Called to Create: An LDSPMA Podcast

Lauren Walker is one of six sisters, THE Six Sisters, who have published 10 cookbooks, released cooking and freezer meal courses, and recently launched two podcasts: “Table Talk for Moms” where listeners can sit down together each week to tackle difficult topics of motherhood; “Start-up Spark” offers quick tips to help listeners take their start-up business to the next level. It all started with Lauren and her sisters sitting around a long kitchen counter watching their mother cook, and later, after they left home for college and marriage, starting a blog to stay in touch by sharing family recipes and the things they were doing to keep their children occupied.

Six Sisters Stuff website: https://www.sixsistersstuff.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sixsistersstuff

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SixSistersStuff

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SixSistersStuff/videos

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/SixSistersStuff

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sixsistersstuff

If he can help students find joy in reading and writing by telling them the story of how he wore an eye patch in first grade and told classmates he was a pirate, then J. Scott Savage will do it. In this episode of “Called to Create: An LDSPMA Podcast” with host Connie Sokol, Scott shares insights garnered over decades of experience, telling how it took debt and two recessions for him to unearth his talent and become a popular writer of middle grade books. Now he travels all across the country inspiring youth and adults with the joy of reading.

https://www.jscottsavage.com
https://twitter.com/jscottsavage?lang=en

https://www.instagram.com/jscottsavage/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057711893215

Award-winning journalist Jane Clayson Johnson has traveled the world covering domestic and international stories for two decades, interviewing the biggest newsmakers of the day. Widely known for her work at CBS News, ABC News, and on the nationally syndicated NPR program, On Point, she co-anchored with Bryant Gumbel, worked with Peter Jennings, and anchored coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attack and its aftermath. She is also the best-selling author of “I Am a Mother” and “Silent Souls Weeping.” Jane and her husband, Mark, are the parents of five children and grandparents of three.

Website https://www.janeclaysonjohnson.com

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/janeclaysonjohnson

Books https://deseretbook.com/t/author/jane-clayson-johnson

Fine art painter Crystal Despain wasn’t so sure she wanted to be an artist at first. As a high school student, she “thought arguing for money sounded like a good plan and wanted to be a lawyer.”1 Now a distinguished artist with many awards, Crystal credits her mentor artists but especially her persistent husband for dragging her paints out and reminding her that she wanted to do it, she wanted to paint.

1https://segullah.org/genre/interviews/a-visitation-with-crystal-despain

Webpage https://www.crystaldespain.com

Blog https://www.superlegitblog.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/crystal.despain.art

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/crystal.despain.art

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@crystaldespain1127

Adassa exudes a zest for life. She’s fiery and confident and speaks with a passion that makes you want to eat whatever salsa she’s eating. Above all her fame, she knows what’s important and how to stay in an eternal lane. A proud descendant of Latin ancestors who sacrificed dreams and pleasures, Adassa is a talented musician of world-class renown who is the voice of Delores in Disney’s “Encanto.” She is wildly popular for her rendition of We Don’t Talk About Bruno. Her creative journey is inspiring and eventful and laced with hot sauce.

Website https://adassa-official.com

Twitter https://twitter.com/adassaofficial

@adassaofficial

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@adassaofficial

@adassaofficial

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/adassaofficial

@adassaofficial

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/adassaofficialpage

@adassaofficialpage

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2kPz6xSxBDGOYc_triQn1w

Ganel-Lyn Condie, popular speaker and author, pulls back the curtain on what it's like to be a creative who feels a passion to share principles that empower others.

Through her own challenges of contracting lupus when newly married and later in life the suicide death of a sister, Ganel-Lyn shares what it is like to "throw every dart at the board" to find answers. In the crowded media swimming pool where spiritual creatives often bump into each other, Ganel-Lyn shares how focusing on the "one" allows heaven to amplify each unique voice.

Website https://ganellyn.com

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/ganellyn/

@ganellyn

Instgram https://www.instagram.com/ganellyn/?hl=en

@ganellyn

YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@ganel-lyncondie1064

LDSLiving articles https://www.ldsliving.com/ganel-lyn-condie

Deseret Book https://deseretbook.com/t/author/ganel-lyn-condie

Mauli Junior Bonner is an energetic, joyful member of the Bonner family, a beloved Latter-day Saint family of talented singers. As a young man, Mauli traded his college football scholarship for airline tickets to Los Angeles, without his parents' knowledge, to start his career in the music industry. He now writes music for top pop artists and is a much sought-after vocal director.

