Episode 17
Don’t Shoot the Horse with Leeanne Gardner | LAYC17
Don’t Shoot the Horse with Leeanne Gardner
What does it mean to take the reins of your life?
You don’t have to own fancy boots, a saddle, or even a horse to find out!
Listen in as our guest, Leeanne Gardner, unlocks limiting beliefs and flings the gates of potential wide open!
With refreshing perspectives, raw vulnerability, and relatable experiences about how to reset your thinking to purposefully manifest the life you desire, Leeanne challenges us to buck up! and take the lead in our lives.
More than just equestrian metaphors for personal and professional fulfillment, the Boss Mare of Unbridle It, shares relatable and actionable tips and tools so you too can unbridle your reined in passion and purpose, and start immediately to create your own happiness.
Teaser:
Listen to the end if you want to discover something about our guest that you probably won’t find on Google!
WHOA Partner! I sure did not expect that answer! Find out how Leeanne surprised me.
About our Guest:
A lifelong love of horses resulted in profound life lessons for Leeanne Gardner, including the importance of authenticity, the power of presence, the necessity of perseverance, and the value of resilience.
During her successful twenty-five-year corporate career in technology and luxury hospitality, she discovered that many of her colleagues couldn’t answer the question, “What lights you up?”
Through her connection with horses, Leeanne learned the significance for each of us to embrace our passion as well as have a balance between our business and personal life. In March of 2020, Leeanne was inspired to take the reins and transform all aspects of her life. She felt like she was personally and professionally out of alignment and therefore she was unhappy. She compiled her journey and roadmap to positive change in her bestselling book; “Unbridle It! Buck Up and Create Your Happy. You’ll Never Know Your Full Potential Until You Unbridle It!”
Discover even more about our guest and how she Lifts & Climbs:
www.linkedin.com/in/leeannegardneraz
https://www.facebook.com/UnbridleIt
https://www.instagram.com/unbridle_it/business
About the Host:
Isabel Banerjee - Your Next Business
Strategist and Transformation Catalyst
Dynamic, a self-made entrepreneur who overcame obstacles with an unrelenting positive nature, a farm girl work ethic and a conscious choice to thrive rather than survive, Isabel Alexander Banerjee cultivated an award-winning, $10 million+ global chemical business and grew it from dining room table to international boardrooms.
Isabel’s strengths include the ability to initiate & nurture strategic relationships, a love of lifelong learning and talents for helping others maximize their potential. An inspiring speaker within both industry and community, she is a driving force behind those with the courage to foll0ow her example of thriving against the odds.
With 50+ years of business experience across diverse industries, Isabel is respected as an advisor, a coach, a mentor and a role model. She believes in sharing collective wisdom and empowering others to economic independence.
Founder of the Lift As You Climb Movement (www.facebook.com/groups/liftasyouclimbmovement)
and
Chief Encore Officer, The Encore Catalyst (www.theencorecatalyst.com) – an accelerator for feminine wisdom, influence, and impact.
also
Author & Speaker ‘Who Am I Now? – Feminine Wisdom Unmasked Uncensored’ (www.IsabelBanerjee.com)
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/isabelalexanderbanerjee/
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If you have questions about this episode, please send me an email at Hello@TheEncoreCatalyst.com
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Transcript
Well, howdy!
Speaker:Welcome back!
Speaker:To the Lift As You Climb podcast.
Speaker:This is a special episode today, for all you cowgirls and
Speaker:cowboys out there, because I am thrilled to have with me today...
Speaker:The Boss Mare of Unbridled It.
Speaker:An inspiring and fun friend of mine, Leeanne Gardner.
Speaker:Hi Leeanne!
Speaker:Hi Isabel!
Speaker:Thank you so much for inviting me on.
Speaker:We are thrilled beyond measure to have you here.
Speaker:The timing is.
Speaker:So great because you are definitely an inspiration in my Lift As You Climb world.
Speaker:And you very recently have released a new book into the universe.
Speaker:We're going to talk about that today, for sure, for our listeners.
Speaker:I invited you Leanne to come on here with me and help spread the message...
Speaker:Make it clear in the world...
Speaker:The values of consciously lifting and climbing, and how that's a continual
Speaker:process as we evolve as Women...
Speaker:Cowgirls and Cowboys in the world.
Speaker:That we are not static.
Speaker:We're not like the fence post in the corral.
Speaker:We are changing and moving and growing all the time.
Speaker:you are sort of new in my life, but new again, through COVID...
Speaker:We reconnected...
Speaker:and I'm so very grateful for that.
Speaker:Your story of what happened, what transpired, for you in the last what?
Speaker:18 months or so?
