In the spring of 2004, Sarah Hemminger, a JHU biomedical engineering graduate student, and her husband, Ryan Hemminger, founded Incentive Mentoring Program (IMP) to create mentoring relationships between university-based volunteers and underperforming high school students who were at risk of failing to graduate.

Starting in the East Baltimore neighborhood in which Sarah attended graduate school, the program began by building relationships between Paul Laurence Dunbar High School (Dunbar) students, and volunteers from the JHU East Baltimore Campus. The principal of Dunbar, Roger Shaw, helped identify 15 students who were at severe risk of failing to complete high school.

Through their willingness to customize their approach to the unique needs of each student, volunteers developed close relationships with the students over the next three years.

In the spring of 2007, 100% of this first group of students not only graduated high school, but were also accepted and matriculated to college. As word of IMP’s success spread, what started out as an intimate student group of a few dozen friends, quickly turned into an organization of several hundred volunteers.

The Incentive Mentoring Program is successful because it builds families that transcend barriers by recognizing that everyone brings something of value to the table.  Everyone is a mentor.  Everyone is a mentee.  And, everyone wins.

Tune in this week when I talk with Sarah Hemminger to find out more about this “making a real difference” organization and the people who are making it happen.

Saturday, May 18^th, from 6:07-7:00 pm ET on Talkradio 680 WCBM Baltimore or “Listen Live” online 

***

Be sure to check out last week’s show – What YOU Can Do to Tackle Our Nation’s Leading Killer of Women – when I talked with Shannon Winakur, M.D., Medical Director of the Women’s Heart Center at Saint Agnes Hospital, and Debbie Phelps, Director of The Education Foundation of Baltimore County Public Schools, about women and heart disease.  Regardless of your age, it’s time to get “HEART SMART.”

If you missed the show or you want to share it with a friend, it’s in the podcast archive now – It’s the May 11^th show!

“When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure.” – Unknown

I saw that quote on my Pinterest wall and thought how it matched what I was feeling as I experienced my first Mother’s Day without my mom.

I woke up that morning and remembered right away what day it was.  So, I got busy.  Busy so I wouldn’t have to think about it.  I read the New York Times page by page.  I worked in my garden.  I went biking for a long time.  I did two loads of laundry.  I did some work.  I read.  I cat snuggled.  I husband snuggled.  I watched TV.  All of this to keep from thinking about it being Mother’s Day.

What was I afraid of?  Why did facing this day seem overwhelming to me?

I started thinking about some of the things people had shared with me over the past month about how they felt about losing their mother:

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of her… and, it’s been 12 years.  In fact, I think she’s closer to me now than she was when she was living.” 

“Whatever went on between you and your mother can get resolved right now.  She’s listening to you.  That’s what I realized after my mom died.  Sometimes you can have the first real conversation you’ve ever had.  And, if you pay attention and are open to it, you’ll hear her response.” 

“At the very end, I let my mom know it was ok for her to leave.  I could almost see this wave of relief pass through her body.  She was so tired and she was ready to leave.  Perhaps, she was ready to go to the party on the other side.  I know you did that for your mom, too, and that was a gift to her from you and your sister.” 

“One of the strangest parts for me was realizing that I am now the matriarch of the family.  Holy cow.  Not a role that I ever thought I would fit into.” 

I looked through some photos and decided that keeping a special memory jar would be fitting going forward so I wouldn’t let precious memoires be lost.  And, I would talk with her.  Perhaps even more than I had over the past several years.  It would be easier now.  It can happen at any time.

So, I know the tender spot of losing a mom will not be lost… probably ever.  There will always be a tug at my heart just like it’s been since our dad left us 18 years ago.

But, the memory jar will be full.

     Five provocative questions answered by an inspiring and fabulous woman  – a woman with something to say.

 Meet Gabriella Guglielminotti Trivel

Gabriella Guglielminotti Trivel was born in Turin, Italy, where she studied English, French, German and Arabic and specialized in interpreting and tourism. She moved to London in 1998 and after several years working in the travel industry, she decided to go back to her love of all time: the human mind and its potential.

