Welcome to THE TRUE NORTH COLLECTIVE℠ PODCAST: SEASON 3! With co-hosts Rachel Bellotti (she/her) and Jenell Riesner (she/her), 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 are excited to shake up our format and talk to three generations of females - Kaity Thompson (she/her), Alison Larkin (she/her), and Barbara Larkin (she/her). Kaity is a friend of ours from Milwaukee and the Cycling Program Manager at SPIRE Fitness. Allison (Kaity’s mom) is born and raised in Milwaukee, and is one of the first female Tour Directors at Live Nation Global Touring, always taking the road less traveled. Barb (Kaity’s grandma) is currently living the definition of YOLO. She spent 25 years as an elementary school teacher at University School in Milwaukee, embracing a spiritual life with no limits, is a lover of art, a good book, and her 13 grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Barb lost one child to breast cancer and in the last year, she lost both of her husbands within two weeks of each other, which profoundly changed her life. From revamping the education system to doing the hard thing, we chat about what it’s like to making “mistakes”, taking the road less traveled that might seem hurtful to others but actually allows everyone to flourish, truly listening, understanding historical atrocities and wins, embracing death, learning how to be your own person, and not brushing things under the rug so that we can all address what is actually here and not make an even bigger mess of suffering in the long term. This is an honest and sweet episode that reminds us that we can change the world by starting with how we interact and engage with our own families - for better and for worse.

*note: this episode includes explicit language appropriate for those ages 16+

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• #amplifymelanatedvoices @theconsciouskid
• #amplifymelanatedvoices @kierandthem
• #amplifymarginalizedvoices Top Ten Elderly Influencers on Instagram
• Music from: https://www.jukedeck.com/

3 KEY TAKEAWAYS:

1. Don’t brush things under the rug and keep your authentic truth hidden. Whatever it is that you are going through that is real for you needs to be brought to the open and shared with someone so that you can deal with it or process it or work through it in your own way. Otherwise, those things we are trying to keep hidden will remain and grow and shapeshift and will eventually still come to the surface, but with a whole lot of other stuff entangled with it, and it will be a lot messier and harder to deal with later.
2. Using roadblocks as launching pads versus getting paralyzed in the problems of the past can help to allow you to honor where you’ve been, AND to dig into where you can go FROM here. When we define ourselves by our past, we simply keep repeating it vs finding new ways through and over and under and behind.
3. Do the hard thing, even if you lose friends and people don’t understand. If you have a voice inside that is guiding you someplace new and it won’t go away, consider it. Consider where the voice might be coming from and if it feels like it’s truly from your heart and soul and it’s the thing you really want for your highest self, nothing will fulfill the void that is left by not following that calling. Spread your wings and give it a go, despite the second guessing and the uncertainty because you never know how things might flourish for everyone in ways you never imagined if you trust that inner guide of your truest self.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [1:10] PB + salami sandwiches
• [2:55] Acknowledging the wisdom of older generations
• [3:30] Welcome, Katie, Allison, + Barb!
• [7:00] AD: If you love listening to us each week, we would love it if you’d share us with a friend that you think might also love the content! Or leave us a review on iTunes, Apple Music or wherever you listen to us + help us grow this podcast + expand our reach!
• [8:03] Unconventional families
• [10:00] What would you like future generations of your family to remember?
• [16:30] Roadblocks + launching pads
• [23:30] Making decisions that don’t make sense to anyone but you
• [25:00] Role models + speaking up for yourself
• [35:00] Emerging strong women
• [37:30] Losing two partners in one week
• [39:50] Not feeling included 
• [42:09] Dealing with family issues
• [43:30] AD: Did you know that we’re on YOUTUBE now?! With a year full of zooming, we thought it would be fun to show you our fun faces as we record. So, if you are more of a visual content lover, make sure to check us out on YOUTUBE. Enjoy!
• [46:00] Parallels between family + country
• [47:40] Learning to listen
• [51:00] Appreciation of the innovations + mistakes in history
• [53:00] Revamping education system to teach kids life + how to survive
• [57:00] Celebrating failure + mistakes
• [58:00] What are you most excited about the future?
• [1:03:15] How do you live your TRUE NORTH in one word?
• [1:04:27] Reach out to Kaity via IG @kaityt216