Speaker 1: Good morning, say er, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2: I'm better now that I'm speaking to you. I remember
you from our last radio tour and you are such
a thoughtful host. I'm so excited to speak with you again.
Speaker 1: You know, I got to tell you I am such
a big fan of you because you believe in the
path that I walk upon. That and I don't find
that too often in a lot of people who want
to really reach out and touch people's lives. In fact,
in my writing today, I said, I'll bet you Simone
today will pick up five or six different new ideas
from everybody she's going to be interviewed by, because you
are a student of life and you're gonna be hanging
out with co co students basically.
Speaker 3: Oh of course.
Speaker 2: I mean I go through life looking for opportunities to learn,
and I think that just comes from having this innately
curious spirit. I've been that way ever since I was
a little girl, and I can tell you have that
as well. You're a curious person, which is a beautiful trait.
Speaker 1: Well, it's because I like asking questions and then questioning
the answers. And I don't know where I picked that
up from, but I get better answers if you go, oh,
really okay, Simone, really go deep than.
Speaker 2: That wait erro That is so good. You said, I
like asking questions and questioning the answers. I'm writing that
down because that's such a beautiful quote.
Speaker 1: Well, the goal is is to really I mean, because
I'm always thinking about the listener and so were you.
Because I feel like that you are my partner when
I'm driving in that car to go uptown Charlotte, and
and you know, it's because I need someone to be
in there with me. And it's like I can sit
there and go, oh okay, Simon, and I know where
you're going with this, and your guests are so honest.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, the honesty is a real win for me,
as you know, someone who's spent many years as a
journalist and now transitioning into podcast hosting. But honesty is like, Wow,
if I can come away from a conversation from an
interview and feel like I got the most honest, real
candid version of that person, that feels really gratifying. And
I think it not only feels gratifying for me, but
it also is really rewarding for the listener too, because
there's so much insincerity.
Speaker 3: Did I just make up a word? There's so much.
Speaker 2: There's so many elements of our world today that are
artificial or you know, hard to suss out the integrity of.
But when you hear someone really telling their story openly
and honestly, that's powerful.
Speaker 1: You made that comment about jumping from a journalist to
a podcaster. How long did it take you to adjust
to that new voice, Because as that journalist, it's always like, well, Johnny,
I'm down here on the corner of fifth and seventh
and there has been something that's taking place. We don't
talk like that in podcasting.
Speaker 3: Mm hmmm. It's so true. It took me. It took me,
I want to say it took me a couple of months.
Speaker 2: Honestly, when we were launching this show, we had the
benefit of a development period, so we were able to
get in the studio, play around, really acquaint ourselves with
the producing staff, and in that time, I really tried
to work on that transition from one career path where
all of the emphasis is out right, I'm not the
focus of the story, that the focus and the attention
is on the subject of the news story, and in
podcasting you got to flip it around, and you got
to you gotta go into that internal world and you
have to be willing to share more of yourself. So
that was definitely a new experience for me. But I
find that it gets easier all the time, and it
gets easier through the incredible guests that we that I've
had this season, like Rachel Platten, she and I had
an incredibly honest conversation about motherhood. Sarah Spain, a sports journalist.
We talked and shared a lot of common ground around
fighting for legitimacy as a young reporter. So yeah, I
find that I find that embracing this new role, as
a relatively new role as a podcast house, that gets
easier all the time.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that you brought up Rachel plattin because
that's somebody I wanted to talk about because she's teaching
people how to find their voice again, which then inspired
me to step into the world of these younger people
that I'm with that seem to be quiet, and so
I'm learning it is the art of listening that will
bring somebody out of their shell.
Speaker 2: M the art of listening that will bring somebody out
of their shell. That's really good. Yeah, I think well,
listening can be a really intimate experience, right, And it's
so when you feel like someone is really listening to you,
it touches you on a really deep level. And on
the other side, if you feel like someone is not
listening to you, then that touches you as well. But
I think one of the greatest gifts that we can
give each other, and a gift that I hope to
give my guests on the bright side, is the feeling
of being truly seen. That's something that has been so
powerful for me when I have friends who I feel
like truly see me. I know, I'm sure you feel
that way too, ero So yeah, I just want to
give people that gift of feeling seen.