She trained in Neuro Linguistic Programming and Time Line therapy in 2006 and went on a breakthrough trip to the extreme and pristine continent of Antarctica and South America in March 08.  She wrote a book about her adventure in Antarctica, Antarctic Odyssey: a New Beginning.

In 2010, Gabriella started running workshops for women called Flying Solo I,  to share her knowledge about the menstrual cycle and help women to feel great in their body and become their own authority in their life. 

People would be surprised to know that: I have been bit by a dromedary in front of the big pyramid of Giza in Egypt in 1997 and survived, walked on fire five times, have broken a wooden board with my bare hands three times, bent a steel rod with my throat twice and broken a wooden arrow with my throat four times. I have jumped from a bridge tied up to a rope and jumped from a crane free-falling, swam in the Antarctic Sea, and am learning to fly at present. 

The WTL 5: 

What’s the conversation that changed your life? 

My life changed dramatically in March 2009 when I listened to a conference call with Alexandra Pope about the wisdom of menstruation and subsequently, went to her workshop. That day I became aware of my life purpose and what I wanted to do in my life: empower women by opening them up to the menstrual awareness. This new awareness made me start seeing things differently – with the feminine eyes –  and I started noticing so many things in me and our society that are the result of millennia of patriarchy and that don’t serve women at all, as we operate in a different way from men. 

What are you most conscious of today? 

I am thankful for everything I have done and ventured into that made me the person I am. I am very aware of how much I am supported all the time by everything that surrounds me, therefore I am extremely appreciative of everything that comes my way!

I am conscious of how much I can help others by sharing who I am and what I am passionate about. I know that I do it for the fun of it and the satisfaction of seeing another human being light up when she/he realizes her/his power. Life is a journey to enjoy! 

What part of you have you yet to give voice to? 

I still have to give voice in a more prominent way to my feminine part which is the more private, intimate, shy and vulnerable. I have been living in my masculine energy for most of my life to be able to fit in the environment and not be wounded too much, but now it is time to change and bring about a new awareness – which is the feminine way of nurturing oneself and others, being truthful to oneself and shining one’s light without shame and fear.

The feminine way also means seeing the world as a playground rather than a battlefield, and others as playmates rather than competitors or enemies. 

What’s the conversation women need to be having collectively? 

Women need to realize their worth and start doing things their way without justifying it or asking permission. They need to see in other women, friends rather than competitors, and feel the desire to inspire themselves and their sisters to have more fun in their lives. The world is still so steeped in the masculine way of living and women need to change that collectively and in joy by stopping their living in fear.

Women have suffered so much for so long and the only way out of this is by becoming aware and being present – without feeling the need for revenge. 

What needs to be said bigger, louder, stronger? 

A woman has a body that operates in a different way than a man’s body; therefore, women have to become aware of that and learn from their body so they can live in a better way. The feminine body works in cycles and this is more obvious during the menstrual years.  However, our society expects women to be the same all the time, which is absurd.

With half of the population on the planet living in an unnatural way – not their feminine way –  they are not doing themselves any favors. If women are in pain, feel dismissed and abused, men can’t feel well either. We are all ONE and as such, we need to come together as ONE.

***

 Thank you, Gabriella, for sharing your powerful voice
with WomanTalk Live.

In an effort to educate women of all ages about the biggest threat to our good health,  Shannon Winakur, M.D., Medical Director of the Women’s Heart Center at Saint Agnes Hospital, and Debbie Phelps, Director of  The Education Foundation of Baltimore County Public Schools, who has a busy, busy life, joined me in the studio this past week to share the facts that heart disease and all it entails is not just a disease for old men.

Why do women need to be aware of this threat and get “heart smart” at an early age?  Because only a minority of women view heart disease as a threat and an overwhelming number of women – of all ages -  are leading lives with big risk factor behaviors.

When stroke, heart failure and high blood pressure are included with coronary heart disease… these diseases kill one woman every minute in the U.S. 

The good thing about knowing the symptoms and your own risk factors?  You can then do something – often, only making some lifestyle changes – that will add years to your life and give you a quality life.  And, that may mean you’re able to walk or ride bikes with your children.  It may mean that you’re able to get up the stairs without huffing and puffing.  It may mean that all of the people who love you get to enjoy you for a long time.

