Jamie Amelio, Hosted by Clara Bradbury

Update: Staying Bothered launched nonprofit grants in 2021. We’re giving grants to Texas-based nonprofits focused on education, mental wellness, or gender equity. Applications for Q2 are open on the website at www.stayingbothered.com/grants

This episode was recorded on October 12, 2020.

Jamie C. Amelio is the founder and CEO of Caring for Cambodia (CFC), a non-profit, non-governmental charitable organization that has dramatically changed the lives of more than 77,000 Cambodian children. 

She served on the board of directors of “Vistas for Children” in Los Angeles and founded “Junior Vistas for Children.” She serves on board CLASS (Community Leaders Advocating Student Success) and is a member of the “Leader for Life” committee for the Lake Travis School District in Austin, Texas.

Jamie is the author of three books: Graced With Orange, an inspiring look at how one woman set out against difficult odds to change the education of an entire population; Stumpy the Crocodile, a children’s book about helping neighbors in need; and Amazon Bestseller Staying Bothered, which further reflects on her TEDx Talk and her journey to keep making an impact. 

Learn more at: https://www.stayingbothered.com
Buy Jamie's book: Staying Bothered

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Season 2 of the Pink Granite Podcast is generously sponsored by:

Davis Kaufman
Public Blueprint
Denise Rose
Amy Whited

Thank you for listening!

Guest:  Jamie Amelio
Host: Clara Bradbury
Editing: Amy Whited
Music:  "Only the Brave Run Wild" Sounds Like Sander
Voice Talent:  Sarah Keats
Executive Producer: Amy Whited

Transcript

Clara Bradbury: 0:00

Hi, everybody. I'm Clara Bradbury, and I am so thrilled to be hosting today's episode of the pink granite podcast. I have the pleasure of chatting today with an amazing woman who I've admired and been inspired by for years. Jamie Amelio, how are you doing today, Jamie?

Jamie Amelio: 0:18

I'm terrific, Clara. Thank you. How are you doing?

Clara Bradbury: 0:21

I'm doing great, too. Thanks. So before we get to some of the questions I want to ask you let me share with the audience a little bit about you. Not only are you a wife, a mom of six kids, two of whom were adopted from Cambodia, and a grandmother. But you have essentially taken on the challenge of caring for an entire nation's children by founding the groundbreaking NGO Caring for Cambodia. And more recently, you also founded a really cool organization called Staying Bothered, which is a grassroots endeavor to inspire people to find a cause they're passionate about, commit to it, and persevere to see positive change. In addition to being a change maker, founder and CEO, you're a TEDx and public speaker, and an author. I'm a little exhausted, just describing the things you've done.

Jamie Amelio: 1:11

Well, later on, I'll talk about how it's important not to expect perfection, you may have listed all those things, but doing them and getting where I am today is definitely been a journey of celebrating small successes.

Clara Bradbury: 1:24

Awesome. So I mentioned you're an author, and you do have a new book out called Staying Bothered. So I wanted for you to tell us a little bit about that new book.

Jamie Amelio: 1:34

Well, I wrote the book stain bother to share what I've learned about the importance of finding a personal cause, and actually sticking to it. We all have things that bother us every day, but I'm talking about small things that we can do big things about, sometimes we often get kind of in the mix of I can't do anything because everything looks to be so big. Um, and as we move forward, I think staying bothered is something that people will resonate with. Because, again, it's not always a little things, but it can be it's the big things that make real change in life. So if we start with that, and in my book, I kind of explain exactly how you can get started on that staying bothered, hard part getting bothered about something easy, and I'm not talking about spilled coffee, or traffic. It's, it's something that's really, really worthy of holding on to,

Clara Bradbury: 2:33

You know, it's so true hearing you say, you know, it's easy to become bothered, you know, we all hear things on the news or see things that bother us. But it's taking that next step that can be hard. So I want you to tell us a little bit about your first bother.

