Episode 9 with James Veloria

WOWEEEE This episode is a lot of MAGIC! It is so exciting to have George Oliphant as our next guest on Magical Moments! 

George is the Emmy winning host and producer of NBC’s “George To The Rescue” a weekly national home improvement show that has been on the air since 2010! This show is AMAZING!!! Every episode elevates the human spirit while celebrating and showcasing the power of community. The way George and his team transform not only people homes but their lives is an incredible inspiration! George and the show have supported countless individuals, families and organizations in need from redesigning a home to be wheelchair accessible to a full overhaul of a community center.

George To The Rescue is a 2021 & 2022 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Lifestyle Series and is on it’s 13th season! George has the most giving spirit and you can feel the love in who he is and his work! He uplifts community and honestly makes the world a better place! George, you are an inspiration and a positive role model! George, thank you for all you do for people and the spaces  that support them and to our listener's please enjoy this episode! 

This is the most amazing episode to kick off LOVE WEEK! I am so excited to share all the love about Mick & Carolyn Batyske!!! 

Mick and Carolyn are a couple living in Brooklyn. Their love and what they do are so inspiring and here is all the magic you need to know about them!!
Mick is a music connoisseur, DJ, and angel investor. He is one of the most in demand DJ’s performing globally for some of the coolest people & brands .... Like Jay-Z, Porsche, LeBron James, Spotify, Forbes and Will Smith. He has performed at parties, celebrations and his musicwill give you all the feels! Mick also speaks publicly on creativity, entrepreneurship + culture to brands, conferences and universities.

Carolyn is the COO of Tiny Organics, which is an organic meal delivery
business for babies and toddlers. The meals are made by nutritionists and portioned
appropriately for kids. shaping baby and toddler palates to prefer vegetables
Carolyn has been recognized by Partnership for a Healthier America as a member of their Shaping Early Palates Council and is a founding partner of the Veggies Early and Often campaign. She has a passion for mentoring entrepreneurs and serves as a mentor supporting women, minority and immigrant-owned early-stage food businesses.

Mick and Carolyn have a brand consultancy called Xavier Co that invests and advises start up’s and helps entrepreneurs grow their brands. The company is named after Mick’s eight year old son Myles Xavier Batyske. Carolyn and Mick have a beautiful blended family and they share lots of love and messages about step parenting and family dynamics. They are truly inspiring and I hope you enjoy all of their MAGIC!

 @MICK @CarolynBatyske

Season 4 is SHINING SO BRIGHT!!! Our first guest is Susan McPherson!  Susan is a serial connector, seasoned communicator, an author and a founder. She is the CEO of McPherson Strategies, a communications agency focused on the intersection of brands and social impact. She is the author of The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do - Method for Building Meaningful Relationships. Susan has over 30 years of experience in marketing, public relations, and sustainability communications, speaking regularly at industry events including The Hello Sunshine Shine Away Summit, The Kennedy Center, and the Massachusetts Conference for Women to name a few. She contributes to the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Forbes. She has appeared on NPR, CNN, USA Today, The New Yorker, New York Magazine and the Los Angeles Times. Susan is the recipient of Forbes magazine’s 50 over 50—Impact 2021 award and Worth Media’s Worthy100 award. She has also won numerous accolades for her voice on social media platforms from Fortune Magazine, Fast Company and Elle Magazine. Currently, Susan invests in and advises women-led start-ups, including: iFundWomen,Inc., Messy.fm, Our Place, The Riveter, Park Place Payments, Hint Water, Apolitical and The Muse. And Susan serves on multiple advisory boards on behalf of women in technology and leadership. For those of us lucky enough to know Susan, she is a joyful inspiration in life  and a powerhouse....we are sooo happy to  share all of her magical moments with you!

