Clarissa Burt: From Supermodel to Global Empowerment Leader

Clarissa Burt is an internationally acclaimed media personality, producer, director, author, and former supermodel with over 35 years of experience in American and international entertainment. She is the founder and CEO of In the Limelight Media, a multimedia platform featuring television shows, a podcast, and a digital magazine available on major streaming platforms.

Clarissa is the bestselling author of The Self-Esteem RE-gime, a practical guide helping readers build confidence, resilience, and self-worth through her signature “RE-concept.” She has received numerous honors, including knighthood from the Royal Order of Constantine the Great and Saint Helen, the Araldo Award from Prince Albert of Monaco, the ACMID International Women’s Peace Award, and the Oscar della Moda for Career Excellence.

A global advocate and speaker, Clarissa continues to inspire audiences worldwide, empowering individuals—especially women—to embrace reinvention, self-confidence, and purpose.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome back, listeners of the Randomness of Nothing podcast. I've always tried to bring interesting guests and people from different walks of life of entrepreneurs, business owners. This person that I have today is the pinnacle of success and continues to strive to better heights. I have Dame Clarissa Burt, former model, entrepreneur, best-selling author, and all-around good person. So thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Thank you very much. I would like to take note of our backgrounds. This is the clutter that comes with being a little older, you know. Like people say, Oh, you've done so much in your life. I'm going, I've been around a lot longer than you, you know. Like, I've been around a really long time. So that's what you get when you got, you know, when you've when you've got a few years on everybody else.

SPEAKER_03 0:43

Well, you know, first of all, you know what's funny though is like when people sit back like in and and say things about people's age, like you do realize that they were young once, right? Like, let's full disclosure. Like they like they were a kid, right? They they were in their twins. So anybody who's listening, you're not gonna be 22 forever. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Yeah, you won't be flight. Although 22 is great, don't get me wrong. Absolutely. And I have to tell you, and I know this is gonna sound uh sound so cliche. I feel like I'm 22. I don't know. I mean, people I it's like, oh come on, get over yourself. No, I really do. I may not look 22, but I do feel 22.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

Yeah, you have the energy, you have the passion, you have the convictions, you wake up every day with clarity and purpose. Absolutely. Yes, I do, sir. Yes, I do. So you're from Philadelphia. I don't think I've ever in my life seen a biography that reads like this. From Philadelphia to 18, and you you know, goes to the Wilmina modeling agency, you know, was actually insecure and was encouraged by friends to model, and then goes to Italy. And then I mean, tell me all about this.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Is crazy. Yeah, so I started out Little Chrissy Burt, you know, in a row home in Philly, right? And uh I just had a dream. Well, my first dream was well, the first thing that happened to me, I don't know if I have the picture around, was I became Mary Poppins in the kindergarten play. And after I got done singing Super California expialidos, and I got my first standing ovation, um, I was hooked, you know, I was hooked, and I knew that you know, in some way, shape, or form, the stage and a microphone was going to be part of my life.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

And and that's the way it is, you know, that's the way it's been. So fast forward, of course, I had to graduate high school, but once I did, I was, you know, I was in New York City. We were living in Jersey at the time. We had moves, and then I just went, you know, bright lights, big city. Here I come. Got taken by you know by Willamina, accepted, started working there. And then they said, you know, your look is really more of a European look. Let's say send you over there. And I said, twist my arm. And uh, where am I going? I'm going where to Paris and and you know, and Rome and Milan. So I had the time of my life. And quite frankly, I stayed there about 30 years.

SPEAKER_03 2:44

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Um, yeah, I stayed there for a while. So from modeling, it went into like to the the piece where I, you know, I did like the 18 different movies. One of them was the Never Ending Story Part two. You might be too young for that.

SPEAKER_03 2:54

I'm not no, no, no. I wanted to say that, like I looked you up, right? So as soon as I was looking you up, I'm like, I remember you as a kid because you scared the living crap out of me in that role.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. So funny. So many, I have pictures all over, and I'm trying to show you. Like, for example, I never do this, but I'm gonna show you. No, you're good. Okay, just look the show. So I have these are like my vision boards, right? So, so there's like Springsteen and Boccelli, and right there is Lionel Ritchie, and then you see down at the bottom there's me, and then Angelina Jolie, she's green. Yeah, that's so somebody did that. Somebody made that and put it out on social media and said, like, who did it better? Who was the you know, who was the better mean queen? Yeah, yeah, it's so cool. And so, you know, I love I love being surrounded by these things because I have two vision boards. One is physical vision board, and the other one is a spiritual vision board. So I make sure that I keep everything, you know, uh very grounded and in you know, in a state of constant gratitude. Quite really I do, because I wake up every day, I go, God, thank you for another day. You know, universe, thank you so much. You know, what am I supposed to be? Who can I serve today? And that's if I wake up and I'm not in a rotten mood.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

No, it rarely happens, but you know, I mean, we are all human.

