Motivational Millennial | Passion | Dreams | Overcome Challenges | Purpose | Fulfillment | Motivation

We’re back for final episode of the Motivational Millennial podcast. Yes, it’s true … it’s time to say goodbye. If you’ve been a listener of the show for a while now, it’s very clear that we believe in a growth mindset. It’s because of this belief that we feel it’s time to end our Motivational Millennial journey and begin new ones. This was a bittersweet episode to record because we’ll miss this podcast, the inspiring interviewees, and our amazing listeners, however, we’re incredibly excited about the directions we’re heading with our careers and personal lives. Take a listen to this farewell episode so we can express our gratitude for the love you’ve shown us over the life of this podcast and find out what we’ll be up to next and how we can continue to support you. What you’ll hear in this episode: Our gratitude for the listeners, interviewees, and everyone who’s participated in the podcast in any way over the years An announcement about Ivy’s new project, the Mind Climate podcast What’s next for Blake in h

The time has come for us to officially wrap up this season of the Motivational Millennial podcast. In this special finale episode, we talk about how we’ve grown this past season; with an eye towards how we can help other people through their own growth process, of course. In the Motivational Millennial season two finale, we’ll discuss the importance of remembering that our sacrifices are a choice we’ve made and not something people force upon us, how taking ownership of our choices can empower us to feel happier and less anxious, the long-term benefits that come from investing in your personal growth and development, and so much more! What you’ll hear in this episode: How Blake learned he doesn’t always have to lose for others around him to win The importance of remembering our sacrifices are a choice The ways Blake’s life has changed since realizing he doesn’t have to sacrifice to make others happy How Ivy learned to take ownership of her decisions What if the story we tell ourselves about our lives isn’t e

In this week’s inspired conversation, we reflect on our powerful interview with Jackie Rotman. Jackie is the Founder of Everybody Dance Now! which is a national youth development organization. Jackie also served as the Executive Director of Spark, a philanthropic network of millennials focused on gender equality, and she is currently helping survivors of sexual harm and advocating for sexual empowerment for women. During our conversation, Jackie talked about the idea of restorative justice and how it can be used to not only heal the survivors of sexual harm, but also to heal the offenders. It’s this idea of healing that really stood out us and that’s why we’re diving more into this topic today. Enjoy! What you’ll hear in this episode: The difference between healing and punishment when it comes to individuals who inflict damage upon others Why Ivy finds the idea of restorative justice so valuable How restorative justice can help in a parent-child relationship The importance of releasing shame and how it can h

This episode involves a frank conversation about sexuality and sexual harm. While we feel it’s an amazing, and incredibly important conversation, listener discretion is advised.   Jackie Rotman is the Founder of Everybody Dance Now!; a national youth development organization. At age 14, she began using hip hop dancing culture as a tool for self-empowerment for young people. Jackie also served as the Executive Director of Spark; a philanthropic network of millennials focused on gender equality. She frequently speaks about social entrepreneurship, women's rights, and how to effectively engage millennials in philanthropy and social impact. Currently, Jackie is a concurrent MBA student at Stanford and an NPA student at Harvard Kennedy School. After a traumatic event, Jackie shifted her focus to helping survivors of sexual harm and advocating for sexual empowerment for women. It’s those topics we’ll be discussing in detail today. What you’ll hear in this episode: The two recent projects Jackie’s been working on r

In last week’s episode, we spoke with Lily Fontas; a wellness coach and educator who is on a mission to help women get strong, healthy, and happy on their own terms. While there were a few things that stood out to us from our conversation with Lily, the theme we’ve decided to center this inspired conversation around is the idea of a marathon versus a sprint. What you’ll hear in this episode: How Lily’s motto of “never diet again”, and the tension behind it, is the perfect example of the struggle between our actions being a marathon or a sprint How Ivy uses the concept of marathon versus sprint when creating systems for her business Why Ivy believes the idea of marathon versus sprint can be connected to self-care and compassion What the levels of stress we put on ourselves might say about how we perceive our self-worth How changing our perspective of the process can help us sustain a marathon pace Are we using the stress of sprinting to distract ourselves from the underlying issues that causes us to sprint?

