Charlotte Donnelly, Harriet Tubman, and Finding Strength in Stories

Get ready for a heartwarming mother-daughter chat in this special episode of Hello Moxie! Host Nicole Donnelly welcomes her daughter Charlotte for an inspiring conversation about historical heroes, creative problem-solving, and growing up with moxie.

Together, they explore the incredible legacy of Harriet Tubman and how her courage still inspires us today. Charlotte shares her unique perspective on tackling challenges, finding joy in creativity, and the importance of understanding our emotions. 

From Halloween costumes to life lessons, this episode is packed with wisdom that'll resonate with listeners of all ages. Tune in for a dose of multigenerational moxie and discover how the stories we share can shape the future. 

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Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00)
You're listening to Hello Moxie with Nicole Donnelly. In each episode, we honor the unbreakable thread that connects the fierce women who came before us to modern day pioneers carving their own paths. We'll share stories of unforgettable heroines, celebrate their courage, and bring to light the lasting impact they've had across generations. Get inspired by the stories of those who embodied true Moxie and pave the way for others to follow. Hello Moxie is sponsored by DMG Digital.

Speaker 2 (00:24)
way.

Speaker 1 (00:29)
a woman owned marketing consultancy dedicated to helping B2B companies and e-commerce brands create exceptional customer experiences.

Speaker 2 (00:39)
Hello, this is a special episode of Hello Moxie today. I am so excited to be joined by my lovely daughter Charlotte. And Charlotte and I were talking about the podcast and I was telling her a little bit about what I do and the guests I have on the show and I thought, man, maybe she could come on and she could share some of her wisdom and her experience that she's had. So Charlotte.

Welcome to the show. don't you tell our audience a little bit about you?

Speaker 1 (01:09)
I am nine years old. It says that on my shirt. my favorite color is blue. my favorite food is watermelon.

Speaker 2 (01:21)
She loves watermelon. my goodness, we all do. Well, thanks for being on the show, Shar. So I, you know, how are you feeling about being on mom's show?

Speaker 1 (01:32)
I don't know, it's cool. Even though don't listen to podcasts.

Speaker 2 (01:36)
You just like the idea of it. Yeah Well, so I want to start today Charlotte by asking you a question And that question is you know, our show is all about women in history and the women who we admire in history So tell our audience who is a woman in history that you really admire

Speaker 1 (01:56)
I really admire Harriet Tubman, the way that she, even though she was scared, kept pushing through and she believed in God.

Speaker 2 (02:07)
I love that about her too. Did you know that Harriet Tubman is one of my favorite women in history too?

Speaker 1 (02:14)
Yes, mom, you've said that to me many times.

Speaker 2 (02:19)
Yes, I really admire her for some of the same reasons what I really admire about her is that she was brave enough to try to escape slavery and so she was able to Find her way and she leaned on God and her spirituality to help know which ways to go because she was going all by herself in the woods She had no roads to follow. She didn't have anybody that she knew she could trust But she knew she could trust God and she knew she could trust herself and I really admire that about her

But the other thing I really admire about her is that once she got to freedom...

Speaker 1 (02:53)
She helped more people. She wasn't scared to help the other people because she knew what they were feeling.

Speaker 2 (03:00)
what they were feeling. Yeah, she had empathy for that.

Speaker 1 (03:03)
Even though it was a really dangerous journey, she knew she had to do it to save the other people and for them to know what it feels like to be free.

Speaker 2 (03:13)
Yeah, I think that's incredible. It's one of the things I admire about her is that she thought beyond herself and she wanted to help other people. She took some big risks to go back and do that. Yeah. And every time she relied on her own spiritual intuition and her relationship with God to help her. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that today, So, you know, you and I chat quite a bit and you, you know, you were helping me recently with some

you know, mom's having some business challenges. Cause when you own a business, you're constantly having issues and problems and solutions or problems that you have to face all the time. And new things come up and sometimes it's not so easy to know what you should do or what decision you should make. Yeah. And so you were, we were talking the other day and you gave me such good advice and I thought it would be really good for our listeners to hear what's your advice for maybe a leader or someone who owns a business or maybe they're leading a team.

they might be facing a challenge in their job or even at home and they're not really sure how to fix it or what to do about it. What would you

Speaker 1 (04:18)
Well, I learned in school, it connects to this. You can like use it all the time for many problems. But so first you have to state the problem. So I asked you to state the problem and your problem was...

Speaker 2 (04:34)
I can't remember what the problem was. I have problems all the time. I think my problem was I was trying to decide what kind of services or path I wanted to do with my business moving forward, right?

Speaker 1 (04:48)
And so I told you to state the problem and then you had to think of the solutions and then you have to choose which solution is best for you and everyone and which one do you think will be better for the business.

Speaker 2 (05:02)
I love that framework. first you, before you even know, you gotta identify what is your problem. Then you come up with several different options. Yeah. And then what do do to explore those options?

Speaker 1 (05:13)
To explore them, you have to think what would happen if this happened. Think of the future of what would happen. Would it be better or would it be worse or would it still be the same?