Speaker:I think it's a great example, a great role model for so many others that may
Speaker:have found, through this time, whether it's because of the pandemic, and
Speaker:being shut in, or whether it's just because shit is happening in life.
Speaker:How to reinvent and really create the life that you desire and you deserve,
Speaker:and how to go about manifesting it purposefully and successfully.
Speaker:Leanne kudos to you, for really boldly and bravely sharing your own personal
Speaker:journey, and then taking it one step farther, and actually creating...
Speaker:a book and sharing that whole process and methodology and success models and
Speaker:formulas with so many other people.
Speaker:And!...
Speaker:To be so brilliantly unique to create it using the life experience
Speaker:that you've had with horses.
Speaker:So Yay!!!
Speaker:Everybody saddle up, saddle up, because we have a lot to talk about today.
Speaker:Leanne, unwind this a little bit and give us a bit of the background
Speaker:about how you came to have this...
Speaker:philosophy or outlook on life, about unbridling your passion and your life.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:And thank you so much again for inviting me on Isabel it's always
Speaker:a gift to spend time with you.
Speaker:There's been several iterations, but I think, I spent 25 years
Speaker:in the corporate world...
Speaker:Really quick story...
Speaker:I had horses as a passion, really young in my life.
Speaker:I was lucky enough to have had my own horse, and when my parents divorced, when
Speaker:I was 15, they had to sell the horse.
Speaker:Which ripped my heart out, which created a huge wall of...
Speaker:Okay...
Speaker:I don't wanna feel that pain ever again in my life.
Speaker:And I felt betrayed and everything else that comes along with divorce,
Speaker:but the horse was the main piece.
Speaker:I chose to build a wall against horses.
Speaker:Never...
Speaker:I'm like...
Speaker:Forget it...
Speaker:I don't wanna feel that pain ever again.
Speaker:So I jumped into corporate at age 18 really didn't have much to do with horses
Speaker:at all until 16 years later after I moved to Arizona, and reconnected with horses.
Speaker:Reconnection was what woke me up to that balance of life
Speaker:in professional life balance.
Speaker:And I'm like, this is what passion is, because I've missed this so much.
Speaker:So I went a little crazy, cause I was married at the time.
Speaker:So we had seven horses at home, and two with trainers, and I showed
Speaker:very high level quarter horse, and paint throughout the country...
Speaker:But it was my passion.
Speaker:I would be in business meetings...
Speaker:I worked for Lowe's Hotels, corporate at the time...
Speaker:with my colleagues.
Speaker:And they're all just like...
Speaker:Tell us about the horses and all this stuff...
Speaker:and I'm like...
Speaker:Well, what lights you up?
Speaker:Tell me what's your passion?
Speaker:What lights you up?
Speaker:And no one could answer that question.
Speaker:And I just thought.
Speaker:Hmm, I'm onto something here...
Speaker:so in 2008, I chose not to leave Scottsdale and move to Manhattan.
Speaker:New York, because I'm like...
Speaker:there's no way I'll even see my horses.
Speaker:They'll have to be in another state for me to afford them.
Speaker:I created Unbridle IT in 2008, working with my horses, Sassy and
Speaker:Romeo, to help people get out of their heads, and into their hearts
Speaker:and truly reconnect with a passion.
Speaker:Based on these conversations I'd had with colleagues...
Speaker:Thinking well, starting my own business after 25 years in
Speaker:corporate should be a piece of cake.
Speaker:Not the truth at all.
Speaker:So it failed miserably.
Speaker:It didn't fail.
Speaker:I just was like, okay, I gotta rethink this...
Speaker:I gotta go get a paying JOB...
Speaker:but that's where it started.
Speaker:So it started with my, re introduction and, connection with my heart
Speaker:space, which was the horses.
Speaker:And then in 2016, I lost my beloved Romeo, who's on the cover of my book.
Speaker:And again, that heartbreak took over for a few years.
Speaker:I had to step away from horses.
Speaker:Fast forward to last year where the horses were still missing in my life.
Speaker:So I finally reconnected with horses and that was what was able for
Speaker:me to complete the book, because I was reignited with my passion.
Speaker:Probably a little bit more than you wanted, but...
Speaker:No, not at all.
Speaker:Thank you for sharing so vulnerably, because this is what you and I do.
Speaker:It's part of how we contribute to the world is that...
Speaker:By sharing our own story and making it safe for other people to express...
Speaker:where they felt tragedy, or frustration, anger, resentment in life, and
Speaker:then provide them some examples, that they can try themselves.
Speaker:So I do really appreciate that.
Speaker:I really believe that's, a major tenant of the philosophy of Lift As You Climb.