Dr. Winakur and Debbie Phelps encourage women as young as twenty – and, younger, if symptoms are present – to get heart smart.  One way to do that is by scheduling your 60-Minute Heart Check. 

And, after you schedule your appointment?  Get all the women you love to do the same thing.  Spread the word of good heart health.

If you missed the show or you want to share it with a friend, it will be posted in the podcast archive later on this week.  It’s the May 11^th show.

On this weekend when we celebrate moms of all ages, other women who are mother figures to many of us, and our daughters, sisters, friends… it seems important to take a look at the #1 killer of women – heart disease – and, just what we can do for ourselves and each other to promote and live with healthy hearts.

For some reason, many of us have missed the message.  Just take a look at these stats:

• Coronary artery disease kills almost 200,000 U.S. women each year in comparison to roughly 40,000 deaths from breast cancer.

• When included with stroke, heart failure, and high blood pressure, these diseases kill one woman every minute in the U.S.

• Only a minority of women view heart disease as a threat.

Because women’s symptoms may be different from men’s – and because women can be more likely to write the symptoms off as signs of “stress” – the disease can go unrecognized and untreated.  Ultimately, this can be incapacitating or deadly.

Joining me this week to talk about what we need to do as women and for the women we care about when it comes to heart awareness and care, are two women who are passionate about heart health:

Shannon Winakur, M.D., is a cardiologist with the Maryland Cardiovascular Specialists at Saint Agnes Hospital and the Medical Director of the Women’s Heart Center at Saint Agnes.  As a female cardiologist, she is naturally drawn to educating women about their hearts and empowering them to take better care of themselves.

Debbie Phelps is one busy woman.  She is the newly appointed Director for The Education Foundation of Baltimore County Public Schools.  In addition, she’s the mother of competitive athletes, an educator, an author, a speaker, a community activist, and a volunteer.  When it comes to heart health, she knows the facts and figures… that one woman dies every minute from heart disease.  That’s why she makes the time to get a personalized heart assessment – the 60-Minute Heart Check – at the Women’s Heart Center at Saint Agnes.

Tune in this week to find out from both Dr. Winakur and Debbie Phelps how you and the special women you love can keep yourselves in circulation.

Don’t wait for the symptoms.  You might not even notice them.  Do something now for you, the people you love, and all of the people who love you.

Saturday, May 11th, from 6:07-7:00 pm ET on Talkradio 680 WCBM Baltimore or “Listen Live” online 

***

    
Gwen Cooper           Andrea Hylen

Be sure to check out last week’s show – Love Saves the Day: How the Love of an Animal Can Make Us All Better Humans – when my guest co-host, Andrea Hylen, the Founder of Heal My Voice, and I talked with Gwen Cooper, the author of Love Saves the Day, about her novel of love lost and love found, and the impact pets have on our lives.

If you missed the show or you want to share it with a friend, it will be in the podcast archive soon… like later today or tomorrow at the latest.  Promise.  It’s the May 4th show!

“God may be in the details, but the Goddess is in the questions.  Once we begin to ask them, there’s no turning back.”   Gloria Steinem

On this weekend when we traditionally celebrate our mothers – all the mothers in the world -  for me, it will be a time to celebrate women everywhere.  The famous, the unknown, the voices that have risen up and taken action all over the world, and the unsung heroines who are in the trenches day after day.

I don’t believe it’s just me noticing it… but, women are taking a stand on more issues, letting their voices be heard and refusing to be silenced.  Whether it’s issues of sexual assault in the military, in the Friday Night Lights’ football towns, on college campuses, in India, in the Congo, and countless other places all over the world…women are coming forward and saying, “No more.”

Whether it’s the real violence against women or the representations we see in the media, as entertainment, or on Facebook pages, more and more women are saying , “No more.”

Whether it’s in the issues that affect us and our families economically, with our health care, or in our places of work, if our voices need to be heard, if the questions need to be asked and answered, and if, “That’s the way it’s always been done” doesn’t suffice anymore, let’s let our voices be heard.  Strong.  Frequently.

This is the weekend I will celebrate women.  As a matter of fact, I do that every day as I stand with more of my sisters who are finding their voices and letting them be heard.  There’s no turning back.