Jamie Amelio: 2:54

My first bother happened years ago, when I lived in Singapore, my family and I moved there in 2000, about 2000. And a few years later, I decided to go on a vacation to Cambodia. It was then that I was touring the incredible temples they're just amazing that a little girl came up to me and asked me for$1 she asked me, really for $1 for more than hope. I just I asked her what it was for. And she said, I want that dollar to go to school I have to pay to go to school. And it was then that I realized something more was happening then on this vacation than I could have anticipated. I told her if I could see her school that I would give her that dollar. And that afternoon, she showed me her school. I walked into a classroom that was dirt floors, broken desks, kids piled on top of benches together that were to be their desks. It just broke my heart. And it was something in that moment that I realized, I could never walk away from I couldn't get my head around the fact that my kids went to an incredible school they had everything they can possibly want or need. And here just a couple hours away from where I was living was a situation that was absolutely appalling to me. So I went back to Singapore, and I gathered my friends together. And I said please, folks, let's do something about this. And we did and instead of going back and just getting back into my regular life of the PTA mom working out, again, vacationing, you know, we started Caring for Cambodia. And that was 21 schools ago, we now educate over 6800 kids a year.

Clara Bradbury: 4:46

You know, I've been working with you for probably, I don't know, eight or nine years now and I've heard that story before and still every time I get goosebumps thinking about it and thinking about what a big difference one person can make. And you're right. Sometimes you have to start out small, you can't, if you had decided back then oh, I'm gonna build 21 schools and 7000 kids a year, it probably wouldn't have happened. But it was like you started out small and you didn't get overwhelmed, and you build up that way. And I think that probably happens to a lot of us, I know, I sometimes get overwhelmed with the idea of trying to change something. And that can prevent me from even getting started in the first place. I know also, I sometimes have trouble narrowing down, I see things all the time that I'm bothered about, you know, we see things on the news, we see things in our neighborhood. And for somebody who's trying to find that bother, I mean, what advice would you have? How does somebody find that bother? What steps can a person take to find her bother?

Jamie Amelio: 5:58

That's interesting, Clara, because I hear so often, particularly with caring for Cambodia, that I feel like I never do enough. And I just want to see to everyone out there $1, an hour, makes so much of a difference when you really commit to making change in the world. And when in building those schools, you're you're absolutely right, I never would have thought in a million years, I there would be 21 schools I could be talking about in Cambodia. But what's what's so fascinating every day that I work on this, are the volunteers that make it happen are the people that find the passion and do something about it. And I think often that's what I do want to talk to people about when it comes to staying bothered, find your passion, what gets to you in your heart, what makes you want to do something, and then take small steps to get there to do something. Surround yourself with like minded people go look for other organizations that might do the same thing that you're looking to do, you don't always have to reinvent the wheel. So it's, it's something that I think about all the time, I just want to put a big sign out there. If everybody does one small thing today, something really big could happen tomorrow, you just never know. We're in a world of being bothered right now. So small changes, maybe at one point didn't make as much of a difference as they might now.

Clara Bradbury: 7:32

So true. The other thing when I was hearing you talk about it is I've gotten involved over the years in various organizations. And I kind of have this sense of guilt, because I have gotten involved, and then somehow it's fallen by the wayside. I've gotten busy with the kids with my job with life. So then sometimes I'm a little reticent to get involved for fear that that's going to happen again. So what you know, do you have as far as advice goes for people when they're thinking, Okay, how am I going to stay motivated? How am I going to stay committed?

Jamie Amelio: 8:07

Clara Don't be afraid to get involved in more than one thing. There's a lot of things that need to be done out in this world. And I think that is is something that I hear often as well how to how do you keep doing it, Jamie? How do you how do you stay motivated? How do you not let things or failures pull you down? How do you how do you really keep focused on doing what's right. Well, number one, when you make a commitment to someone, or something, it's about sticking with it, I made a promise long ago to those children in Cambodia, that I would come back. And I did come back. And I came back with 1000s of volunteers. And those volunteers motivate me to keep going to there's no way that caring for Cambodia would be where we are today, if it weren't for the countless hours, dedication, energy, kindness and money of all those volunteers. So look around you as people are doing other things. Hold on to that let that inspire you to keep moving and know that it's okay if you're working with the Alzheimer's Association, and you're also really interested in perhaps making sure your local food bank is doing well you can do those two things. Another tip, I would say and I talked about this in my book staying bothered is write it down, put it on your calendar, make yourself accountable. Put a reminder up for 10 minutes a day to go figure out how you can really stick to what makes you feel passionate about change.

