Galit Ventura- Rozen; The Successful Woman's Mindset

Galit Ventura-Rozen – Leadership & Business Speaker | Commercial Real Estate Broker | Everyday Woman Publishing

Galit Ventura-Rozen is an award-winning speaker, entrepreneur, and expert in leadership, business success, and effective communication. With over 30 years of experience in commercial real estate, she has personally sold over $700 million in Las Vegas properties and leads multimillion-dollar developments through her family’s commercial construction company.

She is known for her high-energy presentations, actionable insights, and ability to inspire teams to elevate their performance.

As co-founder of Everyday Woman Publishing, Galit is on a mission to get women's stories into print. Her signature 30 Days to Published program does something no one else does — it interviews the book right out of you.

Galit holds a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, which uniquely positions her to bridge psychology with business success—helping leaders develop stronger communication, negotiation, and leadership skills. As the author of The Successful Woman’s Mindset, she is recognized as a top thought leader in women’s leadership and empowerment.

Her impact has earned her numerous accolades, including:
Woman of Impact – The Shade Tree
Vegas Inc. 2025 C-Suite Executive
Entrepreneur of the Year – Silver State Awards

Beyond her business achievements, Galit is deeply committed to philanthropy and community leadership. She has volunteered for The Shade Tree Women’s Shelter for 20+ years.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Lipstick and Legacy, a podcast where your story matters and your journey has purpose. Together we lift and inspire our communities one story at a time. Welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Well, thank you. Thank you for having me. Would you like to introduce yourself? Hi, everybody. My name is Galeet Venture Rosen, and I've been a resident of Las Vegas for almost 40 years. And I am the co-founder of Everyday Woman Publishing, and I've been a commercial real estate broker for 30 years.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

That is incredible. Looking over your bio, so I've I've followed you on social media. I've actually met with you about book publishing, and I just think you are a force to be reckoned with in all the best ways, right? So today I really wanted to talk to you about all of your endeavors, your real estate, you're an entrepreneur, an author, a publisher. And the thing that I love most about you is that you truly care about the women in our community and in this world, and you want to impact them for the better. So we're gonna get to that. Before the awards, the books, and the business success, who was the young Gelit?

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Uh, the young Ghalit was someone that had to work to have confidence in herself, was terrified to get up and speak in class. The first day of school was so much anxiety for me. Uh, really needed to learn to stand in her power and recognize her ability. So I would say being the child and the oldest of immigrants that moved to America before I was born, having parents that spoke a different language and have an accent, I would say that I was nothing like I am today, except for the one thing that I've been consistent about my entire life is when I run into people, because I also went to high school in Las Vegas. So it's a small town. When I run into people, they say you're exactly the same person you were in high school. So I think the same part of me today that I was as a young elite was kind, caring, smiled all the time, considerate, and I just really liked when people were happy.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Was there an experience in your childhood that you can recall that really shaped the woman that you are today? Sometimes we can pinpoint one thing, maybe it's several, but do you have an experience that you could share?

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Well, I would absolutely say that growing up from the age of seven to thirteen without my voice, meaning literally the voice I have today is not the voice I was born with. So when I was seven, I pretty much lost my voice. And eventually, when I was 13 through speech therapy or puberty, the voice you're hearing today is the voice that I kind of like to call chose me. I have a nodule on one of my vocal cords, and so it made my voice go away. So I would absolutely say that that experience of being bullied and made fun of, because nobody likes you when you're different when you're a kid, you're supposed to fit into a box, right? So I had a different name, parents with an accent, different religion than most, and then I had this voice that was like speaking in a whisper, literally like I had it in my chest. I would absolutely say that those are the things that have shaped me into the woman I am today.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

How did those help you, those experiences help you become a leader later on in your life?

SPEAKER_00 3:30

I think I was such a girl that dimmed her light as I grew up because it was always so bright and it intimidated or made people feel uncomfortable, which I had to learn had nothing to do with me, had to do with their own insecurities. But because my personality is one that I like the spotlight to be on other people, I dimmed it and I held back who I am. So I would absolutely say that that kind of helped me recognize that I have this ability to still spotlight on other people and still be myself.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Yes, and I've seen just in my own life that the best leaders are those are those that push other people in front of them and say, look what they did, look how they created whatever it is. And that truly shows the mark of a leader. And I love that about you.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Yes, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Was there a woman in your life, or it could be a man, that was a great example of leadership or service, somebody that really impacted you early on?

