Today we are diving into the topic of the beauty industry and the effects on our health. We’re shown millions of cosmetic ads yearly telling us to buy products to take away our wrinkles, die our hair, cover our face, and more. But did you know that many of the cosmetics that we use in the U.S. have been banned in Europe due to toxicity of the chemicals? Neither did I. It was only this year that I really started to think more holistically about what I was putting on my body besides food and started to learn more about all the other chemicals that we bring into our lives in our cleaning and beauty products. To talk about this today I brought on Sarah Strickland - Sarah began her journey into her health career by attending Bastyr University, where she received her degree in Nutrition & Dietetics. Rather than following down the path of solely nutrition, Sarah decided that this health journey needed to be much more encompassing & began diving into many of the other health gaps of today’s society. This holistic view on women’s health came to include not only diet, but alternative remedies such as essential oil use, reducing environmental toxic exposure through the products we use on our skin and in our homes daily, and challenging many of societies “norms” when it comes to what we consider “healthy” and how we treat illness.

You can follow Sarah on Instagram at @momandbabebeauty. You can shop with her at Beauty Counter here: https://www.beautycounter.com/sarahstrickland1

Resources:

• EWG - Environmental Working Group app
• Nourishing Traditions of Baby and Childcare - Sally Fallon

Safe companies to check out:

• Beauty Counter
• Primally Pure
• Branch Basics
• Honest Company

Follow the podcast on Instagram at @dontellmewhattodopodcast. Or at the website donttellmewhattodopodcast.com.

Today we are diving into the topic of people management. A manager can make or break how you feel for so much of your day — yet some of the things we’re taught about management are so antiquated. This is a topic I’m personally so passionate about as a people manager and love talking about new ways to think about how we interact and run teams.

To discuss this topic today, I have Derek Gillette - who is the VP of marketing at Leadr - a new kind of people management software - designed to help companies grow leaders.

In today’s episode, we talk about Derek’s journey to people management as his very first job. We dive into his decision to leave operations and take a risk to follow his dream of becoming a marketer. And we talk about how he took a chance, quit his job, and eventually landed his gig today years later as VP of marketing

We dive into practical tips for any manager or someone thinking about management —

Themes like focusing on strengths vs. ironing out weaknesses. We talk about coaching and mentoring vs a focus on tasks and compliance. We debate 1:1s and who really owns it (manager vs. employee). We talk about how to give ongoing feedback vs. relying on performance reviews. And we talk about the importance of really specific recognition.

To cap it off we dive into the best advice Derek’s ever received as a manager and some hard lessons learned.

Manager resources:

• Radical Candor - Kim Scott
• 9 Lies About Work - Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall

Connect with Derek on LinkedIn. Learn more about Leadr here.

Follow the podcast on Instagram at @donttellmewhattodopodcast or visit the website www.donttellmewhattodopodcast.com.

Today we’re diving into the complicated — yet oh so important — topic of food and nutrition. I’ve always loved cooking and eating healthy food, but this year in particular, I’ve begun to really tune into the effects my food intake on how I feel, how I show up at the gym, how I show up at work, and how I show up in life. It’s led me down a rabbit hole of researching about nutrition and our food systems. But it’s felt like the ultimate “don’t tell me what to do” in that there are SO many opinions out there and sometimes they are so conflicting. In this episode, I’m less interested in diving into what you SHOULD eat and more discussing how we navigate and approach our health in a holistic way without getting overwhelmed with all the messages we get daily.

To speak with me on this topic, we have Tracey Grant, a registered dietitian nutritionist and certified wellness health coach who shifted away from the conventional approach to nutrition to use food as medicine to support her own healing and the health of her clients. She has overcome SIBO and Hashimoto’s and now works with clients virtually to help them optimize their health and wellness using diet and lifestyle.

We dive into Tracey’s evolution from teaching conventional nutrition to arriving at a more holistic approach and the big lightbulb moments with her clients and herself that led her there. We talk about how it’s much more than food that makes us healthy. We dig into the biggest nutrition myths out there — like fat is bad, calories in equal calories out, the amount of protein you really need, and share that more restriction is NOT better. To wrap it all up, we talk about how to navigate all the fad diets out there and how to bring mindfulness back to how we approach our food.

Follow Tracey on Instagram for great health inspiration @wholedailylife.

Subscribe to her newsletter or work with her by visiting her website at www.wholedailylife.com.

Follow the podcast on Instagram at @donttellmewhattodopodcast or visit the website www.donttellmewhattodopodcast.com.

Today we’re talking to Josh Hunter, Seattle strength coach and podcast host of Treat Yo Health. We go back to the beginning and talk about Josh’s journey from management to fitness 10 years ago. We also chat about what he learned about himself through quitting the business and returning. We talk about changing our mindset on fitness to think about how we’re setting ourselves up for the future vs. exercising for short term gains. You’ll hear all about Josh’s new podcast - Treat Yo Self - and dive into the topic of his first episode on longevity and fitness. We dig into the difference between aging and decaying and how to promote physical health for the long term. We also dig into what Josh has learned through his podcast books and share insights on finance and relationships.

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Follow Josh at @thefitnesshunter.

Follow his new podcast at @treatyohealthpodcast or the website treatyohealthpodcast.com.

The first book of the podcast that we talk about today is Younger Next Year.

You can listen to the first episode here: https://anchor.fm/treatyohealth

Learn more about our gym Fuelhouse that we talk about here: fuelhousegym.com

Follow the podcast on Instagram at @donttellmewhattodopodcast or visit the website www.donttellmewhattodopodcast.com.