Clara Bradbury: 9:39

Yeah, so important. And you know, you mentioned a little bit ago, that right now, there are so many ways that we can get involved and I want to turn to something that's a big bother that we're all feeling right now. And that's COVID as COVID continues to affect everyone's life in varying degrees, how does someone take action during this time and persevere to stay bothered now and beyond, because things are a little different right now,

Jamie Amelio: 10:06

a little different would be an understatement. You're absolutely right. And look what well, it may seem that COVID makes staying bothered even harder. I think in some ways it might. But in other ways, it also opens our mind up to really making change that we can do from our own home. I mean, look, there are so many organizations out there that are struggling, that are really in a bad place. And I see them shut down, left and right, and it just breaks my heart. But you as a mom, a wife, a sister, and all of you now, females, teachers, come on, you're on now we can all add that to our repertoire of what we can get done. As a mom, we're teachers, by golly. But I think it's important to make yourself really available for other organizations and let them know that you're willing to help, you may not be able to go and volunteer in person right now, which is really tough. And that that is one of the things I talk about often is is going to volunteer and feeling what it really means to give back. I often wonder who gets more, right of the recipient or the person that's actually helping. But in these tough times, it's important to reach out maybe do a little more homework than you normally would. We'll get through it. I think that even in these tough times, the lessons that will be learned that we will look back on will be about what we did when we were bothered. Yeah, really made a difference.

Clara Bradbury: 11:39

And it's so true that when we have kind of our eyes and ears open that things present themselves, and that there are still so many ways I've been so impressed by what I've seen, and you know, on the neighborhood listserv, or at the kids school, across the world of people really wanting to be that type of community where everybody's helping each other out. And I think this is actually brought it out more.

Jamie Amelio: 12:03

I think you're right. And it's time for us to really notice that. And I loved early on when we no one really knew what to do. But there was just this theme of reach out to your neighbor. We're doing that. It's so important now, now more than ever, because we've all been cooped up for so long.

Clara Bradbury: 12:20

Yes. So true. So in staying bothered, you know, your first bother presented itself, it came to you, Cambodia. But like you mentioned, sometimes you are bothered and passionate about more than one thing. So I'd love it. If you could tell us about something you wrote about in the book about a new bother that presented itself. And that's focusing on the emotional wellness of American teens. So tell us a little about that.

Jamie Amelio: 12:49

I think what's going on with adolescents right now is an absolute mental health crisis, no doubt about it. And you're right and making change, you have to feel passionate about it and make it personal. Sometimes you look for that personal and you're able to find it. But other times, well, like Cambodia found me I would say I did not go looking for Cambodia, that was a higher power that put the two of us together to make change. This particular bother slapped me in the face, right in my own home of having to deal with my two sons out of my six kids, I have two that have spent some time in rehab and dealt with anxiety and depression. And I think, honestly, right now, if our world doesn't take a sidestep and take a look at our teenagers and our young kids, to help them to deal with the emotions they have, things are not going to get better for them in the future. We've got to take an enormous step forward and making change there. There's a reason that suicide is the second leading causes of death between kids 18 to 24. I mean, come on, we can do better. So that is my new bother. I'm I'm determined to see what we can do to help these school districts to help parents get the tools in their back pocket to be able to talk to kids in a different way to get kids to know that it's okay if you're not feeling okay. But that's going to take a lot of discussion. I say staying bothered is a grassroots movement. And I believe that as time goes on, if we continue to talk about those things that are really important, we can make change. We can't let this generation think for a second that suicide is actually an option.

Clara Bradbury: 14:36

You know, it's so true. It's so heartbreaking when I hear folks talk about it when I read the statistics, and I do love the way now that there is more of a focus on it. I mean, it took us too long to figure it out that it was a crisis like you said, but you know, last month was national Mental Health Awareness Month. We just Had world Mental Health Day. You know, we're sort of taking away that stigma around it. And it's a great first step, but I feel like there's still so much more new. You're so right, I see it even in my younger kids, they're already feeling that stress. And it's going to take all of us to try to improve that situation.