Lily Fontas is a wellness coach and educator who is on a mission to help women get strong, healthy, and happy on their own terms. After struggling with a binge eating disorder and nearly burning out as a classroom teacher, she turned to bodybuilding for stress relief by combining strength training and positive reinforcement. She found a way to live a healthy life without dieting or deprivation and now she shares her expertise with women worldwide as an online coach. In this episode, we talk about Lily’s personal journey, the importance of finding a balance between paying attention to what you put into your body but not paying so much attention that it becomes an obsession, why the diet mentality needs to go, and so much more. Enjoy! What you’ll hear in this episode: What Lily loves about what she’s up to now Lily’s transition from being a kindergarten teacher to becoming a professional body builder Why Lily feared losing her job when she took control of her health Why it’s so important for Lily to help other

In last’s week’s episode with Chelann Gienger, we talked about her incredibly entrepreneurial journey that saw her open a brick and mortar business when she was only 18 years old, why it’s important to see everything in your business as a growth opportunity, why we need to take “extreme ownership” of our lives, and so much more. In this week’s episode, we were inspired by our conversation with Chelann to dive more into the idea that we should embrace moments in the present to better enjoy our journey instead of focusing so much on the destination or goal we’ve set for ourselves. Enjoy! What you’ll hear in this episode: How Chelann’s story reminded Blake of the power of starting where you are now An example of how Ivy let the fear of starting too late stop her from doing something she wanted The role having a growth mindset can play in the story we tell ourselves about what we’re capable of accomplishing at any age What Blake likes about Seth Godin’s perspective on our threshold for failure What Ivy doesn’t l

Chelann Gienger was recently named one of the top 40 millennials to follow in 2018 by the Huffington Post. Chelann is a serial entrepreneur who owns the NUYU Juice Bar in Washington state, is the Host of the Entrepreneur Before 25 podcast, and the author of Dear Millennial,: A Compass to Defining Your Unique Purpose, Pursuing a Life of Fulfillment, and Building a Legacy. In this episode, we talk about Chelann’s incredibly entrepreneurial journey that saw her opening a brick and mortar business when she was only 18 years old, why it’s important to see everything in your business as a growth opportunity, why we need to take “extreme ownership” of our lives, and so much more. Enjoy! What you’ll hear in this episode: How Chelann first got started in entrepreneurship The advantages Chelann says she’s had growing up in an entrepreneurial family The ways Chelann’s grown throughout her entrepreneurial journey so far The importance of seeing everything in your business as a growth opportunity Chelann’s challenge of o

In this week’s episode, we’re reflecting on our conversation last week with Gregg Clunis from the Tiny Leaps, Big Changes podcast. One of the main things that stood out to both of us during that conversation was how Gregg knew in high school he needed to change from being an introvert to being an extrovert if he was going to accomplish all his goals in life. He was able to accomplish that transition by throwing himself into theater and other events that put him in the spotlight. However, as an adult, Gregg’s struggled with understanding what part of him is still in performance mode and what part is who he truly is. It’s this struggle that we’re diving into today. Enjoy!