Speaker 1: See. This proves that you and I are walking on
this same path. And because I don't believe people are
happy to see me, they're happy that I see them.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's so good. Oh my gosh, that's so good.
Speaker 1: And that to me is the relationship, that is the communication.
That's why I like, right now, I'm doing so much
research on this thing called chaos, and I believe that
we're in a situation where we're creating chaos to get
attention and that's not what we're supposed to be doing.
Speaker 3: What are we supposed to be doing.
Speaker 1: We're supposed to be working into the channels of peace, forgiveness,
working into this area where we can work together, collaborate, communicate.
And I believe that it's not on a text message,
it's not on an email. We've In fact, I was
just doing some research today on what's more important, zoom
or speaking on the telephone, And it's zoom because we
get to see your facial expressions. And then both of
us are neither one of us are looking at each
other right now, but yet we're connected.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's exactly. Wait, I'm so curious to hear where
you're learning about chaos?
Speaker 3: Are you reading?
Speaker 1: I am, what do you? I will dig into everything.
I mean, I go. I mean if you you would
look at me in my living room and say you're
so boring, You're you're just always reading books. You're always
into this stuff. And because I don't read novels, I
read you know, things that are about the heart. I
believe things that are about building the mind, replenishing the soul,
and not in a religious way, but in a leadership role.
Speaker 3: What about absolutely.
Speaker 4: So in terms of what I'm reading right now, reading studying,
because you your connection with everything is that it's like
you're wide open, but you're also very protective of that openness.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that's so accurate.
Speaker 2: So I'm lucky because through this show, I'm able to
enjoy a lot of books for potential guests that come on,
and there there are a few that stood out to
me recently. So we have a guest that will be
that you'll hear on our show soon. Her name is
Kasha or Boniac, and she wrote a book called Unbound,
A Woman's Guide to Power. Now, this woman has a
really interesting, unconventional background. She was studying to be a
Daoist nun and the way that she paid for that
for that education was by being a dominatrix in Manhattan,
And what she learned through both of these disciplines is
that they actually have a lot of overlap. She learned
so much about power, how to tap into it, and
how to teach others how to tap into it. And
she shared what she learned through this book and in
her interview with me, and I learned so much just
about the idea of attention, like how can we wield
attention and how power changes and shifts when our attention
is out as opposed to when our attention is in
on our internal landscape. So that's a book that I
can think of recently that really just got my wheels turning.
There's there's so many, honestly, But I also love I
read nonfiction, and I also do love fiction too. I
love I Love My Dragon and fantasy novels.
Speaker 1: Please do not move. My conversation with Simone Boys gets
even deeper. The name of the podcast, The bright Side.
It's season two. We're with Simone Voice. You brought up
some memories for me here when you were talking about,
you know, gaining that power and understanding what you're going
to do with your power. Because in martial arts, we're
taught on what is your dongeon doing right now? The
dongeon is the lower part of your stomach where your
energy comes from. All of your energy comes from your dongeon.
And so when I bump into people that really are
kind of grumpy, I'll go, how tight are your pants
right now? And they'll say they're pretty tight. Well, your
dongeon is messed up. And I believe that when when
you feel loose that energy, your ore comes out and
and that that to me is what I feel on
your show, because you talk about health and wellness, you
talk about how we can learn to like with doctor
Emily staying emotionally fit. I mean, that's the kind of
stuff that people want to know, but nobody's talking about
it unless they find your podcast.
Speaker 2: Yes, I am so glad you brought up that episode
with doctor Emily Anhalt. She wrote a book called Flex
Your Feelings, and this book was so it was this
conversation was so eye opening for me. The whole premise
of her work is teaching people that, you know, we
have these traits that we think are fixed in ourselves,
like curiosity for example. We were talking about that earlier,
and we have this tendency to believe that, oh, we're
either born a curious person or we're just born without
that curiosity. But doctor Emily Anhalt challenges us to believe
that we can actually do exercises and you know, workouts
to strengthen muscles like curiosity or self awareness. She actually
said that self awareness is the tool that we all
need to design our own life because if we have
those blinders on, then we're not able to really see
ourselves authentic. Then we can't then make the changes that
we want to optimize our lives. And she also talked
about play too, which I think is so important. Are
our as adults, we lose that sense of play and
it shows up in conversations whenever you made a stranger, right, Like,
the one of the tendencies is to ask.
