Episode 389: Strategy, Spirituality, and Space with Hillary Power
Longtime friend of Doree and business doula Hillary Power joins the show to discuss what a business doula does, the connection between spirituality and business strategy, and the curious, quiet power of a women’s circle. Plus, Doree and Elise chat about the party full of Rob’s exes and the new book by Doree’s agent that they wish they’d had at the start of their careers.
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Transcript
The transcript for this episode is AI generated.
Doree Shafrir (00:10):
Hello and welcome to Forever35, a podcast about the things we do to take care of ourselves. I'm Doree Shafrir.
Elise Hu (00:17):
And I'm Elise Hu. And we're just two friends who like to talk a lot about serums,
Doree Shafrir (00:21):
And today we have a conversation with one of my oldest LA friends, someone who I met pretty soon after moving to LA, and we've been friends ever since we worked together at Buzzfeed. That was how we met, and we have a very funny story about teaser. Yeah, about a mutual romantic man. Man, romantic man. So stay tuned for that. It's with my friend Hillary Power, who is a business doula. She's carved out this interesting little niche. It's basically consulting, but it's with a more sort of spiritual and holistic, holistic
Elise Hu (01:11):
Vibe. Yeah,
Doree Shafrir (01:14):
It's pretty interesting. So stay tuned for that.
Elise Hu (01:17):
But we haven't talked for a few days, so there's a lot to catch up on. First thing I want to know is how was the book event?
Doree Shafrir (01:23):
So my literary agent, who I'm obsessed with is named Aaliyah Hanna Habib. She is an agent at the Garner Company and she wrote a book called Take It From Me, an Agent's Guide to Building a Nonfiction Writing Career From Scratch.
(01:44)
I would describe it as a sort of a combo memoir because she talks a lot about her own career, but then also it is a real how to guide. That's great. She has real pitches that some of her clients sent to the New York Times magazine to get assignments because there's a big part of the first couple chapters are really devoted to how to pitch magazines and newspapers and other outlets to build your portfolio if you've never published anything. Her point is if you've never published anything, it is probably unrealistic unless you are a celebrity to just query an agent with your nonfiction book and get a book deal. She's saying if your book is about, let's say the Korean beauty industry,
Elise Hu (02:36):
It behooves you, let's say hypothetically, let's
Doree Shafrir (02:38):
Just say hypothetically, it behooves you to become known as someone who writes about the Korean beauty industry. So she has a real step-by-step guide about how to do that. Then she has guides to how to query an agent. She also talks a lot about what happens when your book goes out on submission to publishers. Really gets into the nitty gritty includes,
Elise Hu (02:56):
I wish I knew what happened. Yeah, because it's like a black box to me.
Doree Shafrir (02:59):
Yes, I know. I also was like, Ooh, this is good information for me to have. And I've sold a couple books. She shows emails that she sends to publishers when a book is going to go to auction. There's so much behind the scenes stuff, and her whole thing is she came from Pennsylvania, her parents were not in publishing. She knew nothing about this world, and she wants to sort of demystify it for people whether they want to get into publishing or being an agent or they want to write a book or whatever. So it's a great book.
Elise Hu (03:37):
Great book. You wish this existed before we submitted nonfiction book proposals? Yes.
Doree Shafrir (03:43):
Yes. I
Elise Hu (03:44):
Wish this was around 10 years ago.
Doree Shafrir (03:47):
It is such a great book. So I got to talk with her. I was the person in conversation with her and it was super fun. I got the sweetest note from one of her fellow agents who we had gone out to dinner with beforehand. She texted me and she said, you were so great last night. It's hard to strike that balance between making it feel like an intimate conversation and also consistently bringing it back to the book. But you nailed it. It was an incredibly warm, generous talk that also managed to sell the shit out of the book Bravo. Even the book seller at Skylight books, which was where we did it, she said to me after she was like, I wasn't going to read this book. It sounded kind of not relevant to me, but you really made it sound interesting. I was like, it's interesting. It's really interesting. I'm going to smash that
Elise Hu (04:38):
Buy button on
Doree Shafrir (04:38):
Bookshop. Do org buy button. Yes, exactly. So if you are at all curious about, even if you're not going to sell a book, but you're curious about how publishing works, it's a really interesting
Elise Hu (04:49):
People.