Gregg Clunis is a content creator, author, speaker, and entrepreneur. He’s also the creator and Host of Tiny Leaps, Big Changes; a top-ranked self-help podcast with over 2 million downloads. Through that podcast, Gregg helps people change their lives by focusing on making changes to their day-to-day behavior. Gregg is also the Founder of Podsimply; a digital education and services platform where his team helps individuals and businesses launch and grow podcasts that get noticed, attract an audience, and generate sales. In this episode, we’re talking about why people are drawn to Gregg’s research-based approach to self-help, what recording his thoughts during the grieving process after losing his father taught Gregg about opening up so publicly, the simple steps we can take to make big changes in our lives, how Gregg is attempting to embrace the fear of truly being himself on public platforms in order to achieve his goals, and so much more! Enjoy! What you’ll hear in this episode: How Tiny Leaps, Big Changes

Last week, we had a great conversation with Kalyna Miletic about how to create a lifestyle business you love. In this episode, we’re going to specifically reflect on the insights Kalyna had about how we show up on social media and the role that social media plays in our lives. We hope you have as much fun listening to this episode as we did recording it. Enjoy! What you’ll hear in this episode: Why Ivy appreciated that Kalyna talked about how we aren’t vulnerable enough in our online presence Why we need to heal our wounds and then show our scars Are you really interacting with people on social media or just the platforms themselves? How scheduling social media time into our day can help us gain back some of our control Why taking a step back from social media sometimes causes Ivy to feel guilty and selfish Follow Us On: Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Kalyna Miletic is a certified coach and the Founder of KickStart Your Work. After seven years of studying what makes people happy, how people think, and working with millennials in 17 different countries, Kalyna developed a signature system that teaches the six keys to building your career in a way that will ensure you enjoy the work you're doing every step of the way. In this episode, Kalyna talks about the moment that inspired her to go from being a conformist to following her own path, what it means to have a lifestyle career, why our real identities shouldn’t be so dependent on our virtual identities, and so much more. Enjoy! What you’ll hear in this episode: Kalyna’s mission to build a tribe of 10,000 women whom she can support How Kalyna went from being a conformist to following her own path The event that happened in Brazail at 3am that made Kalyna realize she didn’t like her own business What the term “lifestyle career” means to Kalyna Why it’s so important for Kalyna to make an impact on women and h

In this episode, we reflect on our conversation with Daniela Plattner; a leadership coach and the Founder of The Future of Feminine. The two main themes of that conversation were intuition and purpose, so that’s what we’re diving more into today. One of us even reveals how Daniela’s formula for combining your pain with your passion to create your purpose inspired a complete shift in our business. Enjoy! What you’ll hear in this episode: Blake’s take on Daniela’s actions of actively cultivating intuition Examples in Blake’s life where his intuition kicked in How Blake and Ivy tap into their intuition and recognize it’s speaking to them Why it’s not all or nothing when it comes to using intuition to guide our decisions Ivy’s thoughts on how intuition is a conduit to a deeper knowledge and understanding The difference between emotion and intuition How meditation, prayer, and nature help us tap into our intuition How Daniela’s perspective of combining your pain and passion to create your purpose helped Ivy throu

Daniela Plattner is a leadership coach and the Founder of The Future of Feminine. She's dedicated to helping individuals, communities, and organizations maximize their capacity to achieve their goals. Her retreats, trainings, workshops, and interactive talks have activated people around the world including leaders of diverse organizations, Fortune 100 companies, universities, municipalities, festivals, and conferences at the United Nations and U.S. Congress. In this episode, Daniela explains how her intuition led her to leaving what appeared to be a dream job and starting a business of her own, why she considers her insecurities to be her fuel, and how she believes our pain can be turned into our purpose. Enjoy! What you’ll hear in this episode: Daniela’s two favorite things about her business How The Future of Feminine was started Why the world needs more feminine leaders The technique Daniela uses to refine her intuition The story of how Daniela’s intuition led her to leaving what appeared to be a dream jo