Speaker:It's in everything that we are doing personally in our lives
Speaker:have accomplished professionally, personally, relationships, every
Speaker:aspect of who we are as whole beings.
Speaker:If we can share what we've done ourselves, that would save someone
Speaker:else, some heartbreak, time...
Speaker:money.
Speaker:Then that's a responsibility.
Speaker:I believe.
Speaker:you're showing up doing that, and I'm grateful to you for that.
Speaker:It helps them know they're not alone.
Speaker:I put my shit out there in this book.
Speaker:I put it all out there, the sexual abuse, everything I've been through,
Speaker:I chose not to be a victim ever.
Speaker:I chose to go...
Speaker:Okay, I got to figure this shit out and really be mature much younger
Speaker:than a lot of people have too.
Speaker:But I think by people reading some of these stories, when we do share
Speaker:vulnerably, they're not alone.
Speaker:And you do have a choice every day of the week.
Speaker:You can choose one path or another.
Speaker:You can choose to be a victim, or you can say not today...
Speaker:I'm bucking up...
Speaker:and I'm choosing a different path.
Speaker:And that's what I've done consistently.
Speaker:This is why I was so drawn to you because we have that same philosophy, as in your
Speaker:book, and in mine, we put it out there.
Speaker:We didn't whitewash or Photoshop our lives.
Speaker:. We shared the good, the bad, the ugly, and more important, the learnings that
Speaker:could be helpful for someone else, if they're not quite sure how to get started.
Speaker:I love that you hold these events that you do with horses, and incorporate
Speaker:what you've learned there into how to apply that in anybody's life,
Speaker:whether you have a horse or not.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:You don't even have to know anything about horses.
Speaker:that's the beauty of it.
Speaker:Because they're just this epitome of authenticity.
Speaker:I love introducing people that don't know anything about horses to the profound
Speaker:lessons they can teach us every day.
Speaker:If we would just take the time to watch, and observe, and listen
Speaker:and feel with our hearts instead of hanging out in our heads.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:If we get way too cerebral, we're missing the whole point of what this
Speaker:evolution of ourselves is about.
Speaker:Mr.
Speaker:or Mrs.
Speaker:Horse, aren't doing that.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:They show up as who they are, they could give a shit about, how much money you
Speaker:make, or what you look like, or what you drove up in, or any of that, What
Speaker:they care about as you're showing up and being present, and being honest.
Speaker:And if you're afraid of them, then you claim that, instead of...
Speaker:Oh, I love horses.
Speaker:They're reading us energetically, they're reading that fear,
Speaker:they sense that incongruency.
Speaker:The beauty of authenticity, is showing up as who you are, and letting go
Speaker:of those preconceived notions of who society thinks you should be, or, the
Speaker:perfectly imperfect, I love that, show up.
Speaker:Make mistakes...
Speaker:That's how you learn the lessons.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:With some humor, with some grace, some forgiveness, to ourselves and others.
Speaker:And then that sense of adventure that I think...
Speaker:It's not just for the wild west and cowboy movies.
Speaker:There's an adventure every day in our lives if we choose to be open to it.
Speaker:That's something that I have observed and admired with you is your openness,
Speaker:your wonder, about what's around you.
Speaker:What's so beautiful, and what is possible.
Speaker:I've witnessed some of that, just in the past year, how you transformed your life.
Speaker:So incredibly, beautifully.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:So the book has just come out...
Speaker:Unbridle IT!
Speaker:Buck Up and Create Your Happy!
Speaker:It's available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Speaker:I'm gonna put the link, in the show notes, along with your contact information.
Speaker:So people can follow you and see what you're up to next.
Speaker:I have no doubt, there's a lot more, that will transpire, because
Speaker:you've just, you've unbridled it,, unleashed a new part of your life.
Speaker:Can you think back a time, an example, of where somebody really lifted you, and
Speaker:how that influenced who you are today?
Speaker:I've got several, amazing women from my corporate life, that I've
Speaker:still been in contact with.
Speaker:, But most recently, I was speaking at a leadership conference, and it was...
Speaker:, Bridle Your Passion and Lead with Your Heart.
Speaker:Which is one of my signature spiels, because it's about coming
Speaker:from a heart space, and Susan F.
Speaker:Moody was one of the other speakers.
Speaker:I haven't met Susan, she missed my presentation, but she came at the
Speaker:end cause she had this radio show.
Speaker:She heard the Q & A that we were having at the end.
Speaker:And that's where the whole room was in tears because she shared her experience
Speaker:with, having to let go of a passion.
Speaker:Susan just said, hey, I' ve got this radio show, would you
Speaker:be interested in coming on?