What an exciting episode this is!!! We have Ingrid Nilsen & Erica Anderson sharing all of their magical moments with us! They have a very inspirational company called The New Savant, which is a scent experience candle collection. They founded THE NEW SAVANT in December 2020. After spending the better part of their careers making things for the Internet, they set new sights on creating analog joy through the powerful sense of smell. I can’t wait to share more of the origin story with our listeners in a bit :) The collection has over 14 scents and the names are so unique, for instance The Drop Out, Cloud Gazer, and The Witching Hour to name a few. The candles are meant to ignite our olfactory senses uplift your imagination. The brand is in over 25 stores to date, including JL! The New Savant is a women owned, Queer owned, self funded and vegan company and has been featured in publications such as Vogue, The New York Times, Business Insider, Glossy and CNN.

The entire concept of The New Savant is fun, from the packaging that is recycled and made in the USA to the names and of course the scents. Each candle offers a different experience and we are so happy to be a stockiest and friend to you both! Now let’s get into all of their magic! 

Desirée Pais is the founder of Benshen - a community that is a culmination of teachings, practices, meditations and retreats with the belief that navigating our modern world and creating a life filled with purpose and meaning could be made more seamless by making diverse spiritual practices and integrative well-being inviting, accessible and practical. Desirée created Benshen in 2017 and her community is growing and transforming as we speak!

Desirée’s story is so fascinating and as you will learn during this podcast her journey has been deeply meaningful and connected. She started her career in the fashion industry after studying at FIT and receiving a degree in advertising and marketing. She found herself searching for more and turned her attention to beauty, wellbeing and spirituality. This led her to get a Master’s Degree in in Science of Acupuncture from the Pacific College of Health and Science. And received three Yoga & Meditation teacher trainings.

Through her years of studying and immersing herself in diving teachings Desirée has created her company Benshen, which has amazing monthly memberships that brings together a global community of women with a shared desire: to unlock personal power and create a visionary life while receiving daily accountability + support. with daily meditations, accountability exercises and centers growth that is empowering. There is a business course as well that addresses everything from financial abundance and professional success, to vitality and physical wellbeing, to unlocking sensuality and romantic partnerships. Benshen also has retreats and immersions to bring this community together in person! AND Desirée also has one on one
sessions for clients to go deeper in their personal development.
I am so excited to share her amazing journey, all the magic that has been, currently is and what the future holds for Desirée!

My goodness... am I excited to tell you about Aimee Meredith Cox! She is PURE MAGIC! Aimee is an American cultural anthropologist, writer, and movement artist. She is currently an associate professor of Anthropologie at NYU. Aimee is the author of the book Shapeshifters: Black Girls and the Choreography of Citizenship. Shapeshifters earned the 2016 Victor Turner Book Prize in Ethnographic Writing, and an Honorable Mention from the 2016 Gloria E. Anzaldúa Book Prize, as well as the 2017 Book award from the Society for the Anthropology of North America.

Aimee has performed and toured internationally with Ailey II, the second company of Alvin Ailey American DanceTheater and the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She has choreographed performances as interventions in public and private space in Newark, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn.

Aimee is also a yogi of many decades. Yoga is integral to her life and her overall research. She leads yoga teacher trainings as well as advanced study and continuing education workshops around the globe. (We have one coming up, hee hee)
Aimee is also a teacher at The Class : a fitness driven workout that connects you to the present moment.

Aimee is a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, a recipient of the Nancy Weiss Malkiel Award, and has served as the Virginia C. Gildersleeve Professorship from Barnard College. Aimee you are such an force and an inspiration!  Thank you for sharing your spirit and energy with us for for these Magical Moments. 

@aimee_mere 

We are super excited to bring our friends from the brand Good Spirits Beverages on Magical Moments! There are five owners of the company and John Lerner and Kirby Carlberg are in the studio with us! Good Spirits is a non-alcoholic, mood-enhancing cocktail crafted with your best self in mind, using natural ingredients, adaptogens, and hemp for an elevated mood with no regrets. They started their company in Austin Texas and have been selling their CBD drinks nation wide. We stock them at the JILL LINDSEY Café! Good Spirits has three flavors : Austin Palmer, French Exhale, and the Paloma! We love them, the brand, and their origin story is so wonderful! Each of your stories of how this company came to be are equally inspiring! You can purchase Good Spirits online, at JL AND ……beyond! 