Jamie Amelio: 15:20

It really is that I'm glad that we're able to put it out there. I love that there's Mental Health Awareness Month, and I love that people now are calling it mental wellness. And I'll tell you, my experience with my two boys pushed me to a place in a personal journey I had not had it anticipated. And so often with social media, and all that's going on in the world, it's about what you look like, are you getting the likes, are you, oh, my gosh, that person looks like they have everything together? Well, and I don't want to give too much away, because hopefully, folks will go read the book. But in my own experience, as a teenager, I was really the precursor to this new bother, I just didn't know it at the time. And once I reveal it in the book, it made me look at who I am for real and be okay with that. Because it's not perfect. I'm not that great. I do the best I can. And some days, that's just good enough, it has to be. And you know, it's about grit, just keeping, you got to keep working and trying and knowing that things aren't going to feel good. That feeling uncomfortable is a part of life, we can't save our kids from it. And I think that's part of the problem today is everybody wants to keep their kids from feeling pain when that's a part of growing up. But

Clara Bradbury: 16:33

so true. It's such a maternal instinct to just not let them fail not let them feel pain, when in fact, we're doing them a disservice. But you know what, Jamie, I think you are great. So there's that.

Jamie Amelio: 16:45

Thanks, Clara.

Clara Bradbury: 16:48

So I'm not going to reveal either, of course, I have read the book, and I'm not going to give away your secret people are going to have to go read the book to find out. But I will say that that part of your personal story was very compelling and eye opening to me. So now I want to talk a little bit about staying bothered the organization. So you describe staying bothered as a global movement? What would you like to see it become? What do you envision it becoming its growth.

Jamie Amelio: 17:17

So the mission for staying bothered is really inspire and motivate people to not only find that passion that you're looking for, or is looking for you and then make change with that. It's about sharing what's happening as that as you're working in those circumstances. If you have if you know of someone that's perhaps started their own organization, and we want to know about it, I want you to share it with me, this is about inspiring others around the world. Same bothered stories, since we put our website up have been so inspiring for me and others, anyone who reads them, you know, you can go to the website, just plug in. I saw this happen today and and inspired me and I'm staying bothered about it. I think that should be a part of our world today where we can look and see what inspires other people, how they make change, and how they stay passionate about it. A lot of people I've talked to are, they're kind of worried about that finding the cause. If it's not, it will come to you. If it's not right in front of you. Now, I think focusing on how you can find things out as you move forward in life is very important. And staying bothered helps you to do that you can connect with others that are making change.

Clara Bradbury: 18:35

So what I hear you saying is don't stress out about it so much. Just go and do something.

Jamie Amelio: 18:42

Young people that want to change the world overnight, that write me emails, or write me a note. And that's when I do want to say don't stress about it. It's there's a difference between being stressed and being passionate about making change, because it will happen,

Clara Bradbury: 18:58

It's a fine line.

Jamie Amelio: 19:00

it can be. And that's when you have to make those decisions about stress. You know, don't let it get you. Not Not every little thing has to be perfect.

Clara Bradbury: 19:12

That's a good reminder for everybody, for sure. So you have obviously accomplished a lot on your past. Tell us kind of how you got to staying bothered. What was your career path? Who helped you along the way? How did you get to where you are.

Jamie Amelio: 19:29

I grew up in a military family. So I think that early on, my father instilled in me the importance of respect, responsibility, as I mentioned earlier, keeping your commitments, and I started out I say bc before children as in the financial planning world, and then I met my wonderful husband and had all these kids and moved all over the place. And then as I started putting Caring for Cambodia together, I really had to dig deep inside myself. To figure out how I was going to stay motivated, my husband's working full time, this is an area that I don't know much about education. So I surrounded myself with teachers that knew what they were doing. I was not shy about saying I want to learn, can you help me? One person that I really do look up to is Admiral William H. Raven. That's a mouthful. I saw him deliver a commencement speech at the University of Texas go Longhorns by the way. His his advice was, every day you get up, make your bed, just make your bed, do something that you will accomplish. And that is really important that the way that I look at my life is I try and do one thing a day and finish it, it could be as small as cleaning off my desk, or could be making my bed, I'm going to admit, I don't make it every day. But I try to I try to. But the teachers, I look back at the teachers through the years that inspired me to keep moving and not give up and the teachers in Cambodia that have absolutely nothing. And they go to work every day with a smile on their face. Because education, they know is the most important thing that we can do for our children in the entire world. But again, I think you have to be okay with yourself and knowing that you don't have to do everything perfect. And I didn't know that until I would say probably five or six years ago where I actually started giving myself a break. And then it changed the way that I worked. And I wanted to work harder and smarter, not more and be more stressed.