SPEAKER_00 4:39

So not to be cliche, because I know a lot of people say this, but it's actually honestly the truth. It's my parents. So my mom and dad have been married for over 55 years, and they moved to America, uh, left everything that they knew, started from nothing, and I watched a team. I watched a mother that chose to stay home and not work and get paid and raise four children while supporting my father to go out and build the American dream for both of them. So he brought in the financial and she brought in the support and taking care of us and always being there. And one thing about my appearances, even though I'm the oldest and the only girl, is my dad always made sure I knew I could be anything I wanted to be, even though I was a girl. And it was a different time. I mean, I'm 53 years old, right? And it wasn't as open today as gender equality and stuff, even though we still deal with it. But then it was even harder. And he just always told me and taught me. And then I had this mother that constantly said the same thing related to leadership positions or volunteering. So mom is volunteering all of her spare time, which were there wasn't much service, and then dad is also volunteering his service, as well as going out and showing me what it's like to be a successful entrepreneur. So I really did get it from both both of them.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

It's interesting how as children, we don't know that that's an example to us. But then in hindsight, as an adult, we we can really see that. I know my mother started a costume shop here in Las Vegas when I was two years old. And that was before women-owned businesses was a thing. And now looking back, I think, how on earth did she do that? How did she succeed in that? And it was just through like grit and will of soul, you know, and I love that. I love that those are the examples that we had.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

I do too.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

You've spent more than 30 years in commercial real estate and have sold over 700 million in Las Vegas properties. That is an incredible accomplishment. What has kept you passionate about these, um, about this industry for so many years?

SPEAKER_00 6:53

I it really is my first career. It was straight out of college. So most real estate agents kind of become agents in their 40s. I became one at 22. And I had to learn as I grew up. I mean, I was selling commercial buildings before I even bought my first house, right? I bought my first house when I was 24. And I think throughout the years, what I recognized more than anything else is that I have this ability to sell something that could help somebody's bottom line or retirement goals or building their real estate portfolio. And I kind of make a joke, but I say almost from one piece of paper. And the reason I say that is because, in all honesty, when I'm evaluating an income property, and we'll talk specifically about that, there's so many different types. But when I evaluate an income property that somebody wants to purchase, if it's an apartment building or a retail center or whatever, it literally I can put it all down on one piece of paper and tell you how much it costs, how much money it makes, how much the expenses are, how much you're gonna make every month, every year, if you get a loan. And without getting into the details, I kind of love that. But I'm also gonna share with you the second piece. The second piece is I watched other people build these real estate portfolios. And in the last five years, I'm like, all right, it's my turn too. So now in the last five years, I'm building, aside from selling and leasing property to other people, I'm building my own portfolio of properties that I'm owning percentages in and that I'm finding. And as a family, which is so much fun, my son, my brother, my dad, and I, we do that all together. That is so I kind of like that it kind of has come to a place now where I'm building what I helped other people build.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

I love that it's a family business that is very cool. It's um really interesting how you can pull your family into these businesses. I'm wondering though, just based on the things that you've just said, the market is really changing here in Las Vegas. Our industries are changing, things are going online, there's not as many brick and mortar stores as there used to be. How are you seeing that affect commercial real estate in our state, in our city just as well as nationally?

SPEAKER_00 9:15

I can't tell you nationally because I'm not as tapped into the data and the stats nationally. I'm really a Las Vegas girl, and I will tell you that I'm not seeing it affect us as much as you would think it is. If you look up the vacancy rates for all the different types of properties in Las Vegas, even with COVID and what happened to offices, our vacancy rate never went over 10-11% in office. So it's very small. I think that instead what impacts us more than anything is that so much of our state is still BLM land, which is owned by the government, and it's not being released for public purchase. And because maybe that's almost helped us and benefited us, because we only have so much property that can be purchased and built on by the public. So maybe that's almost contained us so that way we aren't as affected. Also, I'm going to share with you that the residential market doesn't always impact the commercial market. So if the residential market is struggling, it doesn't always impact what's happening in my field.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

How have you learned to pivot in your industry? COVID hit everybody really difficult. I know in 2006 here in Las Vegas, 2008, when the market crashed. How have you learned to stand out and pivot during these economically challenging times?

SPEAKER_00 10:35

So before pivot was actually a thing during COVID, I went through it during the recession in 2007, 2008. Basically, I had been in the industry for a while by then, right? Because I got in around 1995, 94. So I had been in for a little while, and basically all we did for two to three years was choose to save properties that our landlords and our clients owned. And when I say saved, I mean from foreclosure. And then on top of that, I had to take myself as a leader and I had to show up every day at my office. And at the time I had 13 agents working at my office and put on a smile and say, let's do this, let's figure out how we can pivot. So what we did during that time was we went to banks and we got real estate-owned properties by banks that were foreclosed on and chose to pivot into management. So I started managing a lot of properties for them and leasing them. So the general thing that I can share about pivoting is this: there's always a place to make money. I can't tell you how many books and things I've learned and read about rich people getting richer during economic turmoil. It's just more so of recognizing your talents, your abilities, your expertise, and where can you put it that will now bring income in a different way than you might have expected?

SPEAKER_01 11:59

So oftentimes you hear people say that this career kind of chose them. And I know we're gonna talk about your book, and in your book you talk about this a little bit. But did the young Galit want to be a real estate agent? You know, every little girl dreams of like, I want to be a mermaid or a princess or whatever it was, but like, did you want to be a real estate agent?

