Welcome to the TRUE NORTH COLLECTIVE PODCAST: SEASON 3! With co-hosts Rachel Bellotti and Jenell Riesner, this is a gathering of un-sugar-coated conversations celebrating the untold stories of everyday people fearlessly finding and living their true north.
In our own search to discover and live from our TRUE NORTH, we continue to meet many interesting, courageous people from all walks of life, doing all sorts of amazing things to live life in their own unique way. Stories from all over the world. Stories with heart. Stories with grit. Stories with plot twists. Stories going untold - until now. This season, we celebrate these untold stories of everyday people who are fearlessly living their true north and inspiring each of us to do the same.
Today, we talk to Margaret Bienert - photographer, videographer, harp player, co-founder of Marginal Creative in LA and A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour youtube series, and super creative human - about coming from a pretty conservative, religious upbringing, and eventually challenging her “rules”, moving to LA, and finding a passion for creating and doing things different from the world around her. Plus, because it’s Valentine’s Day, we chat candidly about losing your identity in a relationship, discovering your partner has Autism, learning to not care what outsiders think about your love life, and allowing yourself and your partner to be the freaks that you are!
*note: this episode includes explicit language appropriate for those ages 16+
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
- Death, etc by Faux Margaux
- Margaret’s Blog
- Catfish
- Tibby Wells on the Bachelor in Paradise
- Lana Del Rey
- A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour by Margaret + Corey
- John Krakauer - Under the Banner of Heaven
- Marginal Creative by Margaret + Corey
- Music from: https://www.jukedeck.com/
3 KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Sometimes we meet people who we look up to and have placed on a pedestal and we realize that they too are just people. And we ALL have the ability to try things, to find that thing that feels like it might be our thing - a passion, a strength, a pull, a curiosity, a dream, a hope, an idea - and give it our best shot and see what happens. Each one of our “idols” and “heros” were just like us wondering if they should give it a shot before they became “something bigger”, so why not give it a try?
- Learn how to not be afraid of doing something that you think might sound crazy or stupid so that you can innovate and create things that no one has seen before. Many people aren’t going to understand right away and that is actually ok. Eventually, people may catch up and catch on - or maybe they won’t - but don’t wait to try things and do it your way just because you are afraid of what others will think. Life is WAY too short.
- It can be really helpful to have people in your life who challenge you to see who you want to be and what you want out of life in a loving way, whether that’s a partner or therapist or friend or family or co-worker. Allowing people the chance to get uncomfortable in finding their own answers and not giving them their answers is a huge gift that allows layers to fall off and unlocks an ability to truly live. It can be really uncomfortable to trust this process (as the challenger and the challenged), but if you can get past the uncertainty and fear and really dig deep, there is unmatched magic that exists for each of us.
TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:
- [3:00] Being an emo kid
- [9:00] Bachelor recap
- [13:00] Introducing Margaret!
- [19:00] I only saw myself as a wife + mom
- [24:00] The Lana Del Rey effect…what if I try things
- [28:00] NOT doing what everyone else is doing
- [35:00] Realizing the world is different than we were told it would look
- [55:00] Having a partner who challenges me to be me
- [1:06:00] Fear of identity being associated with your partner
- [1:08:00] Having a husband with Autism
- [1:10:00] Realizing you aren’t responsible for who your partner is or what they do
- [1:19:00] What to do when other people aren’t into you?
- [1:21:00] What people should know about Autism
- [1:23:00] An inability to be fake
- [1:31:00] Ghosts and haunted hotels
- [1:37:00] What the hell is A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour youtube series?
- [1:46:20] How do you live your TRUE NORTH?
- [1:29:30] Contact Margaret via IG @aprettycoolgirl or @marginalcreative and check out her youtube series @aprettycoolhoteltour