SPEAKER_03 4:10

I say that you stub your toe, then you know, like you know, you stub your toe, then next thing you know, you go out, you got a flat tire, then next thing you know, like somebody cuts you off and trap. And it all of a sudden, I don't know if you've ever seen like the Michael the Michael Douglas movie falling down, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:25

So all the things, all the things. Um, and I say that just to sort of, you know, just to remind you know myself. Uh and every I'm not trying to say I'm perfect in any way, shape, or form, but I do try my best. You know, I want to be a better person tomorrow than I am today.

SPEAKER_03 4:40

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

And that's kind of the mantra that I live by.

SPEAKER_03 4:42

Yeah, that's it's well, you know, it's living proof because of all the things. I mean, like I just so I I obviously want you to speak about your accomplishments, but I'm reading this, right? You're the first American to present American TV at the Kremlin. Like, like that seems like an out of budget.

unknown 5:00

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

The wall fell. Let me tell you something. The wall fell in Berlin in November, I think it was November 22nd, maybe 19. Oh, sorry, 1989.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

And I remember watching it in Rome. It was all over TV. I remember watching it, and it was a really pinnacle moment for for the world, really. And then in January, we were, you know, we found out that we were going to go to Russia for with a designer. We meaning I was a part of the troupe that went over uh as a show host. So it was it was Laura Bia Jolti, who was a designer, and she was going to be on the big stage in Russia, which meant at the Kremlin, and that there's a theater inside, you know, TV station, uh a theater inside the Kremlin. So um I was there to take in Italian, translate it to English, and then the woman that was next to me was Russian. Wow. She spoke English, so she took the English, translated it into Russian so that the Russian uh you know viewers would be able to understand. That's amazing. So I was on I was on the stage and you know, therefore on television uh in Russia as the very, very, very first American that ever uh was you know in that space. That's insane, right?

SPEAKER_03 6:19

And you know, full disclosure, I was like in second grade when the when the Berlin Wall came down. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's it when you hear about history and stuff like that. Now, did you have any Italian? Did you speak Italian before you went to Europe or did you learn it when you were oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

So I'm I a thousand percent Irish Catholic. And uh and so there was and so we grew up, you know, in Philly and Jersey, there were a lot of Italians around, but none of them spoke Italian. You know, guys, like you know, what's so I knew Chow and Arriva Verci, because I think everybody knows those two words, right? So, you know, when you get up first get over there and you're young and you're modeling, you go to the you know the model dinners and there's lots of people around and all the things, and you sit at the table and you eat and you just listen, you start to take it in. You're kind of like a sponge. And so you start asking questions. What did that word mean? Because you hear it a lot, right? You know, you there are words you hear all the time. You go, well, what does that mean? Right and what did that and so word for word, by word by word, of course, they were always the curse words you learned. That's awesome. Because you know, you're like you're you know, you know the curse words, right? You're you know, and so that's what everybody at the table saying you're going, you know, what the hell did that mean? They go, uh it meant shit. Oh, it meant shit. Oh, God, okay. Uh what oh, what did that word mean? That meant damn. That meant damn. You know, so it took about two years to put enough of the pieces of the puzzle together to be able to speak.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

And then every day for 30 years, I you know, I'd learn a new word or a new conjugation of a verb because so many conjugations. And by the way, when you think about it, if you try to explain weather and weather to an Italian, or there, there, and there to an Italian, you know. So I can go down the list too where you go, well, what do you mean? I thought weather meant the climate. Yeah, weather is like, you know, it's an it's another, you know, you can be so they sound the same, but they mean things that you know, different things. Yeah, same thing in other languages. So it takes a minute, but I loved every minute of it. And I still, you know, I speak it frequently because I have friends I'd do all day long.