Speaker 3: Oh, what do you do for work?
Speaker 2: Now, Arrow, I'm thinking to myself, maybe I'll start asking
people when's the last time you played?
Speaker 3: How hard did you play this week? What are you
doing for play?
Speaker 1: Or did you have that Selena Gomez cookie yet? Because
dang it, it's good?
Speaker 3: Oh wait, can you can you tell me more about this?
I need to try this.
Speaker 1: It tastes like red velvet cake. It is such an
incredible Oreo cookie. And what they've done is it's got
this caramel in it, and and the way that they've
mixed the normal Oreo little goofy stuff in it. It's
so amazing that that when you have one, you might
as well just take the entire package and go sit
alone and don't let anybody see you eat that whole package.
Speaker 2: Aero. This was going really well until you dropped this
new indulgence on me.
Speaker 3: Because I already have a crumble cookie problem.
Speaker 2: Okay, I cannot take another cookie addiction in my life.
Speaker 1: Do you go into these episodes knowing the agenda or
do you go in there as the listener and then
then the path comes into play? In other words, you
give it to the universe and then because of your skills,
you're able to take it and run with it.
Speaker 2: Such a great question, Arrow, I've always been someone who
likes to really prepare for things. I think it just
makes me feel more confident as a performer and as
an interviewer. But then you do have to know when
to let go of that, and when to let go
of the preparation, and when to just let the humanity
and the energy of the conversation take on a life
of its own. So typically what I do is I
really try to do my research as you do.
Speaker 1: Ero.
Speaker 2: It's so evident that you care so much about that.
Try to do my research. I think about what questions
I want to ask, and then I I go in.
I try to make the conversation flow and feel accessible
for the listener, but also create those pockets for following up.
I think it's all about the following up and all
about following up and just listening and knowing Okay, yeah,
I want to press deeper here and leaning into that instinct.
Speaker 3: How about you? How do you approach your interviews?
Speaker 1: I show a prep a week out. In other words,
what we were talking, what we're talking about today was
actually show prepped way last week. And it's only because
when we come into this conversation, I have gone over
everything so many times that it's it's got to become
a conversation. It can't be sitting here going, well, how
are you doing simone today? Are we going to talk
about this? Because I mean I want to. Maybe it's
that curiosity thing, because it's it's and it's not always
in the question. Sometimes it's in the statement uh.
Speaker 2: Huh, uh huh exactly like you just did there. I
see what you did there. Yeah, No, it's so true.
I think the having that foundation, enough preparation and knowledge
about the guests then gives you that comfort and that
confidence to be able to go off the script.
Speaker 1: Yep. Yeah. Let's talk about Sarah Pain or Spain, because
because the thing that she does is something that so
many people in our creative world, we don't know what
to do when it happens, when those stupid critics say
no to us. How do we pick ourselves back up
and say yes, it's a battle and it's like we've
got to get through this wall, and if we don't,
oh my god. Which is why Sarah Spain was a
great guest.
Speaker 3: She's so inspiring and.
Speaker 2: I was so motivated by her story talking about how
she was kind of pushed out of a job, which
you know, we don't often talk about this, but like
that comes with a lot of.
Speaker 3: Shame and embarrassment.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: And those are really heavy emotions to wade through and navigate,
and we will all experience it at some point in
our careers. But she recognized that moment as a moment
for her to rise up and bet on herself, and
that I think that's what I took away from that
conversation was the level of discernment that we need to
have to examine our own life and say, ooh, Okay,
this did not go the way that I wanted it to,
but maybe this is actually an opportunity, you know, maybe
this is an opportunity for me to realize everything that I.
Speaker 3: Need is already inside of me.
Speaker 2: For so long, I thought that I needed permission from
a gatekeeper or you know, permission from a stakeholder in
order to do this thing that I'm so passionate about.
But well, when that permission goes away, you got to
give yourself the green light.
Speaker 1: Do you live the lifestyle of just get it down?
In other words, if an idea comes to you and
you're going, oh, I'll get around to it, No, just
get it down. Get the idea down, and then build
upon it.