Speaker:And I said sure, again, not knowing anything.
Speaker:And I didn't know what I was doing with my business, and all this other stuff...
Speaker:So I went on her radio show.
Speaker:Seize the day, I think is what it was called.
Speaker:We just had this synergy...
Speaker:She's this brilliant woman...
Speaker:, Who's had multiple million dollar businesses, and she's had the
Speaker:successes and the failures.
Speaker:I found that really inspiring.
Speaker:So after, you know, I was talking about my horses and all this...
Speaker:She just said...
Speaker:We need to connect.
Speaker:She's this brilliant business person, and I had some stuff to learn on
Speaker:that, but I know the marketing branding piece and all of that.
Speaker:But I brought that...
Speaker:Who is the person behind the business?
Speaker:So my focus is really on the self care.
Speaker:And what are you doing for your foundation, to be able to create
Speaker:more sustainability for yourself?
Speaker:If you're a hot mess, how do you expect to have a good business?
Speaker:So we partnered, and created Star Shine Communities.
Speaker:We were way ahead of our time, because it was creating a safe space for
Speaker:women entrepreneurs to come, with masterminds, to work on your business,
Speaker:to create more sustainability in your business, with a big focus on self care,
Speaker:and that woman behind the business.
Speaker:Susan really inspired me and we had just these amazing ideas
Speaker:and we grew way too fast.
Speaker:We went from one location to six, because we partnered with an
Speaker:office suites business, which was great, but it was just too much.
Speaker:It was too much to manage.
Speaker:We're still great friends, and she is the reason my book was
Speaker:published, because she's written several books and she's brilliant.
Speaker:I think for us to be able to lift all of these other women and hold this space for
Speaker:the community, we did have several members and they're all still great friends
Speaker:and we're watching their businesses blossom, just in a different way.
Speaker:It was ahead of our time and in the West Sally was the absolute wrong
Speaker:location to launch that business.
Speaker:We should have been at a different location.
Speaker:We still hear feedback from some of our members, that always makes you
Speaker:feel good when, you know, you've had a positive impact on someone
Speaker:a couple of years later when they still reach out and say, thank you.
Speaker:. Well, isn't it the truth...
Speaker:The impact that we have, doesn't always show up in the form that
Speaker:we originally envisioned it would.
Speaker:In creating a business model or providing a service...
Speaker:Sometimes it's the seeds have been planted and they just are
Speaker:taking longer to germinate.
Speaker:Please don't think that any of that was wasted time, there was impact.
Speaker:I get what you're saying...
Speaker:We're really just coming into women entrepreneurs feeling absolutely
Speaker:right in being there as Feminine energy business leaders working
Speaker:differently than in the traditional masculine or patriarchal models.
Speaker:Celebrating the fact that we are not just a woman with a personal life
Speaker:and a woman with a professional life That we are one whole great feminine
Speaker:creation, and how we can do business very, very successfully from that space.
Speaker:I love what you did about self-care, self-compassion Coming together and
Speaker:creating that supportive board of advisories and educational environment.
Speaker:And I hope that we are going to see a lot more of that going forward in the future.
Speaker:Perhaps, the pandemic, might have been a catalyst for that to increase too.
Speaker:The people I talked to, certainly talk about one of the takeaways from this
Speaker:experience of the past 16 months, has been recognizing who isn't there for us?
Speaker:Who we are missing in our lives?
Speaker:Who showed up for us?
Speaker:There's been a refinement of priorities and taking stock of who else we
Speaker:need in our circle of influence.
Speaker:Who do we need to help us buck up and Unbridle It ... In your vernacular?
Speaker:I think...
Speaker:Who's in your first class cabin?
Speaker:There's a whole paragraph in the book of...
Speaker:Who are we choosing?
Speaker:Because you know...
Speaker:What you're not changing, you're choosing.
Speaker:who are you choosing to have in your first class cabin?
Speaker:Because who we surround ourselves with, what we listen to on the radio, on
Speaker:television, all has a direct impact on us, in our self-talk and how healthy we are.
Speaker:So be very choosy.
Speaker:My first class cabin is very small, and in some cases there may be no family
Speaker:members in your first class cabin.
Speaker:And that's fine, it's your first class cabin needs to be those who support you
Speaker:and, have your best interest in mind.
Speaker:And don't have all the jealousies, or the naysayers because they would never
Speaker:have the guts to do what you're doing.
Speaker:( Right) Sorry...
Speaker:Off my plane.
Speaker:For me it was like...
Speaker:Off the bus...
Speaker:and some relationships just belong on different parts of our
Speaker:train or bus or plane, right?
