a Black newspaper in South Africa during that time and at that time it was illegal for white people and Black people to really be friends or to get together or to go places together. So I have her falling in love with a Black male journalist and of course then their life gets to be quite difficult because the government is totally against them. And then they both decide to go work for an underground newspaper and they go against the government. And so it's a trilogy, it's three stories. It's Shades of Resilience, shadows of Reconciliation and Echoes of Freedom. So it's three small books that make one big story.

Karen Sarmento:

32:25

Love it. Yeah, what was the process of doing something new?

Judi Moreo:

32:29

Oh, it has been amazing. I would start and get frustrated and stop, and at one point I didn't know if I put the wrong chapter in the wrong book and how did I get this mess going here. And so it's just been kind of difficult, but it's been the same as when I wrote you Are More Than Enough. I was thinking about it yesterday that I had the same challenges with you Are More Than Enough. I couldn't decide does this chapter go here or does this go before that? Finally, I just made an outline and said, okay, just do it to do it.

Judi Moreo:

33:11

And then, when I got it done, I realized that I had to write every chapter. I needed to write as standalones, because they didn't follow an order. You know I couldn't make them. You know, like you write a chapter and then the next chapter builds on it. I couldn't do that on that book, so I did everything. This was complete, this chapter was complete, and then that way I could move them around, you know, and put them in the order. I thought they should be in the end so.

Judi Moreo:

33:33

But now with this book you can't do that because with fiction it's a story. So you know, you have to make sure each chapter follows the next. So that's been a challenge to figure out, and you've got to be where each chapter ends in such a way that the reader is going, oh, what's next? I got to read the next chapter, so you have to do these cliffhanger things that I didn't know about before. So it's been quite a learning experience, a journey, and I'm excited because it's going on Kindle Vela. Now, kindle Vela is where you can buy books by the episode. Instead of chapters. They call them episodes, so you can go on Kindle Vela and you buy one chapter at a time, and I'm putting it up on that because I want to see if people are so excited about each chapter that they get the next one.

Karen Sarmento:

34:29

Yes, oh, that's exciting yeah.

Judi Moreo:

34:32

It's fun. Kindlevale is relatively new and I'm sure it's had its challenges, as I've had mine with putting this book together to put up there, but I think it'll be fun. You know, I'm at an age now to where I just want to do my life, to where it's every day a learning experience. Every day is something good, every day is something new. Every day I make a difference so that when I'm gone there's a legacy. You know, there's something that people say oh, she made a difference in my life.

Karen Sarmento:

35:04

You know, that actually was just what I was about to ask you, because the word legacy means so much to me and I was going to ask when. Because the word legacy means so much to me and I was going to ask when you think of your legacy, or when people say Judy Morio, oh, I know her, she's. What would you like the words to?

Judi Moreo:

35:22

follow. What would you like that to be? What do you want to be most remembered for? She made a difference in my life, in fact. You know what it's been so interesting?

Judi Moreo:

35:28

I went to dinner a couple nights ago. Well, sunday night I went to dinner with a group of people and we were sitting at the dinner table and the gentleman next to me was asking me about how I got started and I told him about Wendy Ward and lady across the table said and I was one of her Wendy Ward students, and I was one of her Wendy Ward students, and I didn't even recognize the woman because it had been 60 years, you know, 58 years, something like that. And she was like and I was one of her Wendy Ward students. And I was like, yes, I guess you were. You know, and I had students come to my UNLV art classes and they'll come in and they'll say remember me? And I say I think so and they'll go.

Judi Moreo:

36:14

Well, it's been 58 years since you've seen me, or it's been 52 years since you've seen me, and they come to my art classes and some of them tell me I don't come here because I want to paint, I come here because I want to spend time with you, and that that really makes me feel like, yes, I did something in their life that helped them to believe in themselves. I made a difference. Somehow. I think I could die tomorrow and be happy with who I am. There was a time when I was younger, I wouldn't have said that, but now I'm like, yeah, I've made a difference. That's what I wanted to do.

Karen Sarmento:

36:52

Yes, you surely have, and you have an amazing energy about you. Even for me personally, I've enjoyed being here with you. I find myself laughing. I'm intrigued by your story, I'm learning, and you just have a presence that I'm sure people are drawn to.

Judi Moreo:

37:09

I had a. I had a. I did a speech a couple of weeks ago for the National Speakers Association here and and one of the young men in the audience I think probably he's probably in his early 30s he raised his hand. He said Miss Boyle, before this is over, can I ask you one last question? I said yes, and and he goes. How does an old bird like you have so much energy? I said I think that's a compliment, thank you, he goes. Well, you gotta face it, you're not a young chick, you know, and and you just have a. You're like the energizers are bunny, you just keep going. And he said how do you do that? And I said I don't know. I said I think you, just, you know you live your life the way you believe you should live it and you stay positive as much as you can and you stay future focused and yeah, that's it, and sir you know, yeah, you can shut up now, go away well, you've certainly left a mark.

Karen Sarmento:

38:14

Now you you've been hired as a coach and a mentor by entrepreneurs and executives in 28 different countries, so you're making your mark everywhere.