Doree Shafrir (04:49):
Yeah, it's a really interesting, again, behind the scenes look. So yes, take it from me. An agent's guide to building a nonfiction career from scratch, and I should also mention that Aaliyah has a really great substack called Delivery and Acceptance, where she interviews people from all over publishing and it's related to her book, but it's not the same material as her book.
Elise Hu (05:12):
Okay. Yeah. Fantastic. Yeah, very. As you were at that book event, I was at a competing book event.
(05:19)
Not really kidding. I know. I was going to say it wasn't at a bookstore and it was more of a book party, but it was really funny. I have to tell you the backstory, because we got invited by Rob's friend, Rebecca, who I think was at Penn with him at the same time, and I knew nothing about it. He's like, do you want to go to this book event? And then he sent me the flyer and the book is Own Your Own Fertility and it's about freezing your eggs, which a little late for me. A little late for me. So anyway, I thought it was sort of curious that Rob was invited to an own your own fertility book event.
Doree Shafrir (05:59):
Yes. But
Elise Hu (06:00):
He was like, you want to come to this? I'm like, okay, whatever he is. It's my old friend Rebecca, and he's like, also, I dated Rebecca just a heads up. And I'm like, okay, that's cool. He had a long time before he got married, so he's dated a lot of people. And then as we're walking up to the house, he's like, I think Jamie's coming too. Just a heads up. I dated her too, and I was like, okay. Oh my God. And then we walk in and there is no other man there. He is the only stop male guest. Yes. What? It was all women at this book party. Oh my God. Except for the host. The host was her brother-in-law, and so her brother-in-law and his wife were hosting it at his home. So he was there. He lived
Doree Shafrir (06:44):
There, right? Sure.
Elise Hu (06:45):
But among the 50 women gathered, Rob was the only male guest. And Rebecca the author comes up and she's really excited to see him and la la la and we end up having a great time. The third guy there besides the host Rob, and Rob was the bartender who I really liked. And so I am now going to hire him for events. I got his card. I'm like, so that was a great takeaway from that party. Loved the bartender, Dominic. I texted him today. In fact, I was like, Hey, it's Elise from last week. And he was like, Elise, Titos and Tonic. And I'm like, yes, that's right. That is
Doree Shafrir (07:21):
My treat. Wow. He's a good bartender.
Elise Hu (07:24):
I can see him. Yeah, I could tell. And so he was the third dude and book Talk happens. Then there's a bunch of mingling food, LA la, la la. We were there for a while and we were walking out the code of the story. He's like, oh, he is a Rob ghost. Oh, and also this other woman, I dated her too, and a fourth woman dated her too, who didn't rob date. So basically we were at this party that was a bunch of Rob's exes.
Doree Shafrir (07:58):
Rob's exes. I had,
Elise Hu (08:01):
My gosh, all my exes live. That's really funny. Not Texas.
Doree Shafrir (08:06):
Yeah. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Alright. Okay. Well, Elise, let us formally introduce Hillary. Hillary Power is a business doula and the founder of her company River Day. She combines deep human connection and passion for supporting authentic personal growth with more than a decade of experience building and scaling global social marketing departments at some of the biggest brands in the world and launching first of their kind digital creative ventures. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children whose middle names are river and day.
Elise Hu (08:44):
It all makes sense.
Doree Shafrir (08:45):
Yes. And before we get to Hillary, just a reminder that you can visit our website forever35 podcast.com. We have links there to everything we mention on the show. We are on Instagram at Forever35 podcast. Our Patreon is at patreon.com/forever three five. We do our weekly casual chats, our monthly pop culture episodes. We have a chat going on in the Patreon app. We have Forever35 questionnaires. We have ad free episodes. We have it all. So check that out at patreon.com/forever five. Our favorite products are at shop us slash forever five. And you can call or text us at five nine zero three nine and email us at forever podcast gmail com and we'll be right back with Hillary. Hillary, welcome to Forever35. So nice to see you. Thank you so much. We start off by asking all of our guests about a self-care practice that they have, which I feel like for you especially is I feel like you must have a million of them. So I don't know. Choose your favorite.
