Today’s topic deals with the one thing that has been literally in front of my face non-stop for the last 18 months.  My children.  Dr. Kate Monahan Phd, CFLE is a Developmental Psychologist and an expert in childhood development.  Her company Parent With Science is dedicated to helping parents through their journey with advice based in science, not trends or Google. Her instagram @parentwithscience is an awesome follow.   She’s done all the research for us and tries to pass along what works for kids from a scientific perspective.  Her straightforward advice is usually dead on.  She just wrote a book called “How to Be a Relaxed mom - the three secrets to avoid modern mom stress and raise great kids.”  Dr. Kate, I need you now.  And so do all of us.  This is a conversation for everyone - moms, dads, anyone who is with a child and needs someone on their team to give them actual practical strategies, no judgement, and a high five.  This is a longer conversation than usual because I didn’t want to cut anything out. Buy her book here:  Book sessions with her here: 

Right in Front of My Face

S3: Ep 7: Dr. Kate Monahan, PhD, CFLE

  Todays topic is a broadstrokes lesson on Indigenous Human Rights with activist and attorney, Gabe Galanda.  There was a story on the news last week that followed the re-naming of the Indiana pro baseball team from the Chiefs to the Guardians - and now that I have this conversation under my belt, I understand the importance of it in an entirely new way and I hope you will too.  If you walked by Gabe on the street, you’d  have no idea that he was raised on a reservation, deviated from the norm of his tribe and went to college,  followed by law school, and has now dedicated his law practice and life to helping the disenfranchised and representing tribal governments, and citizens.  You’d never guess by looking at him that for 13 years he’s been named to Best Lawyers in America in the field of Native American Law, and dubbed a Super Lawyer by his peers from 2013 to 2020.  I have to fess up to the fact that I know this about Gabe because his family and mine have been friends for a long time.  I’ve known him for about 9 years and in that time have seen him take higher profile cases as well as become a community activist in my neighborhood.  Gabe is by far my favorite person to ask any question I have about politics because his lens on life is so clear and focused.  He’s brilliant so he always knows most of the answers to my questions, but he’s pragmatic and solution focused so doesn’t just rant - he usually has a pretty smart proposal to solve whatever problem we’re faced with, and knows that political system well enough to tell me the truth about what’s going on.   I follow him on Twitter which you should absolutely do too @NDNlawyer - because he’d been quoted in an article that I’d read through his feed.  We’ll talk about the case he was quoted on in the podcast.  But through that article and his feed, I’d kept reading words I didn’t really understand like “blood quantum” and disenrollment, which as a white person I’d never heard.  My Caucasian tribe has never once questioned my ancestry or asked how much Irish I actually have in my DNA - I’ve just never had to worry about it.   So I studied up a bit so when Gabe came to dinner to ask him all about it.  I want to thank Gabe for coming to the table with real honesty and eagerness to teach and give an opinion.  There are people in life who, when they speak, you listen and realize how much you have to learn.  Gabe is one of those people.  Thankfully, Gabe is willing to patiently answer all my questions and educate those of us who don’t know about indigenous rights.  We owe it to ourselves and our Indigenous brothers and sisters to learn. 

S3: Ep6 - Gabe Galanda on Indigenous Human Rights

Ryan Oftebro and I recorded this episode a little over a month ago - I’d wanted to interview Ryan over a year ago about this topic because Ryan is Principal and CEO of Kelly-Ross Pharmacy group here in Seattle.  Kelly-Ross remains one of the few independently owned pharmacies in our area and Ryan, as the incoming president of the WA State Pharmacy association, has some unique visibility into the number of opioid prescription and overdose in our state.  I knew generally that Ryan had lobbied in Olympia to fight Opioid addiction, and that he was somewhat of an expert, so he became my guru in my quest for education.   As Covid slowly took over, he and I talked at length about the effects of having people in isolation, unable to use their regular drug dealers, how this would impact addiction and overdose.  A year ago he told me that it would be catastrophic and as it turns out, he was right.  

S3: Ep5: Ryan Oftebro

Adia Callahan happens to be my pilates instructor.  She’d been absolutely kicking my butt for three weeks before I found out she had a podcast and a life coaching business which I obviously wanted to learn all about.  As women in our mid-40’s, we have a chat about how this new life phase impacts our general fitness and wellness, and we cover quite a few topics.   She generously took an hour to basically coach me and share her philosophy and style.  Adia stopped me dead in my tracks with one of her questions and I hope she’ll make you take pause and also ask yourself, “what do you really want?”   You can find Adia on See Me Wellness or take a class from her if you’re in Seattle at the Pilates HUB.  Thanks for listening - please share with a friend or rate and review if you like what you hear.