SPEAKER_03 8:24

That's absolutely amazing, right? And then, you know, it there's there was no, you know, uh Rosetta Stone, right, where you could just talk there were no computers or internet at the time.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Forget that. If you wanted to send a letter home, you sent it airmail.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

You sent it letter airmail, which meant the paper was paper thin, it didn't weigh as much. Yeah, and you used to go to the post office and they would give you these airmail sheets, okay, and then you yeah, yeah, yeah. And and uh that was air, it was called airmail. I don't think they have that anymore, but you know, you'd be able to send across the pond for a lot less money, right?

SPEAKER_03 8:58

That's that's wonderful. I did not know that information at all. So you we're gonna get obviously into your entrepreneurial career, but when you were modeling over there, and then you know you've done so many amazing things, but I want to start, you're knighted in 2022 by the royal of Constantine. How did that process work itself?

SPEAKER_01 9:18

The sovereign and royal order of Constantine the Great and Saint Helen, and Saint Helen was Constantine the Great's uh mother, which I didn't. I was nominated. I was nominated by someone that I know that was already in the order, and um, you know, when you're nominated, it's a lovely, it's a lovely, you know, honor. And so, of course, you're not going to say no. Of course not. Uh, I will I will say that um, you know, when they give you the title, you use it, you know, free in infrequently, but it's still something very nice to have. Can you see that white gown over here?

SPEAKER_03 9:47

Yes, I can.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

That behind my yeah, that is the gown that that's my my the manteau, the cape that I that I got that day. That's amazing. And actually, yeah, it's lovely. It was a very, very lovely um honor, again, as I say. And and yeah, for which I'm very grateful.

SPEAKER_03 10:05

That's amazing. It's amazing. And then you eventually started. I saw you started your own uh while you were modeling later on, you started your own pageant as well, too, while you were over there as well, too.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Well, I was I was actually a licensee of the Miss Universe pageant, and that was it. Yeah. Okay. It was Miss Universe. I had the Miss Universe license for five years.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

And uh, there's a picture back there somewhere of me with it with one of the girls in Miss Universe. I don't know which one it is. Maybe it's not in uh I don't know, I can't see. It's back here. Maybe it's no, it's not that one. Is it over here?

unknown 10:35

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

There's a picture back there of me.

SPEAKER_03 10:38

You can you can literally say whatever it was one back there, and I wouldn't know, and I would say that was it.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Yeah, it's it's that one. Exactly. It's like how would I know? No, that one right there. Wait, okay. Yeah, wait, hold on. Where is it? One of them is the Pope.

SPEAKER_03 10:52

I I saw that on your website.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Oh, there he is. He's on that side, he's right there. See how I'm kneeling in front of the Pope right there?

SPEAKER_03 10:58

Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, I saw that on your visual.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

That's good. Yeah, it's fun. You know, it's um it's also, you know, on the other side, it well, I was young. Um, I was on a mission, I really wanted to see the world. I was alone, you know. Um, I had to make very good and sound decisions because, as you can well see, the uh when these Epstein files came out, there's a guy on there that actually committed suicide. And I say committed suicide, I'm old. And he was a part of the one of the modeling agencies that I was with. So yeah, I mean, I was uh in the thick of it, but I didn't know it. And I didn't know it because I never went to the parties. Yeah, I wasn't a party girl. Yeah, I was a little older than the other guy. I didn't even get there until I was 24. See, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 11:47

That's considered old.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Yeah, I was 20. Well, back in the day, you know, it was it was still considered. And I looked a little younger than I, I guess I was, I don't know. But anyway, long story short, is I just never, I never gave anybody the I just didn't I just didn't give anybody the time, if you will. I didn't go to the party. I wanted to be home. I was a homebody. I didn't want to go to parties and all. I didn't want to do that, I wanted to go home.

SPEAKER_03 12:10

And if anybody started as a job, and then when the job was.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Oh, well, if you ever tried it on, the answer was always, yeah, thanks. No, you know, gotta go. Bye. See ya. You know, I mean, it's it's not because it's just the way I was wired, you know. I mean, I just didn't love the boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and people screaming in your ear. I I did love a dance floor, that I will tell you. So I have, you know, that I did, but I didn't go often. And if I did, I went by myself or I went with the girls and I came home by myself, or I came home with the girls, you know. So tried to stay a little bit away from all of that.