Judi Moreo:

38:25

Oh, I love the life I've had. I've had wonderful adventures and I think it's just because I've stepped way out of my comfort zone so many times. You know, when someone said to me, do you want to go be a speaker in South Africa? I'm like, yeah, I'd like to do that. When someone said, do you want to go to Dubai? No-transcript, got that card with my name on it. I just follow them. Oh, I go wherever they. They put me in the car, I sit in the car. They drive three hours to somewhere. I'm back there going. You know, I'm a bit hungry. You eat when we get there. Okay, you know, it's like all right. Just, I've just kind of gone through life like I'm in La La Land or something.

Karen Sarmento:

39:30

You know, sometimes it seems, though, it is the people that are willing to be a little different, or willing to be the word weird. I wouldn't look at you and say you were weird, but you know the people that are willing to do things differently and do the unexpected or the uncomfortable things differently and do the unexpected or the uncomfortable.

Judi Moreo:

39:51

Yeah, yeah, I. When I when I was asked to go speak in Dubai, I was shocked because they wanted me to come on Thanksgiving. So I said, okay. So I flew on Thanksgiving by myself from Las Vegas to Washington DC and changed planes there. I had to spend the night in Washington DC and then take the plane on to Dubai, and so I was in the hotel. I checked into the hotel and I called down to see about getting dinner and they said the restaurant was closed for the evening but they had. They were preparing the Thanksgiving meal for the next day. And I said, well, do you think I could get any of that food? And they said, yeah, let's, we'll check with the chef. And so the chef said, well, yeah, he could make me a tray. And I said, okay, and I didn't want to eat in my room. So I said, can I eat in the lobby? And they said, well, yeah, if you want to. So I go down to the lobby and they're decorating the Christmas tree. So I helped them decorate the and then the chef brought me my meal and I had my Thanksgiving meal there, which was great, and we just had a great evening decorating the tree, the two guys because it was snowing outside and there was just the two guys in the in the front desk and me and the chef, and so it was really nice and I thought this was a great Thanksgiving.

Judi Moreo:

41:00

And then I flew to Dubai, I got off the plane somebody was there with their little sign and I followed them. They took me to a hotel and dropped me off and said we'll pick you up for dinner at six o'clock and I said okay, and so I got all ready and then, sure enough, the people from the chamber of commerce in Dubai who hired me they had flown a turkey over because they knew I'd missed Thanksgiving at home. They had flown a turkey because they don't have tur Thanksgiving at home. They had flown a turkey because they don't have turkeys in Dubai and they had invited all the Americans that they could find to dinner. And they gave me this big Thanksgiving dinner in Dubai. And you know, when I got to the house, everybody was in the kitchen cooking and they just threw me in the kitchen with everybody else and we were cooking and we made dinner and by the time I left there that evening I had all these wonderful new friends that were Americans that lived in another part of the world and the chamber was so good to me. It's the largest chamber of commerce in the world. They have 8,000 members and they were so good to me.

Judi Moreo:

42:03

I did a 45-minute speech and they entertained me for five days. They took me all over Dubai, they showed me everything, they took me shopping, they bought me presents. I was like, okay, I can die and go to heaven, because now I've flown first class on Emirates Airlines, which is like amazing. You've got your own room, your little private little quadrant there on the airplane and they just spoil you rotten. And then I had all this wonderful people. I said, okay, I don't need to speak anymore, I'm fine, I've had the best of the best. Of course I wasn't, but it was so amazing.

Judi Moreo:

42:40

Wow, thanks for sharing all that it was just wonderful, it was an amazing experience. But see, you can go like I did in the beginning of speaking. You can go to these places and stay in your hotel room by yourself and not meet anybody. Or you can go down to the lobby and meet some people, and and I, just I, I just got tired of being by myself. You know, when I first started out, I was in hotel rooms by myself. I was driving from city to city in America by myself. I was in America. What's interesting?

Judi Moreo:

43:14

As a speaker in America that works for seminar companies, I would go to a different city every day. So I would fly out on Sunday night, monday, I'd be in one city, tuesday, another city Wednesday, another Thursday, another Friday. Fly home Friday night, wash my clothes on Saturday, fly out again on Sunday. I would do that three weeks out of every month and so, consequently, you didn't really meet a lot of people. And the people in the United States are busy, so when they have the day with you, they don't think to say are you going to be by yourself at dinnertime? Would you like to have dinner? So you eat by yourself, you eat in your hotel room. You know you travel in the car by yourself.

Judi Moreo:

43:55

It was just a real lonely sort of life until I learned to quit staying in the room, get out and go to the gym, or go to a gym down the street, or go to a movie, or sit in a restaurant by yourself and talk to somebody at the next table, or you know, I had to. I had to quit because I was so alone all the time and I just said no, this isn't going to work. So I've just started reaching out to people. I speak to everybody. Some people they look at me real strange and they don't speak back. But that's OK, you know, and I and I always try to compliment people. Like if I see somebody alone, you know, like if there's another woman in a restaurant by herself, I might, I might stay to her from the next table. Oh, I noticed you have such a beautiful scarf. Did you get that here in town or are you from somewhere else? Well, you know, that's a conversation, so you can start a conversation with a compliment which is just about anybody. People love compliments.