In this episode, we reflect on our conversation with Dr. Laymon Hicks; youth motivational speaker and author. A theme that stood out to us from that conversation was how our experiences, upbringing, and community culture shape our view of what is possible for ourselves and our lives. It’s that theme that we’re diving more into today. Enjoy! What you’ll hear in this episode: Blake’s main takeaway from the interview with Laymon What living in Ireland as a child taught Blake about privilege Why we all should perform radical acts that take us out of our comfort zones The power of taking it just one step at a time Why compassion for ourselves and our journey is an absolute must The importance of celebrating our accomplishments How evolution factors into our need for approval Follow Us On: Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Dr. Laymon Hicks is a youth motivational speaker and author. He's offered keynote addresses and workshops at more than 150 schools and student conferences in 45 states for over 350,000 young people. Laymon obtained his bachelor’s and master's degrees from Florida State University where he served as Student Body President; managing a ten-point, three-million-dollar budget. At the age of 29, Laymon graduated with his doctorate degree from Northeastern University. In this episode, we hear about Laymon’s powerful story of self-doubt and self-limiting beliefs that he was able to turn into a deeper understanding of his self-worth, why Laymon feels so compelled to help young people do the same, how others can transfer their self-limiting beliefs to us, what we can do to break from that, and so much more. Enjoy! What you’ll hear in this episode: The two main topics Laymon covers when speak to young people What Laymon means when he says we need to neutralize the “weapons of mass destruction” How an email Laymon sent

In this episode, we’re reflecting on our conversation from last week with Patricia Echeverria; a transformational coach and creative catalyst. Patricia brought up some very interesting ideas around how our mindset has the power to change our perception of our reality. While the end results, and our actions, may stay the same, how we choose to perceive certain situations can either help us feel fearful or empowered. It’s that topic that we’re diving more into today. Enjoy! What you’ll hear in this episode: How Ivy’s recent decision to move parallels Patricia’s experience leaving her job The importance to change our mindset so we’re making empowered decisions instead of fearful ones Why it’s okay to disappoint people occasionally Blake’s takeaway from Patricia’s interview about how clarity comes from moving forward Why we should always be taking tiny leaps   Follow Us On: Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Patricia Echeverria is a transformational coach and creative catalyst. She's the founder of the Creative Courage Club; a platform dedicated to maximizing our creative human potential. Her passion for design and social impact has led her to create global projects including a conflict resolution scheme in the Korean demilitarized zone, the redesign of a rural Indian Village, library of the future in South Central L.A., Design Your Life workshops for college students, and the Creative Courage Summit. Patricia currently works with inspired individuals who want to turn their vision into action. She helps them to overcome fears, limitations, excuses, and blocks so they can finally turn their most outrageous and inspiring creative ideas into reality. In this episode, we discuss what Patricia to helping others tap into their own creativity, how she realized she created her own reality and had the power to change it, the main personal development challenge she helps others overcome, the importance of taking imperfect

In this inspired conversation, we’re reflecting on our interview last week with Laura Renner. Laura talked about how, through the course of starting and growing her business, she learned it was okay to have multiple passions and that she needed to follow her own set of rules. We loved both concepts so much that we’re diving more into them this week. Enjoy! What you’ll hear in this episode: Blake and Ivy’s main takeaway from Laura’s interview Why you need to honor the right path for you instead of taking the expected path How Millennials can sometimes unfairly devalue traditional jobs The importance of embracing our multiple passions Why our passions don’t need to become our career How mistakes are a good thing when you’re exploring your passions   Follow Us On: Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Laura Renner is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and has worked for over 15 years in the fields of Foreign Affairs and Public Relations, Education, and Human Resources. Laura is also the Founder of Freedom Makers; which helps military spouses find flexible work with small businesses. In this episode, Laura discusses why the concept of freedom is so important to her both on a personal and professional level, how Laura handles being multi-passionate, why it’s important to live by your own set of rules, and much more. Enjoy! What you'll hear in this episode: Why freedom is the main principle of Laura’s business How Laura decided to pursue Freedom Makers instead of one of her many other business ideas The ways Laura’s changed and grown since starting her business How Laura overcame her self-sabotaging tendencies Laura’s advice for millennials on the path to success and fulfillment Why brunch is Laura’s perfect example of living by your own rules Why it’s becoming more okay to have kids present w