SPEAKER_03 12:39

Well, you know, it's uh, you know, and and to have that level of self-control at that age, right? You know, particularly being overseas and having, you know, you're not living the typical 24-year-old of the year.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Remember, I was brought up a good Catholic girl. And so that really did, believe it or not, had a lot to do with it. Yeah. Um, there was a lot of the Catholic influence there. You know, you you always acted like a lady, you never gave a boy, you know, you never looked at a boy, you never talked to boys. You know, it was like, oh my god, what am I gonna do with half the population of the world? You know, uh, you never call a boy, you never chase a boy, you know. It was like boys were like, you know, demons on earth, and I was like, you know, so it was a little scary for the moment at the moment, but yeah, I'm good now. I'm not afraid of boys.

SPEAKER_03 13:28

I went to Catholic elementary school, so anybody who went to Catholic elementary school will attest like what she's talking about. And I'm not yeah, it's the truth. It's everything she's saying is the truth, you know.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

Like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:40

If you wore, you know, a shirt that didn't like I remember one day there was like Jean Day or something like that, and I wore like kind of like a cut-off shirt a little bit, and you're getting pulled off the side, like nope, you can't you're like, whoa.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, when I went to Catholic school, we had uniforms. After that, my mother pulled me in at the third grade. She pulled me and put put me us, my brother and I into public school. And um, and we weren't allowed. This is the 60s, you know, early 60s. We as girls weren't allowed to wear pants. There was pants day, I think by around like 1967, they came out with pants day. And every Friday, girls could wear slacks, not jeans. They were called slacks, slacks. You could wear slacks, pants. You couldn't wear jeans, but you could wear a nice pair of pants every Friday. The girls, right? Yeah, this is how you know, this is how you grew up. It was a little oppress you talk about a little about an oppression. Um, after that, it was just now the girls are going at the school naked, basically. I don't know if you passed a bus stop recently, but it's like, girl, yeah, put some clothes on, you know.

SPEAKER_03 14:43

Oh, no question, without question, you know. It's uh running gag in life, the running gag in life is like, you know, is there a is there is there a pair of shorts, those legs, right? You know what I mean? Like so do now. You've transitioned into a larger entrepreneurial career as well, too. And you you have you're the CEO of In Limelight Media. Yeah, please explain and talk about that if you can.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah, I love that. You know, um uh when I came home, so I've been home now 25 years from Europe, and um for about 10 years I took off. I just you know, I wanted to reintegrate, I was back in the you know, with my family, my grandmother, all the things. And I um, you know, I just took some time off because I had worked like since I was 10 years old like nuts. And so um, and so I took some time off. And then, you know, when I turned 61 or 62, I decided that I wanted to start the In the Limelight Media, which was television, a podcast and a digital magazine. And I did that. I started it all up and went, and by the way, I started that all up six months before I started like working on the logo six months before COVID. So I kind of yeah, I navigated all of that through COVID, growth, growth, growth, growth, growth, and went really well. And then um my book was also coming out, so we'll get to that in a sec, but um the then my mother was in a very bad car accident, and and I had to shut everything down. So the magazine was great. I was on you know, binge uh networks with you know, I had my own channel with other people under my you know, my channel. Um, and then my mom was in a very, very bad car accident. So mom already has chronic COPD, which is a lung condition. In this accident, yeah, in this accident, she broke her sternum and her ribs. So yeah, yeah, yeah. So for nine months, my mother had to sleep sitting up, yeah, like I had to cut the meat, like the whole of the whole thing. And um, and so and I'm still taking my mother. That was in 2022. I had my mother back to the hospital last week, so I'm still taking my mother every two months. We go to the emergency room for steroids and antibiotics. So I too, again, I had to shut everything down. This is what happens when you are a solopreneur, right? Everybody, when you don't have your it's so I always say, yeah, we hear it, you know, in the limelight uh media. Well, we is me, myself, and I.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

It's like me, me, myself, and I would love to tell you, you know. And so I just started it up again. We're about four months in. Um, and you know, I pulled together my courses, my classes. I'm working on the second book now. So the course uh is uh I have a book on uh it's called the Italian gluten-free gastronomy cookbook. So I give courses on eating gluten-free because I like almost died a hundred times. Um and didn't know it was gluten until I found out it was gluten. And then uh the you know, the self-esteem regime has been proposed up at the library. So I'm gonna start the courses up there. And the next course, oh, the last course I did was non-toxic cosmetics. So making your own, you know, non-tex non-toxic cosmetics because we're trying to get all the toxin out of our lives, whether that be, you know, whether it be your you know your head, your heart, your body, or your spirit, you know, we're trying to get all the toxins out. And now I'm writing my my second book, or the the book in the series is called Living an Esteemed Life. So that's really exciting. Yeah, I mean, just you know, just plotting along over here.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

