Elizabeth Raymond is Charlottesville born and raised. After attending the University of Virginia for her Bachelors in Psychology and Masters in Education, Elizabeth ventured into the world of entrepreneurship with her mom and sister, as one of the Co-Founders of NoBull Burger, "the true veggieburger". NoBull Burger produces and wholesales veggie burgers to over 400 grocery stores and restaurants throughout the country, all the while spreading the message of “when you eat good, you feel good and ultimately live a happier, healthier life”. This mantra is evidenced by only using real-food ingredients and chef-driven flavor. When not immersed in the many hats of running a business, she spends time working in her community with the Luke J. Raymond Foundation. She, along with her family, created this organization to advocate for mental health awareness and suicide prevention. Elizabeth’s passions encompass the many facets of health and wellness, altogether physically, mentally and socially. She very much enjoys enhancing her life through serving and connecting to others, spending time in nature, practicing yoga, anything involving food & travel, and learning more about this wild world we live in. 

In this episode of the Fenom Podcast I am talking with my good friend, Gina Ward. Gina is the founder of SHIFT2LEAD, a Leadership Development School. She’s a fellow Certified Baptiste Yoga Teacher and Studio owner. Gina’s story has something that I think we can all identify with, her life has been on a constant stair stepper of jobs, titles, accomplishments and approvals from others. She overworked herself in the effort to prove her capabilities and worthiness and I can see so much of my story here, too. Even when an initial diagnosis of Leukemia was given to her, she continued to press on until the illness had to literally knock her out for Gina to make a real shift in her life. This shift has allowed her to lean into her power instead of forcing her way through life. She embraced the less is more mantra that the pandemic has ushered in and found space, clarity and a passion for life that has led her to her life’s purpose- giving tools and techniques to connect people with what is holding them back and put them back into their power. I invite you to listen and see the similarities in your own story and what would it take for you to finally shift your perspective…

Michelline Hall is a Lynchburg Virginia photographer, entrepreneur, and arts advocate.  I came across Michelline when someone shared a post of her “American Woman?” Art exhibit at Lynchburg’s Midtown Outdoor Art Gallery a couple of months ago and I was blown away at her amazing images of stylized portraits of Black and brown women that explore identity and culture. Her 10 photos hang on the side of a commercial building in Lynchburg’s Midtown. Michellin explains,

“Art is essential. Representation is vital. Expanding art interactions beyond traditional venues and into wider communities has always been my passion.” This quote perfectly sums up her “why”.

In speaking more with Michelline, I learned she is the co-founder and Director of Marketing of Blackwater Branding Agency alongside her husband which opens up the conversation to the importance of pivoting and branding in a pandemic as well as working alongside your husband, raising a family and making time for YOU to live your purpose and passion.

Once again, this is why I do this podcast to spotlight an inspirational, phenomenal woman. I hope you enjoy our conversation and catch a piece of Michelline’s spark of life!

Best of Season 1, Part 1 is a collection of the snips and clips of our interviews from the first half of the year by Sarah Trundle, Jennifer Givens, Kristin Watson, Lizzie Clark, Chelsea Wilson, and Chris Steiner. These ladies give so much insight on being a woman- an athlete, a mother, a leader, a partner, a cancer survivor, an entrepreneur, and living their biggest life. Whether you know these emotions or experiences or not, this podcast is to share our truth and knowledge to rise together in sisterhood and celebrate our story. 

On this episode of the Fenom Podcast, I am talking with two of my most accomplished guests I believe I had on here.  Drs. Leigh-Ann Webb and Ebony Jade Hilton are pretty phenomenal women, they are board certified physicians at the University of Virginia as well as professors, consultants, entrepreneurs and authors. These ladies came together out of the concern to address the disproportionate impact COVID19  has had on communities of color. They created the children’s ebook called We’re Going to Be OK, which is a child’s guide for staying healthy, there are writing prompts and actionable steps to help children cope with stress during this difficult time.  We’re Going to Be OK was one of the top five entries in the Emory Global Health Institute’s COVID19 Children’s ebook competition and has been hailed as a great tool for parents and educators to discuss healthy habits as well as talking points to guide the emotions children are experiencing during the pandemic.

Leigh and Ebony are powerful, successful humans, they are powerful, successful women AND they just so happen to be powerful, successful black women.  And right now, we cannot ignore the turmoil in our country, in this interview I couldn’t bypass the racial tension, the injustices, the police brutality that continue to play out in our society, as well as the overwhelming affect COVID19 is having specifically on African American and Hispanic communities…I was worried if I could do a good job in leading this discussion, I heard the heaviness and the toil this is taking on both of these women- it’s a lot to unpack, to open up and discuss about how the system has been built- not necessarily that it is broken but that it has been built this way…and we talk about all the things. Actually, they talk, I listen and that is what I encourage all my white folks to do right now… listen, unlearn, reflect and be a part of the solution together going forward. I hope you take away as much as I did from this conversation. 

In this episode I am discussing a topic that has been weighing heavily on me as a mother, business owner and leader in my community. 

I was listening to a talk a woman was giving recently, disussing  her struggle with roles of women today versus what she grew up hearing. She said as she was growing up there was always this common way of thinking that women were to be the grease and not the gasoline to the big machine of life. That phrase- the grease and not the gasoline was a huge aha for me. This is what I have felt in my life and where I am struggling right now during this pandemic. I am the grease, can I also  be the gasoline? Should I also be the gasoline? Or does this throw us all back to just greasing the wheels? More importantly, as I’m raising my children, 2 girls, 2 boys, what do tell my girls? How do I direct and guide my girls to be and do anything they put their minds to- or do I tell them like it is…if you have a family you’ll have to change or give up everything you think you are.

In this episode of the Fenom Podcast I am talking with Bridget Baylin, the Director of M Health for The Seraphic Group. M Health provides online education tools for learning how to foster the body’s intrinsic healing abilities. They have an integrative care clinic here in Charlottesville called the M Clinic.She is also an Ayurvedic Health Counselor at the Clinic and provide workshops and classes on Ayurveda.

In each of these episodes there is a different theme that emerges through the conversations. And this episode is no different. Bridget discusses how she found Ayurveda and how it is applicable to everyone to find their true nature and how to see where we are out of balance.  In Bridgets own life journey she found her own imbalance with her realization that she was not doing something she truly loved while she was working at the US Capitol when the events of 9/11, the anthrax scare and the DC shooter took place and put it all in perspective for her.  This is why I love her story. She reached out and found another way, another path that has led her to this point in life, in line with her calling and doing what lights her up but also gives her space.

• In this episode of the Fenom Podcast I am talking with Kendall Barger a a nurse in the medical intensive care unit at the University of Virginia who has been working tirelessly over the last 3 months with Covid 19 patients. I’ve known Kendall for a couple of years now as she has helped work the front desk at my studio, FlyDog Yoga. If I could clone her, I would. She’s a “What else can I do?” kind of worker, which is a rare character trait to find these days. Her work ethic can be traced to her upbringing with two parents who instilled in her a deep sense of faith, community, gratitude, and service to others which you can see plays a foundational role in who Kendall is as a person. In speaking with Kendall about being on the front lines of the global pandemic we are currently in she speaks humbly about “just doing her job” but it is her selfless service and compassion to her patients and their families that takes it beyond just a job and more into being an exceptional human being.