This is a true story of a small business start up! Please enjoy this episode, may you find excitement in your life and come by and drink some Good Spirits with us!  

We are BEYOND EXCITED to welcome Jen Tullock to Episode 6 of Magical Moments! Jen is an actor and writer originally from Kentucky who is gracing the screens across the globe! Jen is a true creative  wrote, directed, produced and acted in Disengaged, a film about the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage. You have starred in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Bless This Mess and Casual among many more. She played Devon in the Apple hit series Severance and are currently appearing on Perry Mason. Jen's film Before You Know It premiered at Sundance Film Festival starring, Hanna Utt, Alec Baldwin, Judith Light, and Mandy Patinkin. I can just keep going with all the magic she creates, she also played Wendy in Spirited, The Apple Christmas musical starring Will Farrel and Ryan Reynolds. There are so many other roles and characters that she has played, I don’t know how to list it all - and to top if off she has been a contributing writer featured onstage at The New York Stage & Film Festival, in print as a contributing writer to the Huffington Post Queer Voices, and on Funny or Die's series "The Coop," which she also starred in. This is soooo amazing! And we will defiantly get into what you are working on now and what is to come from you, you shining star! Jen has been a dear friend of Jill's for many years and at once poured wine at the JILL LINDSEY STORE in Brooklyn. We love you Jen!!! Thank you for sharing your spirit and talent with us and please enjoy this inspiring episode and have the most MAGICAL DAY!!! 

What an amazing episode this is!!! Stacy London is our Magical Guest! Stacy is one of America’s foremost style experts. She is best known as the co-host of TLC’s iconic show, “What Not to Wear.” that aired for 11 amazing seasons! Following that success, she hosted and executive produced 3 seasons of “Love Lust or Run.” Stacy has written two books, Dress Your Best, which was published to stellar reviews, and The Truth About Style, a New York Times bestseller. In 2020, she hosted a podcast discussing mental health, Could Be Better, tbh, in collaboration with the Crisis Text Line and The Jed Foundation (JED). In 2021, Stacy became the founder and CEO of State of Menopause, a holistic product line for women which addresses the symptoms associated with menopause and perimenopause. In this new phase of her career, Stacy is doing what she has done her entire career as a stylist: help people from suffering silently, raise their confidence and self-esteem by alleviating external symptoms, and removing the shame that surrounds them. 

Stacy has a gift for seeing others and helping them be seen. She has such a powerful voice on style, on mental and psychical health, on community, and you uplift so many people with your words and energy. I am so excited to share your journey and magic with all of our listeners! Thank you for being with us and for THIS magical moment!

Rei Chou is one of my sparkle sisters!!! She is a pioneer in human potential through the art of experience design, convening and embodied leadership + innovation. Rei is one of Fast Company's 100 most creative people. She founded The Feast which are hosted dinners and experiences that explore what fullness and fulfillment are really about. These dinners have inspired and facilitated collaborations among leaders and organizations from the White House and NASA to MTV and the Rockefeller Foundation. Attendees and participants included CEOs, heads of foundations, catalytic innovators and artists from across disciplines. She has also facilitated over 600 decentralized ideation dinners around the world, leadership gatherings, and immersive art experiences. 

Rei is also a spiritual healer and adviser versed in multiple enlightenment based lineages. She blends strategy with energy to support organizations and their leaders with applying the creativity, vision and wisdom accessible through spiritual work to greater success and alignment in work and life. Some of the traditions she carries include Reiki Master, Kundalini Activation, Archangelic Alignment and Non-dual Buddhist awareness.

She has had two workshops at JILL LINDSEY and Rei and I were both guest speakers on the Virgin Voyage JLO Cruise where we were both on a panel discussing social impact and community support. Rei also hosted energy sessions and The Feast for the guests! It was so much fun!!! 

You can connect more with Rei here https://www.thisisreichou.com/ and @thisisreichou and if you can join her for a workshop it will be a very special experience! Wishing you all so much MAGIC!