You know what's crazy is when people talk about you know gluten-free. We have some close friends that are, you know, gluten-free. And you know, with the the discovery of how that happened, and a lot of people may not know because it's so mainstream now, it actually occurred during World War II. It was a famine, I believe, in Poland. It was the uh wheat, it was a wheat famine, if I'm not mistaken, right? And so when the when the when there was a wheat famine, the the doctor that was I can't remember the doctor's name, but it was uh the kids were in the hospital, so he took care of the sick children. Well, when the bread was removed from the sick children, they suddenly got better, right? And then when bread got reintroduced when the famine lifted, and bread got reintroduced, the kids got sick again. He put two and two together, like, oh my goodness, like it's in Italy, it's pizza, pasta, and cane, right?

SPEAKER_01 18:40

And bread. So everything you know, basically I was eating was and all and and what would happen is I would have anaphylactic shocks.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

And I oh yeah, every time, either rushed to the hospital, or I never left home without the epi pen.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Which was not an epi pen. I had to have a syringe with me at all times and this little glass vial that I would have to go find a bathroom, get some tissue paper, because if not, you're cutting your hands. Oh my gosh, open up the vial, you know, get the thing, and then and then inject myself. And only then, you know what, because I would become Shrek. I would become one big hive. Oh my god. And the the the itching was enough to make you want to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. It was so bad. But the real problem was that with an anaphylactic shock, you can also go in, you can go into shock and it will close up your close. You have a heart attack. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your windpipe or whatever you call it. And so since I didn't want to die, you know, I either rushed got rushed to the hospital, or you know, I just had this with me all the time so that I could inject no matter where I was. Because in Italy, a hospital isn't all right, you know, always around right uh around every corner.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

Okay.

unknown 19:46

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Well, it's not here either.

SPEAKER_03 19:48

Right. No, yeah. Well, you know, the crazy part is is like, you know, my house is about, you know, there's peanut allergies, egg allergies, and uh wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

So that's kind of the story, you know, the Italian years and um just loving the tell television piece and loving being, you know, I'm also an Italian citizen because I really wanted to become an Italian citizen.

SPEAKER_03 20:10

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Um yeah, it's really great.

SPEAKER_03 20:13

I'm gonna ask a weird question. Did you ever meet Marvin Hagler? Because he was uh the famous boxer that moved over to Italy and made films. I just figured I'd actually.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Yeah, I didn't think I have now.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

Okay, he uh yeah, fast away calling. I'm a huge boxing fan. He moved to Italy after he retired.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:28

What haven't we discussed about your life that you would love to share on this show? Because I seriously, like, I've had hundreds of guests, and I've never had somebody quite like you on here.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

Oh, you're so calling, well, I I hope that I don't know. Wait a minute, I've gonna be taken two ways. I've never had anybody like it's a positive.

SPEAKER_03 20:44

It's all positive.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Hold on. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 20:46

All right, I mean it's a hundred percent positive, hundred percent positive.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

I mean, you know, nothing really, you know. I'm just I just you know, I just wake up every day and do what I love to do. Everything is driven by passion. And, you know, really, I think what really also helps me is you know, why did you write a book about self-esteem? I can't stand to see anybody suffer. I really can't stand to see anybody suffer. So it was always kind of like everybody's mom or everybody's auntie, or everybody's older sister, everybody's best friend, because um, even when I was younger, it was that way. And I don't know how the words came out of my mouth. Some yeah, I think it was Divine Providence, actually, that kind of put some words in my mouth that would make people feel better. And there it can, I'm gonna show you the book just a second. So the self-esteem regime. Yeah, yeah, thank you. The self-esteem regime came along. This has been on the shelves in Barnes and Noble for the last five years, which is that's amazing. Yeah, four and a half, sorry, four and a half years. Four and a half years. November will be five years. And yeah, it's great because I walk into Caurnes and Noble and I pinch myself. I'm like, it's like Brene Brown, Clarissa Burt, Dr. Deepak Chopra, and Dr. Joe Dispenza, all on the same shelf.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

And and when you talk about a crowning moment and wait, hold on while I pinch myself, you know. You know, it's it's one of those kind of things I do think Gary Krebs. Who was my literary agent who helped me throughout the whole project? And he's so hooked up, you know, that um next thing I know, I was in Barnes and Noble. It was really, it was really one of the crowning moments. The problem was that I I no sooner um was supposed it was supposed to launch on November 26th, sorry, 21st of what it was, 2021. And two days before that, I got I got COVID. So I could I completely missed the out the gate promotion of my own book. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. But what are you gonna do? You get sick, you get sick. So I I'm I've made up for it.