Speaker 2: I have a chaotic notes folder on my phone, and
so that should answer your question right there. I absolutely
have to write it down because the way my brain works,
I will I will forget it.
Speaker 3: Are you that way? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah. If I don't get it down, I'll walk away
and I'll find something new to play with.
Speaker 3: Yeah, totally, totally, I swear.
Speaker 2: And I know this is so cliche now because everyone's
talking about it, but I swear I have undiagnosed ADHD.
I really need to go get that checked out, and
because I can only imagine how nice it would be
to actually be able to focus and hold all these
thoughts together at once. But I have kind of this
like chaotic creative brain, which has its benefits too.
Speaker 1: One of the things that you talk about is relaxation.
You say that can help us become even better at
being ourselves. But the problem is, though we've gotten to
the point now where rain from the sky is creating,
you know, chaos in our lives, and it's like, how
are you finding relaxation in this world that is just
being damaged?
Speaker 3: M It's so true.
Speaker 2: I am finding relaxation by giving myself permission to not
be part of that world, you know, giving myself permission
to disconnect. I took a social media break earlier this
year for about three months because the pressure of just
like keeping up with social media every day and the
algorithm and feeding the algorithm just really started to impact
my mental health. And taking a step back and disconnecting
really allowed my creativity to flourish. I started writing and
just felt really empowered as a creative and as a storyteller.
So I think it's about acknowledging. Yeah, I can unplug
even though this world is chaotic. I can, you know, turn.
Speaker 3: Off the TV.
Speaker 2: I don't have to watch the news right now, I
can log off of social media. I can get outside that.
Those are the things that helped me and also hang
out with my kids, starting to I'm with my kids.
There's nothing like the energy and the joy of a
child to remind you how to be truly present.
Speaker 1: In a split second, grandkids become twenty one year olds,
and that's where I am in life right now, a
twenty one year old granddaughter. And it's like, how in
God's name did this happen?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I can only imagine. That's such a trip,
the way that time flies.
Speaker 1: It does. But the good thing about it is I'm
a daily writer. So it's all documented in these journals,
and it's and people go, what are you doing that for?
I don't know. I just know I'm supposed to do it.
Speaker 3: Wow, no way. So you have journals dating back to.
Speaker 1: When nineteen ninety four, July of nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 2: Wow, And what was the catalyst that led you to
start journaling?
Speaker 1: Wrote a letter? No, actually no, it wasn't. The letter
to my sister Julia Cameron's the artist Way.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Julia Cameron. I'm such a big fan.
I love the Artist's Way. So you started doing you
started doing your morning pages, my.
Speaker 1: Morning pages, and I do it to this day.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: Okay, So Errol, you know what, You're just the homie. Okay,
because when I was talking about unplugging from everything for
a few months, I was doing the artist's way and
I felt so I felt so just aligned and like
lit up and empowered. Yep, Julia Cameron is my dream
guest for the bright Side. Fingers crossed that she will
make her way onto my show later this year. But
rash that book is such a gift.
Speaker 1: Reach out to her because she's been on my show.
I would oh, she hasked, Yes, Oh my god, so
blown away by it.
Speaker 2: Okay, I need to go back and listen to this.
Can you quickly tell me everything about it and her
and what it was like for you.
Speaker 1: She knew I was a student and she felt it,
and that's where we put our focus. It wasn't about me,
you know, doing my daily pages. It was about what
are you going to do with what you have? And
so and then we got into the vein of Gold
and everything else. Because every book is sitting right here
in this room.
Speaker 2: Wow, oh that's so cool. Okay, I'm gonna have to
look up this interview. Can I listen to it online?
Speaker 1: Please? Yeah? Just go Arrow Collins with an E and
then Julia Cameron and it'll come up fantastic. We gotta
get together again. My god, twenty minutes with you is
not enough.
Speaker 3: It really is an arrow you are. I mean, talk
about a gift.
Speaker 2: You are such a gift to this world, such a
gifted storyteller. And the way that you listen and you
can just hear it in your voice. You care so
much about each person that comes on your show.
Speaker 1: Thank you will you'd be brilliant today and I expect
to hear from you on season three.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I can't wait. Thank you, Thank you, Ero