Karen Sarmento:

44:55

And I love that you made a decision that you were going to do things differently. Like I'm tired of being alone, I'm going to step out of the hotel room and go have dinner down in the lobby.

Judi Moreo:

45:05

Yeah, I had to do that, because when you're on the road three days a week and you come home and wash your clothes, you're alone at home too. You don't have time to hang out with your friends or to go places. It's just constant, constant, constant. Now, when you're in another country, it's interesting.

Judi Moreo:

45:22

When you're in another country as a speaker, those people will almost always say to you do you have dinner plans? Would you like to go with us to a play? Would you like to go to the opera? You know, invariably those people will take you to other places, which is really nice, but for some reason in America we don't do that, and so that's another thing I've tried to do with speakers here. If they're from somewhere else, or even if they're just from another town in America, you know, I'll say do you have plans for dinner? No, would you like to go with me? Oh, yes, you know, because I know what it's like to be on that road by yourself all the time. And now I have speakers that come to Vegas. A lot of speakers come to Vegas because they're always speaking here in Vegas, but because I offered to take them out to dinner one time or another. Now they call me every time they come to Vegas, and so it's like I'm out every night having dinner with people you who don't know?

Karen Sarmento:

46:28

Judy has a television show called what's your Story, and you have an amazing story, just all.

Judi Moreo:

46:31

Thank you, yes, thank you, thank you. Yeah, my TV show is on Roku. They can. They can get it on Roku. It's WWDB TV. So what's your story? And I interview interesting people, people from all walks of life doctors, authors, celebrities, entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs like yourself. I had you on my show. You were wonderful. I love doing the TV show because I get to ask so many questions that people might think I was just being Snoopy if I weren't a TV host.

Karen Sarmento:

47:00

So much, so much value in someone's story, where they've come from, how they got to where they are now. Yeah, yeah, and overcoming challenges. There was a time I would have thought the challenges kind of put a a boundary on what I could accomplish or what, just a self-imposed limitation. Because of the story you're like, immediately disqualified from greatness. And it's actually over time I've learned, and from from television shows like that you learn that people's stories, or the challenges or the mistakes, if you want to call it that, are really what catapults many people to their greatness.

Judi Moreo:

47:39

Oh, yes, most definitely. Well, I have a friend here in Vegas that she was a child during the Lebanese war in Lebanon and her brother was actually blown up right in front of her. The bomb came through the window in their house and it just exploded right in their living room and she had to go live in the hills for a couple years and everything, and so she only got a fourth grade education and she just had a difficult life. I mean really difficult life. Well, recently she was just given an honorary master's degree from a university back east. She is the producer of another television show that I did for a while. She's written a couple of great books. She's written a book called Tears of Hope, which is phenomenal. She started a whole movement called Empowering Humanity and has a magazine and she just did an anthem, a song with 70 musicians called Rise Up. And I mean, here's this lady that dyslexic, fourth grade education, child of war, and she's done all these amazing things. It can be done that's so powerful.

Karen Sarmento:

48:51

So to all the listeners, just that the past doesn't have to define you.

Judi Moreo:

48:56

No no, it doesn't. I think I'll write a book called future focus be another bestseller, I'd buy it.

Karen Sarmento:

49:04

I'm good.

Judi Moreo:

49:04

I can't wait to read your book there's a new one that's coming out, send me the money for it and then, that way I'll be, I'll have to do it. Right? I always tell people, once I get the initial money, I have to do it.

Karen Sarmento:

49:19

You're a. You are more than you think you are. So, judy, anything we're not covering here that we haven't covered already. Anything you wanted to add for the listeners or share.

Judi Moreo:

49:30

Well, I think we do have a free e-book that you'll tell people about or you'll give them a link that they can go and get. It's called Unleash your Potential and that's free for them to have and they can reach me. I'm real easy to get them all over the internet. It's Judy at JudyMoriocom and I just love talking to people and helping people to get ahead. I'm always looking for new coaching clients. If people want to work on writing a book or writing their story or being on TV, I'm here.

Karen Sarmento:

50:03

Amazing. So, yes, reach out to Judy. All that contact information will also be in the show notes, and the ebook that Judy mentioned will also be in the show notes with the link. Thank you so, judy, thank you so much for being here, for your time and sharing all your, your, your greatness with the audience.

Judi Moreo:

50:24

Thank you. Thank you so much, karen, for giving me this opportunity. I always loved to be on podcasts, and especially with you. You're a great interviewer, thank you.

Karen Sarmento:

50:33

Oh, it's my pleasure. This was fun. This was a lot of fun. So thank you everybody for joining us for another episode of we Are Meant For More, and if any part of this resonates with you and you feel someone could benefit, please share the word, share the amazing information. Remember, whatever challenges you're facing or have faced in the past, they don't define you. You are worthy, capable and destined for greatness. Let's embrace the whispers of possibility together, because together we rise and we are meant for more.

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