SPEAKER_00 12:22

So when I started college, my my major was psychology, and I wanted to be a child psychologist. I just have always loved helping people. And then I took my first psychology 101 class, walked out and changed my major. I those terms were so over my head, and of course I was only 18 and it was probably goofy, but it all worked out. Then I watched my father move to Las Vegas when I was 14 before that, and buy his first real estate project. And I grew up around commercial real estate. I grew up around the industry. And even though as kids we kind of not really sort of pay attention, I paid attention. And then what happened was when I was around early 20s, he kept pushing me to go get my real estate license. He said, No one's gonna manage my properties better than family because you're gonna care where my money's spent. The real reason that I went into commercial real estate and it kind of chose me wasn't because of my dad's push, because I avoided that for about three or four years. It was really because I didn't want to work for somebody else and I didn't want someone else to tell me what I could or couldn't do, if you want to giggle. That really was the issue. When I went and got my real estate license, and originally I sold homes at first because I wanted to get my feet wet. My dad was never big about come work with me. It was go get your feet wet. I got to really literally hit the ground or pavement, you know, boots on the ground, right? Door to door in those days to try to find someone that wanted to sell. So I don't think that the industry is something I ever thought about doing. I believe that it was more so wanting to be my own boss and recognizing the freedom associated. I really do work bankers' hours and being a mom of three and raising them while I was building a career, the most important job I had was being a mom, and it allowed me to do that.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Yes, and oftentimes careers we choose for scheduling for sure. I mean, I have 10 children, and teaching just kind of was a great natural fit for that. They go to school with me, they come home from school with me, we have summers off, and so that's really great, especially when you're trying to do it all as a mom, as a woman, and a career, all of the things, scheduling is huge. So it says that you studied and your your degree is actually in marriage and family therapy.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

So I have a bachelor's in business management. Okay. And then when I was 38 years old, I'd been in the industry for 17 years already for commercial real estate, and I thought I wanted to be a therapist. So I and which makes sense because I wanted to be a psychologist.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Yes, it circles back to 18 years old wanting to be a psychologist.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

So I went back to school when I was 38 and got my master's degree in marriage and family therapy. I got about 600 hours of client-to-client FaceTime and was doing it part-time. I was never going to leave commercial real estate. And believe it or not, I felt like I had a larger calling. And that's how my online world started. I started having workshops for women, how to get out of your own way to accomplish your goals or how to do what you love, or and that's really how it I left therapy. I stopped being a therapist and I started doing this kind of out in the world thing.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

How did how did your understanding of human behavior help you in the real estate world?

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Oh my gosh, it's helped me in everything. I loved going back to school. Just to give you an example, when I was in college at 18, I got a 2.8 GPA. I was really loving being in a sorority and having fun. I go back, I have three children under the age of 16, have a full-time business, go back to school to get my master's degree, and I get a 4.0. So why do I share that? Because I immersed myself in the study of patterns and behaviors and how your brain works and how we can change the things that we are traumatized by and impact us. So I went to school not just to learn about how to help other people, but I learned how to help myself. So the way it directly relates is gosh, I'm a better listener. I really can hear people when they speak. I recognize people's behaviors, I can read body language, I can read your tone of voice. I understand how to help people maneuver through things that they want to do, if it's related to the business coaching or related to real estate. I mean, it changed everything for me.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

What is something that most people misunderstand about communication?

SPEAKER_00 17:04

We make way too many assumptions. We hear people speak the way that we speak. We do not hear them in the way that they speak or the way that they communicate or the way that they process. We do not listen nearly enough. We are ready to jump, we are ready to interrupt, we are ready to give a solution to a problem that they didn't even ask for a solution for. So I love talking about effective communication. It's something I get hired on all the time as a speaker. And number one is we are just not listening and trying to understand. We assume we understand.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

I really love that. Yeah. And even with you saying that, I'm like, I need to listen a little better just in that moment. How do you negotiate without sacrificing relationships? Relationships are so important. Yeah. And in your book, you talk about this a little bit with being a good leader, and you're not always going to make everybody happy. It's not possible. So, how do you negotiate with maintaining relationships?

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Listen first and then learn how they think and what's important to them. Because as someone that negotiates almost every day in commercial real estate for my own properties that I purchase and representing others, sometimes there's a bit of emotion involved. And when emotion is involved, it makes it a lot harder to negotiate. So let's talk about negotiating. I'm just making this up, a relationship, something in a relationship not related to business. You really need to understand what's important to that person. And you need to understand that there's there's possibly more than likely a middle ground. Okay. And when you listen to what they need instead of immediately sharing what you need, now you're coming from a place. Well, I hear you. Gosh, do people love when you say that? Will I hear you? And this is another word that you should use over and over again. When I will I hear you, and what I hear that can benefit you is the word is benefit. Use that all freaking day long. Like it's the best thing in the world. What I believe can benefit you, but also benefit me, is, and then share what that negotiation is, and then listen to them and just keep doing this back and forth. But the best thing you can do, which sometimes takes walking away, especially if it's an emotional conversation, is take a minute so you're present and you're not emotionally listening, responding, or negotiating.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

If you could coach every woman on one mindset shift to really strengthen her confidence, what would that coaching be?