Clara Bradbury: 21:40

so fascinating. When we actually give ourselves a break how we end up accomplishing more sometimes

Jamie Amelio: 21:45

it's true, it really is. That should be a message for the day. Everybody just say all right, I'm giving myself a break today, I'm gonna walk away from something because chances are, it's gonna be there when you come back.

Clara Bradbury: 21:56

Yep. And I'm gonna have to give a shout out to teachers as well. I think whether you're kids, or you are learning virtually, whether you're in person, whether you're in the US in Cambodia, the teachers are making it happen right now. And I just want to put that out there. because like you said, we've all been teachers now. We know how it goes.

Jamie Amelio: 22:16

To your point, I think many of us appreciate those teachers even more having to do what they had to do practically overnight. Amazing.

Clara Bradbury: 22:26

Oh, yes. So tell us Do you have a mentor? Do you mentor others? And how would you advise a young woman interested in a similar in a similar career path to yours or journey to yours?

Jamie Amelio: 22:41

I do you love to mentor young young women in particular. Because I think it's important for you to look up to someone and see their not only their accomplishments, but what challenges they've had to go through along the way. And I think that probably one of the most important pieces of advice I can give these young folks starting out. And I see it my college aged kids, they start with what they think they have to do, I have to go I have to go to college for business. And that's because let's face it, our school system, they're getting asked what their major is 10th grade, they don't know. So one of the things I want to always say to people is it's okay to change your mind. You don't if you start out and you want to be a banker, and then you decide you want to be an interior designer, give yourself permission to say that's okay, I think the best thing you can do is go find your passion. And then Wow, if you can figure out how to get paid for that you've scored. And if that's not always going to happen on your first career path, I have a my 24 year old says, Oh my God, this, this job isn't what I thought it was going to be. I really don't like it. And I'll say honey, guess what, we all had jobs that we didn't like, you're actually supposed to have jobs that you don't like. So when you get that great one that you just fall in love with you appreciate it even more. But I think it's important to look around and hang out with people that have the same values that you do. And talk about what you're feeling as you as you're going through your life with whether it's business or college or as a parent, we all know parents that struggle with their kids and sometimes more than others, particularly with the what we just were talking about the stress and anxiety and depression.

Clara Bradbury: 24:25

sure, and it's such a good reminder. I know my kids will say it I'll mention some job that I had, you know, maybe in my 20s say, I didn't know you had that job. You know, it's like I had a lot of jobs. And it's so true if they were not my dream jobs, but they gave me a lot of experience. They helped me become who I am today. And that sense that they're looking at us and they're looking at older people on what they want to do. And that might not happen right away, but it is all that path.

Jamie Amelio: 24:57

You'll learn a lot along the way. That's important. As to know that you things do not happen overnight, I see our younger generation wanting that instant success. But again, you've got it. And when we talk about being bothered things that bother you, they happen every day, staying bothered and focused. That's the hard part. That's where you have to slow down, feel your passion, and then keep moving forward.

Clara Bradbury: 25:24

Yep. And like you said, even if it's not your dream job, look at all the things you can still do to make a difference. You know, while you're going on your path, it's not that you're here at point zero, and you need to get up to 100. And then you'll be able to do all of these things, the entire journey is happening. And there are all these different ways you can make a difference along the way.

Jamie Amelio: 25:46

So true, small things.

Clara Bradbury: 25:49

Yes. So for someone who has given so much and done so much for so many people, who do you lean on? Who do you go to for life advice, career advice, you know, or when you're having a tough day?