Speaker 2 (05:26)
You've to think of the future, you've to think ahead a little bit and kind of make a prediction. And have you found that you've, have you tried this before with any problems in your life? No, but that's okay. But now you know when you have a problem what you can do. Yeah. I love that framework. That's really good. So identify the problem, come up with several options and then make a decision. Yeah. Sometimes it's the making the decision part that's the hardest because you have to commit to it.

Speaker 1 (05:34)
Not really.

Speaker 2 (05:53)
And you have to stop and have to choose not to do the other decisions, right? Yeah. Well, Charlotte, one of the things that I really, really admire about you is that you love to paint. You're really a great painter and it's really quite special to watch you when you paint because I can see how much you enjoy the process of just making something from nothing. And I love that you never really have this pressure to do it perfectly. So.

Tell our listeners, what is it that you love so much about painting?

Speaker 1 (06:24)
Well, in painting, there's not the exact path you have to follow. You just make it up as you go. That's what I like about painting. Instead of, it's more fun making it up as you go and like using a picture in your mind and try and paint it and makes it more fun. But if you just search up a picture on Google, it's like you're doing the exact same thing. It's not like you want, it's not like you're being creative.

And a lot of people say you get less creative when you get older, so it's like better because you can stay creative and you can keep thinking of those wonderful ideas when you're older.

Speaker 2 (07:12)
love that. it's coming up with and trusting yourself to come up with your own ideas and following that and just doing what you enjoy on your own, right? That's cool. What's the favorite piece of artwork that you ever done?

Speaker 1 (07:25)
Well, I don't know, but I did do this one that I loved. It was called, I think it was called Out of Space or In the Space Beyond or something like that. And so I didn't have, well actually at first I had a picture in my mind, well not really, but like I had an idea. I wanted it to be like a solar system, but like not really the planet, just like the outer space in the beautiful galaxy and stuff.

So I started out with adding a bunch of color because I wanted to be like mystic and like colorful instead of like black and white stars. So then I added that and then I tried to blend it as much as I could. I still think I could have done better doing that. And then I kept adding on this like white in the black part on the bottom because I just and I kept adding it on and I was finally finished and it was like beyond the galaxy. And that's where I thought of the name. It's like.

a colorful, beautiful galaxy that no one's that you can really, it's really, it would be really amazing to see in real life. So you can, so that's why I love painting because you get to think of it and then just do it. And it's like you're actually there when you look at it.

Speaker 2 (08:45)
That's lovely. You want to know something really cool? That painting you just talked about is right behind you on my wall. Do you see it?

Speaker 1 (08:52)
yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:55)
It's one of my favorites. And you know why I love it? Because you didn't follow any pattern or picture. It's all from your imagination. So whenever I see it, kind of gives me a reminder that like, I don't have to follow any specific rules or framework. I can just do it my own way. And that's fun. That's the enjoyment is when you get to do it your own way. Yeah, I love that. So what are you looking forward to Charlotte this fall and months ahead? What are you excited about?

Speaker 1 (09:24)
Well, I'm excited about... I don't really know. It's all just a bunch of... Because like, this is not really anything I'm really excited about that's super big right now. Besides Halloween, actually. I totally forgot about it. Halloween, I'm excited for that. I just... Yeah. I love putting up the decorations. And I found out this really cool new costume.

Speaker 2 (09:47)
You love putting up the decorations? Yeah.

Yeah, are you excited about that? What's it gonna be? Tell our listeners. She came up with this all on her own.

Speaker 1 (09:59)
Yeah, so my aunt said, so my uncle Spencer said he was gonna be, she was like, you know how Dr. Pepper, it's like a soda, but then you can do a, so this is what my uncle did. He was a doctor and then he put pepper on top. So was like, what's it called, mom?

Speaker 2 (10:18)
a play on words kind of thing, I know I can't think of the exact term. Instead of him being the canned Dr. Pepper, he dressed up as a doctor and then he had pepper on his head.

Speaker 1 (10:22)
So when I

So that made me think of fruit punch right away. So, and also before I saw this guy, he was a fridge. And so I wanted it be a fridge, but it's perfect because I also wanted it be fruit punch. So I put fruit in the fridge and I put these big like puncher things on my... Yeah, boxing gloves and be like there's fruit and there's fruit in the fridge and there's a punch in my hand. So it's like every...

Speaker 2 (10:45)
hands like moths, boxing gloves.

Speaker 1 (10:57)
But I did it like that instead of having like a worm. I did it like that because it would be obvious for the people when they open it so they know right away.

Speaker 2 (11:05)
And it's a surprise you open the fridge you see the fruit and then you get a punch. So are you gonna actually punch people?

Speaker 1 (11:12)
I don't know

Speaker 2 (11:13)
That'd be really funny. I guess maybe like gentle punch like I Think that's gonna be such a fun costume. I love that idea. That's awesome. So my last question for you Charlotte is What advice would you give to other girls and women like you? To help them in the future. What's something that you would like to tell the women listeners? That would be maybe some things that you've learned that have helped you in your life or advice that you'd like to give

Speaker 1 (11:18)
Yeah.