In this LDSPMA podcast Called to Create, Mauli shares how he felt a need to tell the history of enslaved black members of the Church. With faith and the help of heaven, he created the highly acclaimed documentary His Name Is Green Flake which details the life of a 19-year-old enslaved young man who drives the first wagon into the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.

Green Flake Movie website

https://www.greenflakemovie.com

Shadow Mountain 

https://shadowmountain.com/author-book/mauli-junior-bonner-and-chantel-bonner/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/mauli.bonner.7

@maulibonner

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/maulib/

@maulib

Jon Heder, best known for his acting debut role as Napoleon Dynamite in the movie of the same name, is also a filmmaker and voice actor of a number of films and television shows including the voice of  Napoleon Bonafrog in an episode of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Jon performed at the Children’s Educational Theater in Salem, Oregon from fourth grade to eighth. Later he filmed homemade movies with his brothers on their dad’s video camera and went on to study film and computer animation, graduating from BYU with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.  He and his wife, Kirsten, are the parents of four children.

https://www.instagram.com/hederjon/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/hederjon?lang=en

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1417647

Steve Young, best known for his 15-season NFL professional football career as quarterback, first for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then the San Francisco 49ers, previously set school and NCAA records playing college football for Brigham Young University (BYU). While playing for the NFL, Young received a graduate law degree from BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School and later co-founded successful private equity firm Huntsman Gay Global Capital (HGGC). Young and his wife, Barb, co-founded the Forever Young Foundation which seeks to lift up underserved communities and children around the world. He is the best-selling author of “QB: My Life Behind the Spiral” and released his second book, “The Law of Love,” in 2022. 

Twitter ~ https://twitter.com/steveyoungqb @SteveYoungQB

Forever Young Foundation ~ http://foreveryoung.org/

Linkedin ~ https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-young-26131a38

Huntsman Gay Global Capital (HGGC) ~ https://www.hggc.com/about

Contact Steve ~ https://www.hggc.com/team/j-steven-young

A fine arts painter best known for his award-winning contemporary religious art, J. Kirk Richards urges creators to exercise faith and take the next step forward. In his early teens, Kirk decided to put aside the music lessons he’d been taking his “whole life” and follow a persistent tug toward visual arts. Illustrating the book “The Carpenter of Galilee and the Welcoming Door,” solidified his preference for painting scenes he envisions and feels strongly about. 

Website- https://www.jkirkrichards.com/

Instagram - https://instagram.com/jkirkrichards

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/jkirkrichards

Twitter - https://twitter.com/jkirkrichards

YouTube - https://youtube.com/user/jkirkrichards

Deseret Book- https://deseretbook.com/t/author/j-kirk-richards

MyShopify - https://jkirkrichards.myshopify.com/

Jackson VanDerwerken knew he didn’t fit the casting criteria for the role of Nephi in the Church’s new Book of Mormon video series, but his mother urged him to send in his audition video anyway, even if a day late. Despite his lack of screen acting experience and being “skinny as a string bean”, he was chosen for the part out of a thousand applicants. Portraying young Nephi helped Jackson better understand what Nephi went through and taught him how to relate his life to the experiences of Nephi and his family.

Instagram: @jackson_vanderwerken https://www.instagram.com/jackson_vanderwerken/

Facebook: @jacksonvanderwerken https://www.facebook.com/JacksonVanDerwerken

Link to the Church’s Book of Mormon Videos page: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/collection/book-of-mormon-videos?lang=eng

Jason F. Wright is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author. Also a popular speaker, he enjoys speaking about the miracle of opening doors, faith, failure, the Christmas Jars movement, the lost art of letter writing, and many other topics. Each year Jason visits schools across the country and presents assemblies and writing workshops to students at all ages. 

Jason grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia, but has also lived in Germany, Illinois, Brazil, Oregon, and Utah. In 2007, while researching Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley for his novel “The Wednesday Letters,” Jason fell so in love with the area that he moved his family westward from northern Virginia to Woodstock.