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Treat yourself the way you treat other people that you love. That's one of the hardest things that we learn as women. We are not kind to ourselves. I'm a woman, I don't wake up like this every day. I do the work. I take time for myself every morning and pin drop quiet. I meditate morning and night. I pray multiple times a day. I'm a big believer in God. He's a big part of my success and everything I do. But you've got to work at it. You've got to recognize and you've got to work at it every single day. Because at the end of the day, as women, we're ready to put everybody in front of ourselves, everybody's needs, what makes them happy, what do they want? And then one day we wake up and it happens to most of us. And we go, we don't even recognize ourselves. We don't know who we are, right? We changed our favorite egg to our husband's favorite egg. I'm being goofy, uh, because we just want to please everyone. So be kind to yourself and speak to yourself with kindness, right? Just look in the mirror and say, I love you. You're beautiful, you got this, you can do this, you deserve this. We don't do that enough. And that's something that took me into my mid-30s, to late 30s to really understand, especially because I had my first child at 24 years old, got married at 22. I did things in today's society considered young. So as I was growing up, I was taking care of all of these other people, which it was really easy to lose myself.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

I find especially when I started young as well, and I had at 30, I had six kids under 12, and now they were grown, and I hit that middle age 50, and I think, what am I gonna do with the second half of the second act? Because now all the kids are gone. I don't focus, and and you kind of forget who you are. You have to reinvent yourself self and back to that word pivot. We have to pivot, right? And that can be really a difficult time. I'm really finding that as I as I communicate with women. And just as you were saying, you are beautiful. You, I love you. Just you saying those words to me helped my confidence. It's incredible how a little bit of encouragement to a woman and to yourself can really go a long way.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

It's a beautiful sentiment.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

So I think there's two pieces to this that you shared. The first one is about yourself and what you say to yourself. And I'm not just talking in your subconscious because we spend so much time during our day with negative thoughts. Even someone that works to be positive every single day, like me, the negative thoughts come. I just know how to deal with them. And by the way, going back to school for my master's really helped with that as well. And I had this exercise I would do with my clients that were very negative or had anxiety. I would say, okay, here's a piece of blank paper. Write down everything in your head right now. And they would never go past half a page. Juliet, half a page. And I'm like, okay, this is what's running your life. Let's go. Let's knock them out. Let's figure out how to stop that. And we would give them positive affirmations that they would write down on a piece of paper and fold up and put in their wallet. And I'd say, take this out multiple times a day and read it to yourself. So yes, that first thing is to love yourself and tell yourself those positive things. Now, one of the things I love to do is, and it's gonna sound goofy to some people, is we go to the bathroom in public places a lot, and there's other women in there. Almost every time I walk out of a bathroom, I see someone and say, Oh my God, I love your dress. Oh my God, you're so beautiful. I love your hair. Those little simple things, because as women, we are what we are. We look in the mirror all day and we analyze every part of our body and our face and everything else. It they light up. And I'm gonna tell you, I get so much out of that. Like you would think I'm being kind, but tell your friends, send them a random text, tell them you love them, tell them how special they are to you, tell them how amazing they are. Random things. And aside from that, you also know that I'm very big at doing it publicly online. So my social media is largely positive and motivational and really posed to impact women positively. But these are the two things we should be doing every single day: loving the women in our lives and strange women, strangers, and loving ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

And it's just starting where you are in the bathroom in a public place and in the mirror in your bathroom getting ready. Those are the two places. We're gonna shift gears a little bit. And you've written the successful women's mindset, and I just finished this book, it was fabulous. And how do you personally define a successful woman?

SPEAKER_00 24:45

You know, because you read the book just recently, that one of my first things that I discuss in the book is that it is nobody's job to tell you what success means to you except for you. And I will tell you for myself what I define as successful because I have my own list. But when it comes to other women, I have no clue until I speak to you and I get to know you. For some women, it's the idea that they get to stay home and just raise their kids and be fully immersed in being present. For some women, it's going and working for a Fortune 500 company and finally proving to herself that she as a woman could be the CEO. And it could be anything in between and all of the above. For me personally, my most successful thing in my life is my three children. I have three boys between the ages of 22 and 29, and I am grateful every single day, not just for their relationship with me and their father, but also their relationship with each other, their relationship with my family, their relationship with their significant others, their relationship with their friends, the type of citizens that I raised in this crazy world. So they are what makes me feel the most successful. It's really the truth. I'm not saying it because I'm a mom. Every day I recognize the platform that I created for them to see a woman that could have her own business from such a young age while she raised children and still live a balanced life where I was there for every single thing, every performance PTA mom, every practice, every game that they played, every sports activity, every field trip. I didn't miss one. There was one thing I missed in my entire children's life. It's because I was home with the flu, and it was Mother's Day, and I sent my mom in my place for my youngest that was two years old. I was home with the flu. So for me, that's the most successful thing. Aside from that, in my professional career, it would be the fact that I have women like you that I've never met online reach out, want to get to know me, want to grab a Zoom or in-person coffee, want me on their podcast, and see me as someone that inspires and motivates them to be the best version of themselves.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