Hillary Power (09:54):
I do have a million. I think that a self-care practice that's really kind of a mindset for me is kind of this question of how can I make every environment feel as good as possible to me? So that's not to say that everything's really enjoyable all of the time, but if I'm cooking dinner, how can I make the light in the kitchen beautiful and turn on songs that make me feel a certain way and just really support the moment that I'm in. And I feel like that requires an element of slowing down and really being like, what is this moment? What do I want in this moment? But that's a framework that I've been working with for the past year and a half.
Elise Hu (10:46):
So do you think that's just for your physical spaces or does it expand beyond a physical space and lighting and the mood of a place? Are you able to bring that sense of trying to make an environment pleasant in other ways?
Hillary Power (11:03):
What a cool question. I think that yes, it requires a level of physical presence and also the capacity to be with what is, whether that is a sensation that's difficult or unpleasant. But rather than to say this is not allowed to turn towards it and say, oh, how do I tend to this feeling that's uncomfortable? Or how do I make space in my experience and locate things moving through me instead of just the lighting has to be really good or the tea has to be amazing.
Doree Shafrir (11:41):
I love to hear you say that because I do feel like anytime I've been in an environment that is your environment, it is a really welcoming and lovely environment. And I should say here that Hillary and I met when we both worked at
Elise Hu (11:54):
Buzzfeed,
Doree Shafrir (11:54):
We were on different teams, but Hillary just has a magnetic personality and we became friends and
Hillary Power (12:05):
Well, should we say how we actually became? Oh my gosh,
Doree Shafrir (12:08):
This is a
Hillary Power (12:09):
Podcast. So yes, Dory and I were both single when we met, and this was the era of early Tinder where it was really just Tinder and OkCupid were the only online dating options available. And I'll just speak for myself and say that I was having a lot of fun with that newly open channel and doing a lot of dating. And I dated a series of men who were all like, oh, you work at Buzzfeed, do you know Dory? And so the first time that I met Dory, I was like, Hey, do you know this person or this person or this person, person? And Dorie saying this in a very casual way, Hillary is magnetic. Dorie was like the boss. And I said, Dorie, do you know this person? And she was like, come to my office. Do you remember this?
Doree Shafrir (13:03):
And she's like, remember having the conversation with you in my office? You were like, get in my office.
Hillary Power (13:08):
Whoa. I was like, well, this guy, I went out with him a few times. I don't really think it's for me. And Dory was like, oh.
Doree Shafrir (13:21):
And the way you said it was like he said he knew. You knew.
Hillary Power (13:24):
Yeah. Dory was like, I lived with him. He was my partner for many years. Whoa. And I was like,
Elise Hu (13:35):
I know him. Yeah. The word no is doing a lot of work there.
Hillary Power (13:41):
And so I feel like walls really came down between us in that moment. And then
Doree Shafrir (13:48):
We went to an event, I don't know, not long after that, and saw him.
Hillary Power (13:53):
Oh my gosh, both of you. I don't remember that, but I believe it. And I just remember we were both like, Hey, that's so funny. It must've been a bigger deal for you because I was like, this person, a random guy.
Doree Shafrir (14:09):
Well, I was also like, there's no need to go into great and gory detail, but you could at least be like, yeah, she's my ex-girlfriend, but to be like dead. Yeah, I know her. Oh, we met one time. Yeah. I was like, wow. Right. I'm
Hillary Power (14:25):
So sorry. Good goodbye.
Doree Shafrir (14:26):
No, no, don't be sorry. Yeah. And then we kind of shared our dating escapades.
Hillary Power (14:33):
Oh, in great detail.
Doree Shafrir (14:35):
It's in great detail. It's with each other. Yes. It was really bonding with the whole shift to remote work. I feel like people aren't making work friends in the same way that they used to. I don't know that we would've bonded over slack,
Hillary Power (14:53):
You know what I mean? He wouldn't be like, get into, yeah, exactly. Get into my dms and we'll have this recorded history of this man.