SPEAKER_03 22:31

Well, you know, I I think one of the beautiful things about this conversation was that you've interwoven, you know, drive perseverance and success, and you've been able to share it with others in a very positive manner as well, too. And in the few in the short amount of time that I've talked with you, I I don't think that I've heard any negativity. And I know it just it's always about waking up and being grateful. And you've you have an absolutely exquisite story to tell. It's it's amazing. Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Yeah, thank you so much. Yeah, it really is. Um, I it really is even in my heart, and I thank you for saying that. I think it's an it's an it's an amazing story because I know also the you know the back end, I know, you know, the times I was curled up in a fetal position, I know that how you know the the decrying jags, I know some of the depressions I've been through. So I also know that there's a whole flip side to the coin, and that it's not always, you know, that's life, isn't it? Right? It's up and down, ebbs and flows, and life is gonna life, and life is gonna trigger you. So by my message is always to make sure that personal development is a priority. It's not one of those things you're gonna get to, it's not the book on the nightstand, it's one of those things you must do. It goes into your calendar just like, you know, I gotta get your haircut, gotta get my nails done, pedicure, you know, uh get the dog to the vet, you know, it has to be put into the calendar. Um, and there's, you know, when I was a kid, and then I'll I know we're going long, but or 25 minutes. When I was a kid, again, no computers and no internet, we went to three bookstores Barnes and Noble, Walden Books, and Border Books, Borders Books. And in the back, Rashid, there was this little section called self-help. And in that little section, there are about 40, maybe 50 books, no more. It wasn't a big section, but it's where I lived. It's where I got my my guidance, my assistance, my the assurance, the you know, the self, the help, right, that I needed because there was nowhere else to go. There was no internet I could run to. I couldn't talk to my parents, you know, because it was uh stiff upper lip and you know, that whole Irish background thing, which I love, but you know, stiff upper lip, and you're a good Catholic girl, and the Catholics, you know, severity and all the things, right? Um there was there was nobody I could talk to because everybody was coming to me to get my you know. Um, so and I say everybody, I meant you know, the my friends, your inner circle, yeah. We I know you know, and so um today there's no excuse. And I will say that that that section is only in one bookstore now, it's Barnes and Noble, and it's now called personal development, and it is a multi-billion dollar industry personal development.

SPEAKER_03 25:11

No question.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

And yeah, and the it's not just one little, it's rows upon rose, upon rows upon rows of books in the personal development section. There's no excuse. You've got internet, YouTube, courses, classes, yeah, you know, libraries. There's like no reason that you can't be working on your betterment every single day.

SPEAKER_03 25:33

Well, it's the same thing, right? So, like, you know, starting this show on this podcast, and again, I'll be very brief, is that you everybody has been empowered to be there's no, I don't want to say gatekeepers, but like you know how like if you wanted to be like, you know, I want to be a singer or get a record contract or something like that. Well, if you sing good enough and you post it on the internet, somebody will see it. Now everybody can't sing, you know, I'm not seeing advocating everybody's gonna get a record deal and be successful, but you don't necessarily have to wait your turn.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

That's too, that's too. I did that too. I got a record deal and had my my record on the radio and it's back there somewhere. Is it right there? So back over here. See that? Yeah, yeah. Right there, that's the album.

SPEAKER_03 26:12

That's amazing. It was so fun, but of course you did that. But of course you did that.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

It was so fun, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:17

You know, but it just goes to show you that, like to your point, with the internet and the digital era now, you can bypass a lot of people who wouldn't necessarily have given you their time. And if you're good and if you're willing to work hard enough, good things can happen for you.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

No doubt.

SPEAKER_03 26:31

Yep, no doubt. So, for the purpose of this show, where can people find you?

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Um, anywhere, really. I mean, Clarissa Burt.com. I'm on all socials, except for Snapchat. I don't even know how that works. Um, and so uh anywhere. You can find me pretty much anywhere on social.

SPEAKER_03 26:49

That's that's absolutely wonderful. I'm honored that you took time out of your busy schedule. This is Clarissa Burt, world traveler, successful entrepreneur, and all around good human being. Thank you very much for your time on the show.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Thanks so much for your time.

SPEAKER_03 27:01

Appreciate you. That was fun.