You have a really beautiful public social media presence. I love all your inspirational quotes and all of that. It looks very polished. You look like the you are success. What do the behind the scenes look like of success? The people that, the things that people don't actually see, the hard work, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 27:26

So I don't wake up with makeup on. Oh, really? I sleep with my hair in a bun. I I will tell you that, especially as a woman that grew up, literally grew up in a male-dominated industry. And a home, a male-dominant with brothers. And also I have three younger brothers, and then I have three boys. And thank God I have one puppy that's a girl, and I also have three dogs, and two are boys. But I think for me, it's the late nights after the kids went to sleep, getting up before them so I could have 30 minutes of peace to have my herbal tea. Many times passing out literally after I was done putting all three to bed at 10 p.m. and not even remember falling asleep, having the alarm go off, which sounds way too dang early. Recognizing that during difficult financial times, because we've all had them, that I'd have to figure out how to pay the bills and how to take care of my family. And I would stay up late after they went to bed doing that. Knowing that not always is there someone at the business level that you are at that can support you to go find those people. And a lot of times it was business coaches for me because you sometimes need to pay to be around the people that are at the level you want to be at. But I just think, oh, self-doubt. Oh my gosh, nobody hears. I don't I do post about self-doubt. I do try to be very authentic and genuine about imposter syndrome and self-doubt and questioning yourself. And those mornings you have to work a little harder to be in the right mindset because I don't want people to think it's all bell, you know, it's all rainbows and unicorns, because it's not. It's hard.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

It's hard work. Oftentimes I'm a religious uh like I love training at the gym, it's my favorite thing. And it's six to seven days a week, no matter what. It's like my medication. And I've had people throughout the year say, What are you training for? And it's like, nothing. This is just how I live my life, and then that helps me be ready for whatever it is that pops up, right? So I really I love that mindset, and it's a grind behind the scenes. It truly is. You talk in your book a lot about service, and service motivates me, it drives me, it's my medicine for depression, it's all of those things. You work endlessly and tirelessly in our community and with Shade Tree. Can you tell me what motivates you to serve?

SPEAKER_00 30:00

Yes, I've been the kind of person that grew up in a house that even when we didn't have, we gave. You always have to give. And I watched my parents do it my entire life. And since I was a little girl, from my Girl Scout days until uh youth group in high school and then sorority in college, and then choosing after college to start becoming involved in nonprofit organizations. I've been very blessed to be involved in so many in Las Vegas. Aside from board positions, also when I have, I give financially, but I also give my ideas and my time. Aside from all the other ones I've been involved in, Shay Tree's been a consistent for 20 years. And that one probably is the closest to my heart because it's for women and children that are displaced and have nowhere to stay. It doesn't matter what their circumstances, and I love that. And I think what drives me more than anything is to know how blessed I am. Like I am just blessed. I have had a blessed life. I've had I've had hardships and I've gone through trauma and I've gone through things that I wouldn't wish upon anyone. But in the big picture of things, I had an amazing childhood, amazing parents, amazing siblings, and I've gone through and had so much support in so many ways. So what drives me is the idea that one person can make such a difference in somebody else's life. And if I can make a difference in somebody else's life that has the hardships that I didn't experience, I want to.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

I remember being a child at my mom's costume store, and it was Halloween night, and it was like eight o'clock. And there's nothing worse than being a small child waiting to go trick-or-treating when your parents own a costume store. And this man came into the store late and he had seven or eight children with him, and he said, I can't afford costumes and they want to go trick-or-treating. And I was like, Seriously, can we just go trick-or-treating as a child? And I remember my mother taking the time, she was exhausted after that season, dressing those children, not charging anything, and letting them go live their life and have a great experience. And the piece that it brought the father. There is something you wrote in your book about being at Shade Tree and having a coat drive. And a little child was needing a coat, and the mother says, Do you have an extra coat? And they said, We're all out of coats. And she wrapped the child in a blanket. There is nothing worse than seeing a child not have the things that they need and a parent who wants to give them. Can you tell me a little bit about that experience and how that changed you?

SPEAKER_00 32:40

I love that. So this book that Juliet read, I wrote nine years ago.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

But it doesn't matter, it's very relevant.