Elise Hu (15:03):
Or it's really hard to be able to hang out because some of the people I've become close with on Slack from remote work are in New York or San Francisco or Detroit. So the fact that you were both in a physical space together too, I think makes a difference.
Hillary Power (15:18):
And in the heyday of that physical space, fresh pressed juice every morning, it was so funny. Yeah.
Doree Shafrir (15:26):
Let's talk about how you got to where you are today, because right now you are a business doula. And I remember standing in your kitchen when you had just had a baby and you had been laid off and you were kind of like, I don't really know what I'm doing. Cut to now you fully know what you're doing and you have this thriving career and business. So walk all of us through just what that process was to get there.
Hillary Power (15:57):
So I was laid off 10 days after having my second child, which was not ideal, but also something I don't think I would've ever had the courage to leave. I was working at a big tech company with a lot of theoretical stability and a huge paycheck and a certain kind of power or confidence that came with that role. And I didn't love the work, but I loved some of the things that the work provided. And I was really scared when I got laid off, but I was also a little bit relieved. I was like, oh, you don't have to go back to this, but I have to make money and I want to do something interesting and fulfilling and meaningful. And for a while I had been walking a pretty spiritual path and trying to do a lot of healing work within myself and engage with life as the best version of me that I could.
(17:05)
And I had done a bunch of facilitator trainings and been studying in this capacity as a hobby for probably about seven years at that point. So I was like, okay, I hear you universe. If there's ever a time to try this, I guess it's now. So in one part of my life I was really trying a lot of hosting women's circles for the first time and cultivating those spaces within my life. And then on the other hand, I had to make money and I was like, I can't charge Google level salary fees for these women's circles. I'm just kind of figuring out. So I doing a lot of consulting work for my friends and leaders in the space that I knew, the systems they were working in. I had a lot of compassion for the pace and demands of their jobs, and I kind of became this ghost writer of strategies for people that I knew and loved.
(18:09)
And so I started doing that to pay the bills. And then one of my closest friends said, I have somebody who needs mentorship. You actually know more about what she does than I do. She runs a department, she's amazing, and we want to gift her some coaching so that she can have what she needs to level up. And also she's having a lot going on personally. So can you bring in someone like your spiritual stuff and support her through all of this? And it works so well for her. It worked so well for me, it worked so well for their business. So I ended up doing several women at that business, and that's how this work began.
Elise Hu (18:55):
That's awesome. And when you say that you were writing strategy at the beginning, what does that mean? Can you maybe Oh, yeah, because I've never really worked in a formal business setting, so I'm sort of like, what does it mean to write strategy?
Hillary Power (19:08):
Oh, great question. In my case, what it meant was creating, so the systems that I worked in, the tech companies that I worked in, giant multinational tech companies, they have very particular systems of conveying ideas and getting buy-in for those ideas. So a big part of the work is not only deciding what to do, creating that strategy, but also formatting that strategy in a very particular way that allows for buy-in from other department heads, finance and all the people required to internally sign off on a strategy. So having been in those systems, I really understood not just how the work needs to go for those teams, but how to get the appropriate buy-in from stakeholders within the company. And that's what I mean when I talk about writing strategy.
Elise Hu (20:08):
Got it. And now that you are in this sort of business doula space, and just to be clear, so you kind of call yourself a business doula and not specifically a more common term like executive coach or therapist or something because it really combines various disciplines. I just want to make sure that I'm capturing that correctly. Tell us what you have learned in working with so many people at this time, this frenzied and chaotic time that our listeners might be able to take with them or get out of your lessons even if they're not working you directly.
Hillary Power (20:48):
Well, something that I've learned is that a lot of people feel really tender about exploring questions that are big and important that they don't know the answer to. So even if they're in a really beautiful partnership that's supportive or have incredible mentors or wonderful friends, there's still something about understanding your desires and naming them out loud that can be really overwhelming.
Elise Hu (21:21):
Are there certain questions that you have people start with to better understand their desires or where they want to go directionally?