S3: Ep4 - Adia Callahan

Mayoral candidate Casey Sixkiller gives us 80 minutes of himself.  He's a resident of my neighborhood, someone who is in my community and right in front of my face.  Casey came on the show to tell his story, tell us about what a campaign looks like, his basic plans, and tell me why he decided to run.  And I did what I do - ask simple questions I think we all have, and talk about uncomfortable topics in a non-judgmental way.   

S3: Ep3: Casey Sixkiller

In this episode,  I’m going to cover a topic that I find extremely uncomfortable, especially as a mother of a young daughter.  This week’s subject is human trafficking.  This topic is so layered, with so many different faces, and I wanted to tackle it because as parents and just as humans, we cannot continue looking the other way when we drive down the street and see this happening.  We have to educate ourselves and our kids and we have to do it now.  We have to shine some light on what’s happening in broad daylight right in front of us. 

Ep 26 - Assistant Attorney General Kyle Wood and Rebekah Covington

  Carrie Littlefield Syvertson is the 2020 National School Social worker of the year.  She was recognized last March and her chance to be on a national stage with the leaders of the US Government recognizing her and her contributions was cancelled.  So instead of going to DC for her awards ceremony, she was quarantined with two small children and  having to homeschool.  Her professional expertise gave me so much insight on what kids are dealing with - especially middle schoolers - and what as parents we can look for as warning signs as our kids re enter school and life.  There is nothing more right in front of parents than this transition for our kids, and this episode was meant to help you all be able to better support your children

2020 National School Social Worker of the Year Carrie Littlefield-Syvertson on Our Children Re-Entering School

 Are you hesitant to receive the Covid-19 vaccine? You're most definitely not alone. Approximately 30% of healthcare workers are hesitant as we've learned in the last month, so it seems reasonable private citizens would have similar fears. So let's talk about them. Dr. April Randhawa has been a part of the Covid-19 vaccine trials since they began. She is an actual expert in immune response with a PhD in experimental medicine. Dr. Randhawa has first person insight into how these trials were run through the Covid-19 Prevention Network, the safety measures taken, and how the vaccine actually works. She’s credible, she’s brilliant, and she breaks down common questions with empathy.  Here is our hour together.   

Ep 023 - Dr. April Randhawa

Aaron Wright is on the show today. He's the author of Thirteen Doors, which is due out on January 26th. Aaron’s family dealt with a big topic right in front of my face - navigating the Davis, CA public school system in an attempt to get an IEP for his autistic daughter.

Ep 023 - Aaron Wright

An open, honest conversation about menopause with Gennev Chief Medical Officer and Director of Menopause at Swedish Women's Clinic, Dr. Rebecca Dunsmoor-Su.

Ep 022 - Rebecca Dunsmoor-Su

 This week, I chat with Jennifer Porter, owner and founder of Satsuma Designs. She’s a triple threat: smart, witty, and committed to lifting up her community.

Ep 021 - Jennifer Porter

 Rob Turner is different from me as you’ll hear in this interview.  He served our country in the Army, then became a police officer in Virginia. Following the murder of George Floyd this summer, he released an episode on his podcast Fat, Drunk and Stupid about that was raw, apologetic, and extremely vulnerable about the incident from a police perspective.  I really wanted to know more about his  background - specifically his path from Army to policing - so I reached out to see if he’d be willing to talk. He was.

Ep 020 - Rob Turner

Today is the day after the election and I had a new episode set to go, but it didn't feel right to put it out. So, instead of releasing that episode, I decided to re-release an episode about peace. More specifically about a peace activist named Kwabi Amoah-Forson. Back in March, when I spoke to Kwabi, he was running a cereal drive for students after schools shut down because of Covid-19. And, as he tells me in the interview, that's just one of his many projects.

Ep 019 - Kwabi Amoah-Forson

On today's episode, I sit down with Liz Berry, State Legislative candidate for District 36 to talk politics, what it takes to run for office, and why we need more women in elected positions.

Ep 018 - Liz Berry

Ellen Kuwana is a one woman non-profit. She's proof that one good intention can snowball into a movement. Wegotthisseattle.org has fed over 18,000 frontline healthcare workers and raised over $75,000 under her watch. We discuss the next phase of her organization and Covid fatigue ... turns out we're all tired.

Ep 017 - Ellen Kuwana

This podcast features conversations with real people going through real things happening in life all around us. The interviews contain honest, respectful discourse about the invisible battles people are fighting right next to us that don't make our Instagram and Facebook feeds. The goal to shed light on hidden issues that many of us are dealing with in secret, and how kindness and understanding can truly break barriers. Life is about more than politics and Twitter battles. Hopefully, we can all feel less alone by hearing that other people are sharing both their pain and joy.

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Right in Front of My Face

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