SPEAKER_00 32:47

But do you know how yes, but do you know how many times I share that story? Because that was the beginning. It's like the point. There's a lot of things. I went there for a tour, and a woman was it was winter, and a woman had a toddler in the stroller ready to leave, and he was wrapped in a blanket. And it just, I'm a very observant person. I've been that way my whole life. And I just saw it, and I walked in, and I said to the person that I was touring the facility with, Why did that child not have a jacket? And the response was, we ran out. And as someone that was net that never went without a jacket my entire life. My mom sewed my jacket when I was little because she was a seamstress before we even had money, but I never went without a jacket. I'm like, all right, let's go. And that year we started getting a sponsor, and one of our largest sponsors for that has been Timbers. They're almost consistent every single year. And they would go out and buy a jacket for in the proper size, because that's an also. And they'd get a list of all the kids at the shelter and go out and buy proper sizes for the kids that are at the shelter during winter, or they would just go and buy a ton of sizes and have the kids come into the child activity center and try them on so they fit.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

It's really beautiful. It's it's interesting how those moments stick with this. I mean, I was I was a small child and I remember the kindness that my mother showed to that man. Again, we're gonna switch gears a little bit. One of my favorite parts of your work is everyday woman publishing. And that's actually what originally attracted me to you is I'm ready to tell my story. I'm ready to publish. I have my book sitting in a cabinet over here, ready to go. What inspired you to create a publishing company specifically focused on women's stories?

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Mission, my mission. So my best friend and I, we've been best friends for 10 years. And probably about seven or eight months before COVID, we were on a road trip. She loves to come with me when I get hired to speak so we could have girl time. And it's really fun because then I'm not by myself, right? And I was a two-night thing because I spoke in two different cities that I drove to. And I I honestly wish I could remember the exact conversation, but it went something like she had her own business that supports women. I had my own business that supports women. What could we do together? And we came up with the name Everyday Woman. What do you do? Immediately check if the domain is available and if the name is trademarked, which it wasn't. And we went and formed the entity that day in November 2019. Life happened, we came busy, came back, it got busy, then COVID happened. And we realized let's go. And that's how we started supporting people that were literally working from home and needed motivation and inspiration to keep going. Then that developed to publishing our first book in January 2021 with a group of women because we found women were not comfortable writing an entire book, but they'd write a chapter. So we started forming these books, which we've done 15 with groups of women that of course they paid to be in the book because there was a lot of work. And that's how it started, and then it just kind of flourished and grew into solo publishing because women are like, we want you to publish our book, and then also our 30 days to publish, which is writing your own book, and we help with that. But the reason, the main, main reason is only 1% of people will ever publish their book in the world. And women, we wanted to give women an affordable, comfortable platform to be supported because it's not always easy to go out to the traditional publishers and be one in a thousand that are trying to get published.

SPEAKER_01 36:42

It's almost not happening anymore in the traditional sense. Everybody is self-published unless you're a politician or a rapper, nobody wants to know, right? Or nobody wants to publish. And self-publishing is a really great way to get your story out there. Why do you think so many women believe their story isn't important enough to tell? And I've had, hold on, I've had the self-doubt. I have my book sitting there, and I had that creep in. Why would I want to publish this? Who in their right mind would want to read this? And then I refocus and say, it's not about that. It's just about me telling the story, putting it on the pages for my children. It's a great history record. And what do you tell somebody who feels like they don't have a story to tell or it's unimportant?

SPEAKER_00 37:30

So you answered your own question. Oh, okay. Which I love. And I'm going to expand. Number one reason is who's gonna want to write my story, which I'm sorry, read my story, which is what you said. Okay. First reason is who's going to want to read my story? And then it's who am I to share my story? Why is it special? And so I think that it starts and ends with confidence and self-doubt. But you also answered your own question and said, but there's somebody out there that I'll be able to impact. And so if everybody just starts with one person, right? One person reads that book. One person, isn't that worth it? Like, and by the way, it's also very self-healing.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

Writing is very self-healing. So if anything, it's going to benefit you, but it also is absolutely going to benefit somebody else. And you don't know that till you write. Funny short story. Uh maybe within a few months of publishing my book on Amazon, I got my first bad review. And it said, there's nothing new in this book about mindset. Don't bother reading it. I had six positive reviews. So I read the bad review and I said, Look, Ma, I made it. Right, Julianne, look at us. I made it. And then I realized that person was not my ideal reader. And the good news is since then I've never received one bad review. But at the end of the day, so many people have reached out to me and told me how much that book has made an impact on their lives.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

Well, and also the person actually read it to tell you that there was nothing new in it. Congratulations, right? And also, I do feel that from everyone's story, no matter what it is. And that's why I started this podcast. I don't know how many people are listening or being impacted by it. And that isn't my focus. My focus is giving people the opportunity to tell their story a space where they're seen and heard. And one thing I learned from writing my story is that the more I wrote about it and the more I talk about it, the easier it becomes to just detach from it. It's almost like I'm telling somebody else's story. And that's how I know I've healed is that the emotion is gone, the trauma is gone. It's like I'm telling somebody else's story. And I love that I'm in that place now. And it was only through writing the story and through telling the story that that healing was able to happen.