Website https://jasonfwright.com/

Podcast https://wrightwhereyouare.buzzsprout.com/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jasonfwright

Twitter https://twitter.com/jasonfwright?lang=en

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jasonfwright/

“Giving a Lift” videos https://jasonfwright.com/givingalift

This episode of Called to Create: an LDSPMA Podcast features prolific author and highly regarded speaker, Camille Fronk Olson. She shares her journey as a single woman who began her career with no great dream in mind but was led on a God-directed course that has paved the way for women to serve in Church education in expanded capacities. Camille’s counsel to aspiring writers is to refine their motives for creating, saying that fame may or may not come but if your desire is selfless and driven by a desire to bless others, then sometime, somehow, there will be someone out there who is guaranteed to be blessed.

Camille’s BYU Religious Studies page lists her many articles:  

Amazon 

Deseret Book 

Dan Clark, world-renowned motivational speaker, United States Distinguished Silver Medal winner, contributing author to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and Utah Father of the Year, is a man who has literally done it all, yet he self-describes as “a funny man with a serious message.” In this episode, Dan shares what his experiences have taught him and what he’s learned from the people around him as he focuses on the needs of others and identifies the help he can provide. 

Webpage 

Facebook @danclarkspeak

Twitter  @danclarkspeak

Linkedin @danclarkspeak

YouTube: Dan Clark Global Speaker

Instagram @danclarkspeak

Chicken Soup for the Soul website

Honorable Sela Tukia, Tongan fan of popular 80s dance-pop band The Jets, sat down with host Connie Sokol for a delightful ten-minute interview about the faith and family values The Jets have brought to the music industry in the past and the new generation of Wolfgramm family musicians, 13 Crowns.

Tonga Consulate General 

The Kingdom of Tonga
13 Crowns

The Jets, a popular 80s dance-pop, teen pop, R&B band, including LeRoy, Eddie, Eugene, Haini, Rudy, Kathi, Elizabeth, and Moana Wolfgramm started out performing luaus in Canada. They eventually settled in Minnesota and started a band they named “Quasar” after a brand of television set. The band enjoyed great success with several Billboard Hot 100 hits, including ten singles, the most popular being “Crush on You.” The family band also performed at the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 2002 Winter Olympics. 

Las Vegas Show 

Facebook 

Instagram 

Dora Whitaker knew at a young age that she was more interested in the business side of the entertainment industry than being an actress. Now, a 28-year industry veteran and CEO of Whitaker Entertainment, Dora focuses her efforts on providing and producing quality entertainment. Along the way, she has been able to share her faith in Jesus Christ with her clients and colleagues in normal and natural ways.

Email: doralwhitaker@gmail.com
Website 

IMDb 

Jennifer Nielsen is an accomplished New York Times bestselling author of young adult and children’s fiction and a 2022 LDSPMA Conference keynote speaker. In this episode, she shares her failures and triumphs with her trademark optimism and encouragement for all who struggle to keep going when everything is going wrong. Tune in for this inspiring episode with our host, Connie Sokol. You’ll be glad you did.

Author website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Goodreads
Deseret Book
Amazon

Gerald Lund has written 57 books, including the famed Work and the Glory series, and is arguably the most widely read author of Latter-day Saint literature with 3.5 million copies sold over the course of 51 years. In this episode, he shares little-known details of how “The Work and the Glory'' series came to life and grew from one volume into an exhaustive nine-volume series. He also answers his most often asked question: “Where do you get your ideas?” Lund, an equally prolific writer of fiction and non-fiction, never took a writing course but has loved books since his childhood when he and his siblings carried armfuls of books home from the library to read as a family. 

Webpage

Facebook @geraldnlund

Goodreads 

Deseret Book 

Amazon Author Page

BYU Religious Studies Center list of articles he’s written 

Sherry Meidell’s loves include her five boys, mountain biking, kneaded erasers, her sketchbook, and watercolors. Her artistic talent with watercolors has led her to illustrate several books by other authors and one of her own, titled “The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs.” On a humanitarian trip to Kenya, Africa, she used her talents to help school children take part in turning a blank wall into a work of art that included their hand prints. Sherry generously shares her knowledge of art and watercolor with school children, adults, and anyone who is interested.

Webpage 

TeetertotterTales Blog 

Instagram @sherrymeidell

Facebook @sherrymeidellart

YouTube watercolor painting videos

Goodreads

Amazon Page