Really, it's just thinking of those amazing stories that just keep you going when you're sad. You can think of them. like the people that help you when you're sad, it really keeps you going in your life. if you're really disappointed or you're really angry or sad, if you could maybe just think of a happy story or think of one of your favorite stories, it'll get you off your thing of being angry.

And you'll forget about being angry and you'll just laugh at the story or something or like... Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:17)
I

love that advice. So your advice is really sound to really make sure that you have story, know stories, right? No stories that you can call on whenever you're feeling sad or angry or anxious and those stories can help strengthen you.

Speaker 1 (12:33)
Yeah, and whenever you're really angry, like I'm always really angry sometimes. I was just angry because my mom made me take a shower. I love to just push the wall and try and like break things and scream. And it's like, it's not a very like, like good way to do that. So it's better to just think of a story.

Speaker 2 (12:43)
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:01)
and it'll make you happier. Help you feel that it'll help you calm down and maybe like use some of the ways that you, like if you love nature walks, you could go outside and walk or think of your favorite story. For my example, Harriet Tubman and think of that and it'll get distracting and you'll take your mind off it and then you won't be angry at them and you won't hold a grudge at them after.

You can think of a story instead of when you're really angry at someone instead of going out on them. Just think of a story. Think of your favorite story or think of something that makes you feel better like a picture or or like your your great grandma or candy.

Speaker 2 (13:48)
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:50)
and then try to calm down and then you can ask them to stop doing that. A lot of problems and you get really angry when you're younger because a lot of problems come up when you're... But problems are good because they help you along the way. If there were no problems then it would be like you would never learn from it.

Speaker 2 (14:14)
That's so true. I love the way you look at problems as a positive thing and not a bad thing. That's important. The other thing I like, I thought was really cool is that you made it, you can, I, you're, really advising people to identify what they're feeling and know when they're feeling angry and say, I'm feeling angry right now. Yeah. And it's, know that it's okay to have those feelings. It's okay to be angry. It's angry is not bad, but it's when you have a problem like that, it's how you deal with your anger. And I think you've given.

The listener's some really good tools that can help them. It's amazing how the stories from the past can help us. Stories from women in history, stories from even people in our own family, how that can give us strength.

Speaker 1 (14:55)
Yes, like if you're really scared, could think of how Harriet Tubman was brave, so I can be brave and do this.

Speaker 2 (15:03)
Yep, it's a really great way of an example. Yeah, that's true. That's such good advice.

Speaker 1 (15:08)
Like, because Harriet Tubman, she was scared to run away, but she didn't because she knew she had to and she knew she wanted to because she knew she wanted to be free and she knew she could believe in God to help her and guide her.

Speaker 2 (15:23)
Yes. You know what's cool about that? She had a higher vision of what she wanted for her life and her future. And that was what helped her pull her forward. It was her higher vision.

Speaker 1 (15:34)
Well, her higher vision was that she knew she could believe in God, and she knew she had to do this. She had to do this because she knew that she wanted to leave because African Americans, they don't deserve to be treated like this.

Speaker 2 (15:56)
Exactly. Yeah. So she had a higher purpose. She wanted freedom. Yeah. And that was what pulled her forward. She wanted justice.

Speaker 1 (16:01)
And

she wanted other people to be free too. No matter how stubborn or whatever they were feeling, she was going to help everybody because she wanted everybody to be free. And she felt like African-Americans shouldn't have, slavery should be defeated. She didn't believe in slavery. We thought of slavery in

as bad thing, which most of the African Americans did. And she knew she had to save a lot of them because she knew that other people thought that way too. So she did it instead of being afraid, she just went for it. Instead of thinking about it before, that'll make you scared.

Speaker 2 (16:49)
Yeah, she just took action. Yeah, such good advice. I think it's really wise what you said about how she was still afraid. It's not like she wasn't afraid. was still afraid, but she just did it anyway because she had a higher purpose that she believed in very deeply. What's your higher purpose? Do you know yet? That's okay, you're young. You don't have to have it all figured out yet. You have time to kind of sort through that as you learn.

Speaker 1 (16:51)
What?

Speaker 2 (17:16)
as you continue to read books and go to school and spend time with your friends and your family and come to know yourself more and know who you are and what your likes are, your higher purpose will come to you. And it changes sometimes too. It changes over time. So, well, thank you for coming on our show today, Charlotte. What a delight! This has been a really special episode for me to have you on the show and have you share some of your experiences. I think you gave us some really cool.

advice and things to think about. Will you come on the show again sometime? Sure. Yeah, I would love that. That'd be so great. Well, thank you for listening. Thanks for tuning in and until next time. That's a wrap for today's episode of Hello Moxie. I hope you felt that unbreakable thread connecting you to the women of the past, to the trailblazing pioneers of today. Their stories of audacity, resilience and courage are a powerful reminder of what's possible for you.

when you choose to live with Moxie.