Today we have a very special episode with Mona Lee Locke. She has held many different titles throughout her life and career including journalist at King5, former First Lady of Washington State, Executive Director of Susan Komen Foundation and most recently, the Chief Communications Offer at Swedish hospital.

Today’s topic centers around identify. We talk about Mona’s identity as a child of Chinese immigrants. Her identity as the governors wife and her identity post divorce as she struggled to define who SHE really was — not how she was defined against others.

We also dig in the role of family and duty. We talk about how you might be able to have it all — but definitely not all at once. We talk about how women need to lift each other up. And we talk about how to truly define who you are on your own terms.

To read Mona’s #MeToo essay that we discuss, go here: https://www.kuow.org/stories/former-first-lady-wa-being-sexually-harassed-again-and-again

Follow Mona on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/westandtogether/

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Follow the podcast on Instagram at @donttellmewhattodopodcast or visit the website www.donttellmewhattodopodcast.com.

To kick off 2020 and inspire new ideas and ways of work, we’re sitting down with Jenny MacLeod - from Jenny Girl Friday - to dig into everything side hustles and entrepreneurship. Jenny is a Seattle resource for self-employed women. She coaches, speaks and writes incredible content.

Today we talk about how to take that first jump into starting a business. How to track your expenses and invest in yourself. How to combat the fear of failure. We dig into how to navigate work life balance when you’re starting a new business on the side. And much more!

Contact Jenny and visit her website here: http://www.jennygirlfriday.com/. Here’s a link to joining Sidekick Services — Offers a complete walkthrough of prepping for IRS taxes. Includes printable tools and lots of cheerleading.

Here are a few of Jenny’s favorite resources:

The First Chapter of: The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki

Do the Work: Overcome Resistance and Get Out of Your Own Way by Steven Pressfield

$100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau

And Jenny’s book: How to Become Self-Employed In Seattle: A Guidebook, Companion, and Reference

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Follow the podcast on Instagram at @donttellmewhattodopodcast or visit the website www.donttellmewhattodopodcast.com.

Todays episode is all about boundaries — creating and setting boundaries in your work and personal life so you can focus on what makes you happy and fulfilled. But you can’t talk about boundaries without first talking about burnout. We usually need these boundaries because of the burnout we face. This conversation seems to be everywhere but we’re always talking about extremes — the extreme of burnout, and the extreme of self care culture to combat.

Today, we’re diving into all of this with Jen Hope, a leadership and executive coach (listen to her personal story on Season 1, episode 2).

We try to define what the heck burnout even means and how it manifests so that we can truly understand it. We dive into boundaries and how to first get a sense of your time before you decide what boundaries you need. We talk about shame and the shame you might feel in how you want to spend your time vs. how you feel you “should” you spend your time. We also talk about how to get to know yourself better with respect to burnout and boundaries and we share frameworks for how to communicate to others.

Follow Jen on instagram at @HeyJenHope and her website www.heyjenhope.com

Follow the podcast on Instagram at @donttellmewhattodopodcast or visit the website www.donttellmewhattodopodcast.com.

Today we’re diving into the topic of romantic relationships and love. This is a topic that seems to bring up so many opinions from so many sources — internal, family, the media, friends. Whether you’re single or in a relationship, how do you navigate all this advice and pursue relationships that are right for you?

Theora Moench, Portland-based dating relationship expert and educator, joins us for a conversation where we dig into the societal myths around partnerships. We talk about what we truly want versus what we’re told to want or think is available to us. We talk about creating passion and resonance versus waiting for it to happen to us. And we talk about why this process is so dang hard.

Follow Theora on Instagram @trulychosen.co and check out her website at www.theoramoench.com.

Follow the podcast on Instagram @donttellmewhattodopodcast!

Today we’re talking about fertility with Alexa, a nurse practitioner that works at a Pacific Northwest fertility clinic. As IVF technology has advanced, women have been empowered to live their own “don’t tell me what to do” story when thinking about when to start a family. But sometimes this technology is advancing faster than our ethical standards. And sometimes this technology isn’t advancing fast enough to combat our basic biology. Today we get into debates surrounding new gene editing technology. We talk about the controversial case in China this year on gene editing for HIV. We talk about who should be responsible for creating new ethical standards as technology advances. We also dig into egg freezing as well as advanced maternal age and mourning the ability to have your own children. Lastly, we chat about how it’s virtually impossible to be an anonymous sperm or egg donor and how this has changed views on what information we might need for our own spiritual growth.

For more information or to find a fertility clinic near you, visit www.resolve.org. 

Today we’re diving into the black box of finances with Tori Dunlap. She’s a financial coach and millennial money expert who was featured on Good Morning America for achieving her ambitious goal of saving 100K before she was 25. I personally find it so frustrating and strange that we have a society of college educated millennials with expensive degrees, but with such a gap in financial education — especially for women. Today we’re talking about why and what to do about it. We talk about the fears we have around educating ourself on our own finances and how we can more easily bring it up in our relationships. We talk about finances and the workplace and how to advocate for yourself. And we get into some super practical tips as well.

Follow Tori Dunlap on instagram at @HerFirst100K and check out her website at www.herfirst100k.com. And here is a link to the money resources we talk about in the episode: https://www.herfirst100k.com/tools.

Welcome to season 2 of the Don’t Tell Me What To Do Podcast.

As we talked about in our season one re-cap, We’re taking a slight turn this season and digging deep into specific "don't tell me what to do" themes on topics like relationships, family, politics, finance, food, healthcare and more to share a balanced perspective on living a life YOU want.

Our first episode of the season launches next week! Subscribe today so you can get weekly episodes. 

To learn more, head over to our website: http://www.donttellmewhattodopodcast.com/ and follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donttellmewhattodopodcast/