Speaker:Different cabins.
Speaker:it doesn't mean that we can't have any relationship with them, or have a quality
Speaker:of relationship, but in the specific areas, such as growing into your CEOness.
Speaker:Or...
Speaker:Stepping out and becoming more of you, You and I know, that there are some people
Speaker:from our life that are not comfortable with us changing and growing, because
Speaker:they feel they may be left behind.
Speaker:It's a very wise thing to look at.
Speaker:Who do you need in each of those areas of your life?...
Speaker:And purposely curate, and nurture those relationships.
Speaker:Once you are back in alignment with your purpose, and you've let go of some of
Speaker:that stuff that's no longer serving you.
Speaker:The right people pop into your life.
Speaker:Just like we had reconnected, and I've reconnected with others.
Speaker:, That saying of...
Speaker:You meet a person for reason, a season, a lifetime or something else...
Speaker:I believe in that and I don't think that there are any coincidences.
Speaker:You'll still be tested because people will come back into your life and it's a test.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Is this really what you deserve?
Speaker:How does that person make you feel?
Speaker:Or whatever...
Speaker:Relationships and all that.
Speaker:I'm being tested now, being single it's like, okay, is that what you deserve?
Speaker:Nooo...
Speaker:Off My Bus!
Speaker:When you're in alignment...
Speaker:Your energy is going to attract a different level.
Speaker:That's on your same vibration.
Speaker:But that makes sense.
Speaker:Surround yourself with those who have been there, done that.
Speaker:So you can learn from them and they're going to help push you.
Speaker:Just like...
Speaker:You never want to be the most expensive house on the block.
Speaker:Well...
Speaker:You don't want to be the one that's always giving, giving, giving
Speaker:to everyone else in your circle.
Speaker:You need somebody to be there and support you as well.
Speaker:Cause sometimes it gets really old.
Speaker:Being that support and the coach for everybody else, because we need
Speaker:some of that ourselves sometimes.
Speaker:Just like that.
Speaker:I absolutely agree with you...
Speaker:Well said...
Speaker:Great reminder.
Speaker:If we aren't stretching and growing with the people that we are
Speaker:surrounding ourselves with...
Speaker:You're right...
Speaker:We need to take another look at...
Speaker:Who's on that success ladder?
Speaker:and...
Speaker:How are they lifting us to come up with them?
Speaker:Well...
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:I'm encouraging everybody to read your book and think about
Speaker:this absolutely amazing time and opportunity in your own life...
Speaker:To purposely choose what you want to do next, and really unbridle the opportunity
Speaker:for greater satisfaction, greater impact, and influence in the world.
Speaker:And...
Speaker:Good times!
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:All right, Leanne.
Speaker:You're kind of a celebrity...
Speaker:You're kind of a big deal these days...
Speaker:I'm kind of just me...
Speaker:I'm a girl who wrote a book.
Speaker:A girl who wrote a book okay.
Speaker:So there's, there's a fair bit of information out there, about you.
Speaker:Hopefully most of it is true on the internet...
Speaker:What's something that perhaps we wouldn't find out about you easily on Google?
Speaker:Oh, there's a lot of information about me...
Speaker:um, One thing you would not find is ... When I was 12, I was in an X-rated film.
Speaker:I had my clothes on.
Speaker:I was an extra...
Speaker:My Dad is a cinematographer.
Speaker:And so...
Speaker:I've actually been in several movies...
Speaker:Linda Lovelace for president.
Speaker:I was the bratty kid.
Speaker:I just come in from the barn and I was a bratty kid that
Speaker:went into this phone booth...
Speaker:or, I don't even know...
Speaker:I don't know if I was cut from it, but at 12.
Speaker:I was in an X-rated film.
Speaker:I've also been in music videos.
Speaker:One of my sisters worked for Sony records, so I was in Tanya Tucker video.
Speaker:So yeah...
Speaker:You'd never find that anywhere.
Speaker:I never would have guessed...
Speaker:It's the best ice breaker ever because I win, it's like, I was
Speaker:in an X-rated film, a Double X or whatever it was, when I was 12.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I have no words.
Speaker:I have no words, but other than to say...
Speaker:Thank you so much, Leanne Gardner, for being with me today.
Speaker:You certainly have lifted my spirits, and lifted my belief
Speaker:in everything is possible.
Speaker:If I align my vibes with my goals, and then just...
Speaker:Unbridle IT (Buck Up!) Okay.
Speaker:Buck up out there everybody!
Speaker:Make sure you check the show notes...
Speaker:So that you can find out where to find this amazing woman!
Speaker:Thank you!
Speaker:Bye.