Once Upon a Time | LAYC27

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Welcome back my friends.

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Today is story time on our podcast.

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You know, story time, like when we were children and someone read

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us those fables and fairy tales of Princesses and good against

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evil and beautiful overcoming ugly.

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I don't know about you, but I had a pretty rich diet of Mother Goose nursery rhymes

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and Disney Princess stories, and movies...

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That set up in my impressionable young mind...

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My belief that light and beautiful and white was the ideal, that I

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should aim for and that anyone who was different, dark, misunderstood, or

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perhaps had some flaws or imperfections physically, must not be good...

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And therefore must be evil.

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Any wonder that we are confused as women growing up about what's important to be

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valued and to feel valued because the emphasis for us as children, was all on

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how we looked, and how demure and genteel we were, and if we had enough value

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to be rescued by the charming Prince.

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So to set up our conversation, I would like to take a moment and read

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to you an excerpt from my book, and then I'm going to come back, and

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let's talk a little bit about what that inspired in your thoughts...

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This is a reading from the book Who Am I Now?

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Feminine Wisdom, Unmasked and Uncensored.

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Read by the author, Isabel Banerjee.

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Once Upon a Time

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Once upon a time, there was a perfect woman.

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She had woke up every morning with a dewey, flawless complexion,

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perfectly arched brows, long luscious lashes, rosie, high cheekbones and

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lips that Angelina Jolie envied.

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She embodied all the best features of Disney's favorite Princesses and was

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forever free from cellulite, stretch marks, and underarm saggy wings.

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Her gorgeous locks fell effortlessly into style, and her

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roots never gave her a way...

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Hair grew only where it should be seen, and tweezers were redundant.

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Her smile was perfect and she never woke with morning breath.

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As you may have guessed, she did not fart, belch, sweat, or

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snort when she laughed hard.

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She never experienced root canals, dental implants, or bridges, and

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plaque could not attach to her pearly whites Her neck was smooth.

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Her decolletage felt like satin.

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Her breasts were perky and her ass was high and tight.

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When posed nude like a Grecian statue, not a single varicose vein scar age

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spot, or zit could be seen on her body.

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Her periods were perfectly minimal...

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Cramp and bloat free, and never interfered with vacations or date night.

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Each slender hand was soft and smooth and tipped with 10 perfectly manicured nails.

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Her feet were shapely and proportionate and exempt from bunions,

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calluses, and chipped toe polish.

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Any Prince would rather kiss those sweet toes, instead of trying the slipper on.

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She told the truth about her weight, even though it was always exactly perfect.

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And of course, no one would believe her real age, so she

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didn't need to discuss that.

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Our perfect woman was always even tempered and kind her good nature allowed

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her to listen to political rants...

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and endless Facebook Sales pitches with Mona Lisa composure.

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Her BFFs were forever on Facebook...

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She learned that she liked people much better...

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When they were liking her.

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She never judged anyone on their narcissistic video broadcasts

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for moving cars, or criticized their choice of camera, angle,

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or background sounds, and light.

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Her own social media was always perfect, relevant, and fascinating...

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Exempt from ego and insecurity, she could declare:

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Mirror, mirror, on the wall...

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My selfies are the best of all...

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Her license plate was IDEAL ME...

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and she always got the parking spot closest to the entrance.

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She never forgot her shopping bags, and took precisely the right number

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of bags into the store each time.

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Her coupons were sorted by date...

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and then alphabetically.

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Of course, she was an impeccable chef, and all her meals were Instagram worthy.

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She didn't eat the food, she just commemorated it on social media...

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It helped her to maintain that perfect figure.

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Leftover wine was stored at the perfect temperature...

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Ladies...

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We know there's no such thing as leftover wine!

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Her home's sparkled, and the dust bunnies had been trained to line up...

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and march right out the front door!

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Her toilets were always clean.

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Her closets and drawers were all Con-Married, and her shoes were arranged

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by designer, on remote controlled towers.

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Our fair maiden of the story was, as you may have anticipated...

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A sex kitten, a Tigris, and a skilled lover.

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She knew what she wanted, and was not afraid to ask for it.

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She was always ready...

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Her legs were smooth, and her Brazilian was fresh.

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Her lingerie was seductive, and expensive...

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She astutely invested in rechargeable batteries.