I celebrate you all.

For anyone who has ever had a pet, you know what the unconditional love from that animal can do for you.  It’s a pure love that we hope to replicate in our relationships with other humans.

My guest this week, Gwen Cooper, the New York Time’s bestselling author of  Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat, joined me and my guest co-host, Andrea Hylen, to talk about her latest book, Love Saves the Day. 

The hour just flew by as three cat lovers shared their animal stories, and appreciated the fictional story that Gwen wove around Prudence, the cat, and the mother and daughter who had been estranged for years.

Love Saves the Day is a novel for anyone who’s ever lost a loved one, wondered what their cat was really thinking, or fallen asleep with a purring feline nestled in their arms.  It’s a real story of love lost and love found, and one that you and any pet owner will “get”.  I daresay it will touch the heart of anyone who picks it up.

In the end we all know that love truly can save the day.

If you missed the show or you want to share it with a friend, it will be posted in the podcast archive later on this week.  It’s the May 4th show.

When five-week old Prudence meets a woman named Sarah in a deserted construction site on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, she knows she’s found the human she was meant to adopt.  For three years their lives are filled with laughter, tuna, catnaps, music, and the unchanging routines Prudence craves.

Then, one day Sarah doesn’t come home.  From Prudence’s perch on the windowsill, she sees Laura, the daughter who hardly ever comes to visit Sarah, arrive with her new husband.  They’re carrying boxes.  And, before they even get to the front door, Prudence realizes that her life has changed forever.

Poignant, insightful, and funny, Gwen Cooper’s latest novel, Love Saves the Day, is a story of hope, healing and how the love of an animal can make all of us better humans.  It’s the story of a mother and daughter divided by the turmoil of bohemian New York, and the opinionated, irrepressible feline who will become the bridge between them.

It’s a novel for anyone who’s ever lost a loved one, wondered what their cat was really thinking, or fallen asleep with a purring feline nestled in their arms.  After reading this book, I will never, ever look at Minkey and Weasel the same.

Author Gwen Cooper knows about cats.  She has a few.  She captivated readers across the country when her instant, New York Times bestselling memoir, Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat, was published three years ago.  Her touching account of rescuing and living with her blind cat, Homer, was enthusiastically embraced by readers, reviewers and animal lovers everywhere.

Now, Gwen’s heartwarming novel, Love Saves the Day, explores the myriad and complex ways animals affect our lives and open our hearts.

Also joining me in the studio as my guest co-host this week is Andrea Hylen, the founder of Heal My Voice, a non-profit organization that empowers women and girls in healing their grief, trauma and loss and encouraging them in reclaiming and finding their voices.   A friend and fellow cat lover, Andrea knows the healing that these special little creatures bring to us.

Tune in this week for our discussion about this charming story of love lost and found.

Saturday, May 4th, from 6:07-7:00 pm ET on Talkradio 680 WCBM Baltimore or “Listen Live” online 

***

Bob, Ann, Lori & Tori

Be sure to check out last week’s show – 5 Secrets to Relationship Survival After Children – when I, along with my guest co-host, Tori Maith, talked with the WomanTalk Live Relationship Experts, Lori and Bob Hollander of Relationships Work, about what to be aware of when baby makes three or more.  More importantly, they share tips on how to stay engaged as a couple, keep the fires burning AND enjoy that precious bundle of love, too.

If you missed the show or you want to share it with a friend, it’s in the podcast archive now.  It’s the April 27th show!

“Dear life, When I said ‘can my day get any worse’ it was a rhetorical question not a challenge.”  Tweet by Will Ferrell @WillyFerrell

When I saw that, I knew that Will Ferrell and I were having the same type of day.  Or, more precisely, the same type of week in my case.

From rupturing a disc in my back last week to salmonella poisoning from bagged greens this week and everything in between… I am ready for a change in energy – for a new wind to blow through to clear some of this mess out.

I was talking with a friend and she, too, felt the same feeling -  What else could possible happen?  She asked, “Can’t I just have some of those easy days where everything seems to flow?” 