Jamie Amelio: 26:03

Well, I pray a lot, I will tell you that. And there have been moments in my career where I've kind of said, God, are you serious? Is this what's supposed to be happening, but and then I am reminded at the fact that oftentimes, if we give it up, then the answers or solutions do come to us. I look, I lean on my husband Bill a lot for advice it particularly in running an organization with its global people are all over the world, he's always been one that I have looked up to, he's a smart man, he makes decisions, just from the most logical right place. And I often make decisions from an emotional place. So our leadership style is quite different, but it works together. So he's, he's always been there for me whenever I needed them. And, and I have a life coach, I have a therapist that I've talked to for 20 years, and I swear this woman saved our marriage bill is Italian, I am Irish, we couldn't be any more opposite of the way we communicate. But it is important to have someone outside of your inner circle sometimes, or perhaps maybe I shouldn't say it that way. Just someone that you can say anything to anything. And I have that I have that with my life coach. And I would say, as a woman, Mom, sister, friend, all that my girl tribe is it, I can call any one of them. It's a small group of friends that know me, some have known me since I was in second grade. So they know the real deal. But it's important to have those kind of relationships that you can be yourself talk about things that are bothering you, and then move on from it's it's really tough some days to make decisions based on a country's education system. And I do have to take the pressure off of myself and say, we really have done the best we could with all that we have. And the same with staying bothered is staying bothered about teen mental wellness. Because that can be very overwhelming when you see what the statistics look like. So I again, I pray a lot, I talked to Bill, I have my life coach, I have my friends. And there are people that inspire me like Mother Teresa, and Maya Angelo and incredible folks like that. Brene Brown. I mean, she's terrific. So it's, it's interesting to know that i i really do count on that, as I do the job that I do. Those people and those inspirational folks are special.

Clara Bradbury: 28:35

Yeah, I'm right there with you with the girl tribe. I also lean on my husband a lot. Typically for more practical, logical situations. But yeah, when I need to really just let loose talk to somebody about how I'm feeling What's going on? Yes, surround myself with amazing women.

Jamie Amelio: 28:57

Yeah, I can't wait for my daughters to get old enough to sit down and have a glass of wine with them. I have one that is old enough to do that. And we have done and what an incredible relationship you have with an older daughter. So I'm still dealing with the younger teen daughter, which is that whole mental wellness thing. We work on it regularly, which is awesome.

Clara Bradbury: 29:20

So yeah, sometimes I feel like you just need to close your eyes and leap.

Jamie Amelio: 29:26

You know, you do you do. I think one other thing that's important to mention is that I learned through this process with my kids having been gone to treatment centers, how tough that is on your family. And I learned to parent much differently. And one thing I realized that I thought was so important that I don't know that I noticed as much as I should have earlier hindsight is always 2020. Right? But I want to be that mom of my, my kids friends that they could actually turn to it. Not the cool mom. It's a it's about an outside voice. I, when I grew up, it was in my church, or a favorite teacher that I had. And it's just different communities are different these days, I don't feel like we have that tight knit, or I didn't have an aunt to turn to you. Maybe it's your aunt or cousin or uncle or, but I think I want my daughter Avery to know. And her friends do know I've had these frank conversations with them and said, if you're ever feeling like you want to take your own life, and you don't have anyone to talk to, you can call me. If you're ever at that party, and you've you've made a bad decision. And you you're you drink too much. You can't drive home, you shouldn't drink, but I'm not the judge and jury here. I would come get somebody before they put their life in danger. So there's that fine line of No, I don't want to be the cool mom, but I want to be the mom that anybody can talk to. And if only my kids had that, before they went to their treatment centers and had to deal with that. I think it would have helped them go through what they went through.

Clara Bradbury: 31:04

Yeah, it's so important.

Jamie Amelio: 31:06

You know?

Clara Bradbury: 31:06

Yeah, it totally I have several female friends who don't have children, and I'm really counting on them. They know who they are.

Jamie Amelio: 31:15

And you should count on them. Say it out loud. Make them say it out loud. I don't turn my phone off at night. Dang it one day, I will. I don't know that's probably not true that I'm my grandson will be calling me.

Clara Bradbury: 31:28

So you've been involved in so many different things from education. You've been involved, you know, with the school board, policy, a lot of different things with education and mental health. Would you ever consider running for office yourself?

Jamie Amelio: 31:48

Well, I would say all laughing never. I bet I would commit to I'll never say never. I think it is it is important that if we are going to all say complain about things that we also do something about it. And whether that's voting or running for office, it's imperative. It's particularly now I know everyone's talking about the presidential race and all that's going on. But you can make change in your own hometown. You go vote for your local school school board, go vote for your local representatives, take note of what's happening in your own back yard. I don't know what I may do earlier. I mean, later on. I've earlier in my career, I did think about running for school board, which is just I mean, my caring for Cambodia career because I felt like I needed to be really involved with the schools, and then with mental wellness as well. But now I think about the bigger picture of what's really important for me, my family and moving forward. I'll never say never, but I am going to vote. So

Clara Bradbury: 32:52

yes, yes, everybody. And there's

Jamie Amelio: 32:55

a lot to do in this world. There's definitely a lot to do

Clara Bradbury: 32:57

so much. I saw an awesome el Arroyo sign I live for the El Arroyo signs here in Austin.