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She always enjoyed multiple orgasms.

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She just wouldn't settle for less.

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And now I'm guessing that you're calling bullshit...

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That woman can not exist.

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But she does, in the subconscious of our collective minds.

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The leading lady of this fable embodies just some of the criticism, unrealistic

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expectations and judgments, that we as women have embraced, projected, and

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struggled with throughout our lives.

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As ridiculous as this fairy tale seems, it's only part of the

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story that we tell ourselves.

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We hold ourselves up to impossibly perfect standards.

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That were set by others.

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I think it's time we talk about how some of these ideals were

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embedded into our subconscious.

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Think back to your childhood exposure to books and film...

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The female protagonists were damsels in distress...

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In need of rescue by a gallant Knight...

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porcelain skin beauties, whose life purpose was to attract the mate...

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Who would save her Father's kingdom...

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and naive females who battled the consequences of wicked Stepmothers

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or Grandmother eating wolves.

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To make it into the story...

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They had to be pretty, vulnerable, and able to communicate with wild creatures.

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To survive, they had to seduce, sacrifice, and stay attractive.

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I don't remember many examples of strong, confident female role models...

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That were encouraged to be intelligent, independent thinkers while also

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being loving and trustworthy.

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Brene Brown said, It's time to be a lot more empathetic with ourselves.

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Let us be kind, and remind ourselves that from early childhood, we were

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fed a diet of perfect Princesses.

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Only the pretty ones were good, light, and sparkly.

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The evil Queens were always frightening...

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Ugly...

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Dark...

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Only the perfect pretty size zero one's...

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Got the happy ending.

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It's time...

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To re-examine the plot and change some paradigms.

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We can write our own story and definition of perfection.

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And..

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We can all live happily ever after...

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With our perfectly im-perfect bodies, attitudes, selfies, and housekeeping!

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Let's start a conversation by answering this question:

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Mirror, Mirror on the wall...

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Who is our harshest critic of them all?

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Signed,

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Fairy Godmother,

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Isabel

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Well, welcome back everyone!

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I hope you enjoyed story time...

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and that I brought a smile to your face, as you started to recognize

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the fallacy of some of our beliefs...

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How they may have been anchored in the modeling that we received as children...

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about what constitutes beauty...

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And value in an individual.

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As I record this episode, the movie Cruella with Emma Stone, is

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breaking records at the box office.

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Once again...

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It's a story of how people judge us by our physical appearance...

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Based on standards and perceptions and prejudices...

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Biases that have been established long ago.

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Really...

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When are we as women going to get it?

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No one else should have the right to define us...

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It's up to Us...

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Take back the Pen...

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and Write the Script...

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For the Future...

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You desire.

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That will showcase YOU in all of your beauty, and your talent, and your ability.

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No one else should write our story.

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No one else should decide for us.

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What is beautiful?

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What is valuable...

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Or what our legacy will be.

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When I started to write the book, Who Am I Now?

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I struggled to define myself...

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and finally I did come up with a process.

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In terms of being an author of my future...

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I realized that first, I needed to write the prologue of the story.

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And I created a tool I call my personal currency evaluation.

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What it does...

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Is help me capture and update, and review regularly...

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All of the lifetime value that I have.

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My strengths...

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My skills...

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The experience of my life...

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That no one else has.

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My accumulated, tacit knowledge...

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The resources that I have.

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I created a simple model that I'd like to share with you.

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You can get a copy at www.MyEncore.Me...

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And I hope that will help you, to start writing your next story.

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I'll put the link in the show notes.

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Let's close the storybook for today...

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But I invite you to stick around because I'm going to share a very fascinating

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story about the woman, the life and the movement that she created...

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I have the extreme honor of being able to interview Jen Harper...

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Who was recently named by Chatelaine Magazine as a woman of the year.

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If you don't know who Jen Harper is...

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Go check out Cheekbone Beauty, and get a little bit of her story, but I'm going

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to share a lot more in our conversation.

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Jenn is a role model...

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She's a champion for beauty, diversity, and women's rights.

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And I couldn't think of anybody better to define what Lift As

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You Climb means for all of us!

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Don't miss that episode!...

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Subscribe to the podcast...

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Turn on the notifications.

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So that you'll be first to hear the interview!