And, the answer is, right at this moment… evidently not.  This is what’s happening right now for some of us and we just have to remember that these character-building days don’t last forever.  They are just part of the cycle of life.  So, we turn to our inner wisdom, our Higher Selves and ask for all that we need to navigate on through until we reach the calmness we know is there for us.

And, what we both decided to do when another character-building opportunity comes along is to remember that in the grand scheme of it all… this is but a tiny part and we’ll make it through.   Yes, we will.

Besides, ease and grace are there for us, too.

How do you navigate the choppy waters?  How do you keep the faith?

     Five provocative questions answered by an inspiring and fabulous woman  – a woman with something to say.

Meet Heidi Klotzman

Heidi Klotzman is the Founder and CEO of HeidnSeek Entertainment, LLC / Hnseek.com, an online entertainment guide for Maryland’s young professionals and a private and public event planning and marketing firm. Her mission is to program and market fun and meaningful events in order to bring the community together. Under Heidi’s creative direction, the HeidnSeek brand has become synonymous with Baltimore event planning and promotion.

Heidi has been honored as one of the most influential professionals in the Baltimore event scene by Baltimore Magazine’s Power Issue, a Top Single by Baltimore Magazine, The Queen of Clubs by The Baltimore Sun, a Top Professional Under 35 by b newspaper and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a Rising Star by The Baltimore Business Journal and The Living Classrooms Foundation, an Emerging Leader by The United Way of Central Maryland, a Very Important Professional Under 40 by The Daily Record, a Woman of Power by E Media, a Woman of The Year nominee by Leukemia Lymphoma Society and a Community Game-changer by Cre-a-tv.com.

She has spoken on the Young Women’s Entrepreneurial and Diversity panels at her Alma Mater, Roland Park Country School, the Women in Entertainment Panels at the Baltimore Music Conference and has mentored at the ‘Cool Women, Hot Jobs’ summit at The Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women.

She is the creator of ‘Rock & Soul Baltimore: The Live Music Showcase’ that exists to honor the city’s most promising young musicians. She is the Founder and Co-Operator of the ‘Jill of All Trades Union’: A Personal and Professional Support Group for Businesswomen in their Twenties and Thirties. She is a regular columnist for Wedding 411, The Magazine and blogger for MobtownMusicGuide.com. She is also a board member of Congressman Elijah Cumming’s Youth Program to Israel and a mentor at The Baltimore Leadership School for Women.

Heidi is currently editing a compilation of her poetry to publish, writing a book on her father’s tenure in the entertainment industry and recording an album of original music on which she sings and plays guitar.

People would be surprised to know that: I am kind of a homebody. I prefer relaxing at home and taking in a film with some good food and company over going out much of the time. I love to read and write and sing and play guitar, and these are introspective things that I do best in private or with just one creative 
friend. For a social person, I also have some social anxiety. It’s easy to focus on understanding and connecting one on one with a person, but with groups and crowds, I think I just go off on autopilot as a reflexive instinct.

The WTL 5:

What’s the conversation that changed your life?



I am sure that it is a toss up between many crossroads… When my parents got divorced and they told me.  When my Dad was moving across the country and he told me.  And, when I first talked with Erin at Club One in 2004 while I was in college and started my first promoting job there.  That changed the direction of my life and lead me to starting my own event business.

What are you most conscious of today?

I am most conscious of how the people in my life have given it meaning and have helped me to survive and thrive. I feel that God, my immediate family and friends have carried me up to this point –  and that God, my friends and the family that I may make on my own will carry me in the future.

What part of you have you yet to give voice to?

My maternal nature. I am very protective of those I love. I can see this 
transferring to a child one day. I am not in that headspace yet, but I have a lot of empathy, compassion, love, stories and wisdom to impart. Maybe I will end up sharing this with a Yorkshire terrier, at least.

What’s the conversation women need to be having collectively?



We need to be talking about how we can support each other’s endeavors more. If we all bought from each other, traded with each other, respected each other’s relationships, and kept a pledge to stop judging and gossiping about other women, we’d all be happier, healthier and wealthier.

What needs to be said bigger, louder, stronger?



That none of us has it all figured out at any age – and, that’s okay.

***

 Thank you, Heidi, for sharing your powerful voice
with WomanTalk Live.

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