Jamie Amelio: 33:04

You know what I'm talking about? So great.

Clara Bradbury: 33:07

Yes. But it said, raise your hand if you're not going to vote. And then it said, Now slap yourself with it.

Jamie Amelio: 33:17

That is awesome. And so el Arroyo, that's a great job I'd love to have I would never be that creative, though. My goodness. It must be a team doing that.

Clara Bradbury: 33:25

I agree. But it's so true. You mentioned you know, there's so much happening at every level, we get very focused on those federal races on the presidential race, but so many decisions are being made at the local level. And those are a lot easier to get involved in sometimes and where a lot of the decisions are being made.

Jamie Amelio: 33:43

That's right. That's right. And I I also think that it's important to celebrate small successes, I really do think that that's super important in our life in any way. But for me with caring for Cambodia, it was important to find the small successes, like the pencils that we got there and the kids didn't have to break and share them or was staying bothered that we are wearing a T shirt that says staying bothered and somebody asked me about it, and I'm able to talk about it with them. What does that mean? Here's what it means and then go do something. And the same thing in our own hometown is we reelect people that are helping us to manage our everyday life. I think it's important for us to not not be ugly to others about those that maybe didn't get elected. It's important that we celebrate some small successes of being kind maybe even if things didn't go our way.

Clara Bradbury: 34:30

Yeah, so true, because a lot of people put their hearts into helping maybe a political campaign. And if that person loses, then they feel like it's all been for nothing but right it's not it's not right. So if not political, if you're not going to be running for office, what's next for you for staying bothered? And then how can someone get involved if they would like to?

Jamie Amelio: 34:57

what's next? I Really, I'm excited to start back up on my book tour because and here's my new bc before his beat before children, but now it's before COVID. So basically, we were full on I was able to get out and talk to people all over the country and even the world about staying bothered and why I felt like that was so important, and how it could help others in their everyday lives. I look forward to picking that back up. I look forward to speaking to organizations and schools around the world about mental wellness and about caring for Cambodia and how education will always be the key to a better future for every child. I think I'm excited to see if I can get more people involved in staying bothered, it doesn't cost anything we're not even a charity it's about sharing your passion and your experiences with those that also want to do some of the same things so I can't wait to see my social media grow I said don't i don't worry about likes, but I think it's cool that people follow us and see what's happening with the neat stories around the world and how you can be inspired and plus we've really cute merchandise. So can you buy other t shirts and hats and you know it can it can apply to anything right now and that is the thing about saying bother it's it's it could be political it could be personal but I I'm excited to be working on another book as well and continuing to enjoy what I do every day and find the good in it. Because that's that's hard sometimes for people

Clara Bradbury: 36:33

Yeah, and I do want to mention for the merch all the proceeds go to caring for Cambodia, so you really have no excuses for getting hurt or a hat or a book because you'll be helping spread the word and you'll be directly helping 1000s

Jamie Amelio: 36:50

I'm so glad you said that I leave that out all too often. Yes. The books 15 bucks Okay, that educates a kid for a you know, it actually feeds him for two weeks. The shirts are super cute they make great gifts holidays around the corner I definitely won't be getting rich off of any of that we're putting it all back into CFC so yes go to the website saying bother calm

Clara Bradbury: 37:12

yes and share all of your photos when you're out and about doing things that you're passionate about. You can share at stayingbothered.com

Jamie Amelio: 37:23

I think we need to Staying Bothered day I where everyone is as they're out and about you know snap a photo of something that bothers you put it in your calendar follow up on it and then send me the story of how you really did something about it and I would love to put that out there. I love that. So a reminder to everyone you can purchase Jamie's new book staying bothered Find your passion commit to action change the world on the website staying bothered calm, along with their super cute merch. And Jamie it has been such a pleasure talking to you. Clara This was so fun. I love it. I love it. I You're so wonderful. Thank you for taking the time to ask all those great questions. And again, I hope if one person hears this and we save a life or educate another child then success. Awesome.

Clara Bradbury: 38:13

Well, I wish you all the best with staying bothered and thank you as well to pink granite. Yes, thank you Pink Granite. So appreciate you.