SPEAKER_00 39:58

I I hear it all the time. Even with just a chapter in our anthologies, because we've had over 400 women in these books, they will get on. We do a Zoom and we celebrate the success and they'll share that exact statement.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

What do you say to people, somebody like me, for example, who has the story, it's written, it's ready to publish. It's not necessarily about fear of publishing. You talk in your book about stepping into that fear and just whatever that brings, let it bring. It's usually not as bad as you think it's going to be. But making sure it's the right time to publish, how do you how do you get a good sense for that? Especially when it's a personal story.

SPEAKER_00 40:39

Yeah, I don't think that there's a bad time to publish a book or write a book. I think that what typically happens is the self-doubt creeps in and then life happens and we get busy and then we don't have the quote unquote time. But I also think that that's a little bit of a self-sabotage um procrastination technique that if we don't have the time, then we don't write it, and then we don't have to put ourselves out there, which is really scary.

SPEAKER_01 41:09

It is scary. It is scary. I recently was involved in an organization where women were able to sit in a circle, about 20 women, 25 women, and tell their stories. And it's so liberating to see women step into courage, tell their stories. And when you see a beautiful woman, you're thinking, oh, they've had this perfect life. I'm sure nothing's ever happened. And then they talk about their drug addiction or their child who's had struggled with addiction or whatever it is, and you're like, wow, there's so much power that comes from telling somebody's story. I'm really grateful for the opportunity that you've given to publish because I'm definitely using your publishing company. I'm so close. It's just sitting there ready to go, and I can't wait to step into that with you. I love that. All right, we are um going to pivot just again a little bit, and this is kind of fun. This is just a little fun thing. What does wearing lipstick symbolize to you?

SPEAKER_00 42:03

I love wearing lipstick. It's very rare that you will not see me with lipstick on. It's in my purse at all times. For me, wearing lipstick means that I have the opportunity to share a little bit about my personality, which is based on the color I use. I like a little bit more bold colors. And when I'm wearing a red dress, I wear red lipstick without any problem at all. So I think it gives me the opportunity, it also makes me feel beautiful on the outside. And I know I've worked so hard to feel beautiful on the inside. So now I get to show up with confidence. The last thing that it does for me is the way that I share myself with people is through my smile, and it accentuates my smile. Oh, that's beautiful. And so I I get the most compliments I get about my body or my face is my smile. And so I love that lipstick accentuates my kindness.

SPEAKER_01 43:00

I named my podcast Lipstick and Legacy based on my mother the other day. She's 91, and she fell into the wall, and it left a red lipstick imprint in a big dent, and she circled it and put the date. And I thought that 100% describes her.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

I hope you took a photo.

SPEAKER_01 43:19

We have a photo. It's fabulous. Priceless. When have you felt the most courageous?

SPEAKER_00 43:26

Oh gosh. You know, it's not an easy answer that comes to me because I choose to want to feel courageous every single day. And I believe that I choose things that are scary almost every single day. I'm one that has general anxiety disorder and I don't like to put labels on things. So I'm anxious almost all the time, and I choose not to take medication for it. Like I'm anxious right now, you would just never know. But my insides are anxious. So I think for me, it would be. Oh gosh, I think I know what it is. The first time I got on stage to speak. Because I was terrified to raise my hand in class when I was little, terrified when the teacher called on my name, my name, because I never knew if a voice would actually come out. Because when I was nervous, my voice cracked. And then I was also dealing with that 7 to 13 where I had a very like whisper. And I think it was the first time I chose to not just get on stage, but significant. I'm talking 350 people in the audience, all looking at me, listening to me for 30 to 45 minutes. That was probably when I felt the most courageous until I got off stage.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

And then I had performance anxiety. Yes, what did I say? Why did I say that? Did I look like an idiot? Yes, I know that. I get that every single day as well. What's one piece of advice that you have received that completely changed your life?

SPEAKER_00 44:56

Roll with it. A good friend told me that years ago, and it didn't really make sense until I recognized how much growth I still had. As a self-professed control freak when I was younger, I probably didn't start letting go of control until probably my early 40s. And recognizing that there was so much opportunity when you let go of control. And it wasn't like when I say control, it's not Juliet, we have to go to this place for lunch today. And this is how the interview has to go. It was just having three children and we have to leave exactly at 6 30. And if we didn't leave exactly at 6 30, I would start having a meltdown. And it was the kind of day-to-day things. And so I even wrote a chapter in one of the anthologies called Roll with It. It was the recognition of how beautiful life is when you just let go and roll with it.

SPEAKER_01 45:58

You talk about it in your book about going on a trip to San Francisco and having no plans. Yes. And how hard that is, but how liberating and freeing it is to just, oh, we're going to do this today. And hopefully it turns out.

SPEAKER_00 46:09

Julia, we went to Italy for the first time. Was it the summer before last? Yeah. Because I've gone down a few trips, but the summer before last, we went to Italy for the first time. We had the flight, we had the hotel in Rome, because Rome, you have to plan. You're not going to see anything in the summer. And then we drove, we took a train from Rome to Pisa, and we had a house there that we were staying in with my son and his girlfriend. And we got there and we had no clue what we were doing for the next five days. No clue. We literally walked into the office at the timeshare. They had all these flyers. We grabbed 20 different flyers, laid them out on the table. It told us the distance to everywhere from where we were, and we laid out the next five days that day.

SPEAKER_01 46:59

And it was the best trip I've ever done. It was so much fun. I love that. How do you hope people feel after spending time with you? Happy.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

I want you to walk away feeling happy. I want you to walk away feeling inspired and motivated and confident. And I know that's a lot, and I don't get all of those every time I hang out with somebody. But happy is probably the number one thing. I just want you to smile when you're done talking to me. I want you to s to recognize that even though life isn't easy, and gosh, is it not easy sometimes? We only have one. And we might as well make it the best one we have.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

It's beautiful. Yeah. What are you currently excited about? What is the next chapter for it look like for you?

SPEAKER_00 47:48

Personally, my youngest is grad just graduated from nursing school, and if I like it or not, he's gonna be moving out at some point. So I will officially be an empty nester at some point, which I'm not happy about that. But I know that I have to let him fly. So personally, I think it's going to be recognizing that as a mom, I've done a really great job. And now it's even more about me. Professionally, gosh, I'm really excited about so many things. Uh, 30 Days to Publish is something we've just launched recently, and so many women recognize now that they can have the book interviewed out of them if they don't know how to write themselves. And that's we're going to be a huge sponsor at so many big women's events coming up. And I'm excited to share that journey. I'm also excited about all the properties that we're buying for the family, and I'm going to have all of this residual income coming in in three to five years. And I'm also excited about all the travel. I haven't seen a lot of the world. And every summer, my goal now is to see three to five countries every summer, and I'm doing that in October. And we're starting in Monaco and ending in Rome. So I'm just excited about life.

SPEAKER_01 49:06

It's fun. I consider us that middle-age analyst. Yes, we are. I feel that same way. I feel like I'm just getting going, and it's such an exciting phase of life. I love it. One thing I do want to say is that this book was fabulous. I know you said it, you wrote it a while a while ago, but there was a lot of nuggets in it for me. One thing that I specifically loved in it was when you talk about obstacles and them not being obstacles, but they're part of the path, part of the journey. Great memory, Julian. It changed my mindset. And that's what I'm saying. Even if you get a few things from everybody's story, you have this collective of beautiful and really life-changing things. And so I even told my husband that.

SPEAKER_00 50:03

I I rem I don't remember the exact words, but it was something like obstacles are not uh there to block you from what you're supposed to get. Instead, they're supposed to help you get there and be part. So if you change your mindset and say they're part of the path to where you want to get, at the end of the day, if we don't fail, we don't know what succeeds. We don't know what successes, we don't know what works. I know that's not the way we want to think about it, but if we were all living in this perfect world of roses and unicorns and rainbows, we wouldn't understand that the world was so wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 50:38

Well, and when you have an idea and you start it, and then you start the path, and then you find your ending point. There's the start, the ending point, and everything that happens in between. And the in between is where you change. It's what changes you. And oftentimes where you start isn't where you actually end up, but you love that so much more. Yeah. Right. And I would love to say, I just sat with, like I said, two dozen women and heard their stories. And every single one of those women women need to sit with you and publish their story. They were all impactful, all powerful. I cannot wait to publish with you. It is going to be something that I've dreamed of since I was 16 years old and didn't have anything to write about yet. I do now, I have my story to tell, and it's ready to publish. And I can't wait to work with you.

SPEAKER_00 51:22

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 51:22

I have one more question for you that I ask everybody that comes on Lipstick and Legacy. What do you want your legacy to be?

SPEAKER_00 51:30

I want my legacy to be one of recognizing that tomorrow is not promised to us, and a large percentage of the world doesn't wake up. So, what if you chose today to be that day that you are happy? Count your blessings, do something exciting, do something scary, and know that you have a choice today, the freedom today, we're so blessed in America, to do something that you love and that you want to do. So I in short, I want my legacy to be recognizing that living your best life every day is an option.

SPEAKER_01 52:15

It's truly beautiful. You are living your legacy, and I believe that about you. I know that about you. I'm so grateful you took the time and come to and came to talk with me. And I can't wait to work with you. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 52:27

Thank you, Juliet. This was so fun.