Hillary Power (21:29):
Yeah. So I always say that I meet people exactly where they are, which I think sounds to some people condescending, but to me is quite the opposite. It's like, let's take all that you're dealing with and find out exactly where you are. Because naming and being in the space you're occupying now requires a level of honesty and vulnerability and accountability that I think a lot of people maybe are always rushing towards where they want to go or what's not working. But to just really say, this is where I'm is where I begin. And then I think a lot of values work can be important to say, okay, let's sit down and think about what you value at this moment in your life and how do we shape a future where those values are not just on a piece of paper, but they, they're lived and they're reflected back to you in real time every day.
Doree Shafrir (22:24):
Can I ask what do people go into working with you? What do they want to get out of it, I guess is what I'm asking? Do they set goals? Is it open-ended? What is kind of the desired outcome?
Hillary Power (22:41):
I always say no deliverables because it's not like we're going to create a deck and then you're going to be done. I think that people want to feel more embodied in their lives and in their own experience of work or their relationship, a lot of things begin in one place. Somebody's like, oh, I have all these issues with my job, and then all of a sudden we're talking about their childhood and their sex life and their body and their relationships and their children. And I think why the term doula is so important and resonant with me is because I really try and say, this is your life. This is your career, this is your journey. I want you to feel like you in the next chapter of it. And so it's not about me saying, this is what it should look like. It's about me holding space and creating conditions for somebody to arrive into their life in a way that feels truly authentic and aligned with them.
Doree Shafrir (23:45):
Aligned. So what are some of the things that people want to get out of it? Can you think, without obviously getting too specific, but someone who came to you for business doula services, why
Elise Hu (23:58):
Did they starting a company? Are they trying to decide whether to change jobs? Why
Hillary Power (24:04):
Would all of those things?
(24:07)
So there have been people who are like, I want to level up at work, or I am running a business and I love this business and the rest of my life has completely fallen off the rails because I'm so laser focused on this business and that's not why I started my own business. Things like that. Or I've had people who have shifted their careers from working with a big company into managing and building a smaller business that's their own and feeling really constricted in kind of like, oh, well, I'm used to everybody coming to me and I'm used to having the big budget. And how do I show up after 30 years of a career where I was the one holding all the money and the resources and the talent, and how do I go externally in a way that feels really good to me and creates business? How do I go out and be in a role I've never been in and not feel like I'm an imposter? And I think so much of business and deal making is energy, and a lot of people want to read a book and close the deal and figure out a negotiation tactic. But I think there is a really important element of how do you show up and do you believe yourself? And I think that that's magnetic and really changes the trajectory of how leaders are able to create impact and influence.
Doree Shafrir (25:44):
So we're just going to take a short break and we will be right back.
Elise Hu (25:55):
One question that we get a lot from our listeners or consistently from our listeners is about career crossroads, maybe leaving a job and going back to school or whether they should just stay in a job is making them miserable and facing burnout. I think burnout is both a collective problem and an individual problem, and these things are interrelational. And so as a lot of folks are facing this kind of feeling of having to continue to put food on the table, but also feeling a little spiritually empty or what they're doing is rote, what sort of guidance do you offer?
Hillary Power (26:38):
Yeah, I love David White and his poems start close in, which I think offers a real invitation to not have to make such a binary decision overnight. But if you are considering something like a career shift or going back to school, I would say rather than doing that in abstract wholesale, how can you begin to integrate that thing that you're curious about in your life as it exists right now and respond to those feelings in real time? Because I think a lot of people have a fantasy about, oh, if I just quit my job and I moved to the woods, then things will be really simple and all my problems will be solved. But everywhere you go, there you are. So it's a matter of how do you take the life that you are dreaming about and bring elements of that into your existing life and play with and see, does this subject that I think I might want to go back to school for what happens if I start reading books about it or listening to podcasts about it or engaging with those people? And then I think that's where real opportunities arise, and I think the more that you tend to those places, the more clear those decisions become inside yourself.
Doree Shafrir (28:03):
Great. I like that. Can you talk a little bit more about the circles? I went to at least one, maybe a couple, and I found them really moving and I'd love to hear or have you tell our listeners what those look like and how they've evolved as well.
Hillary Power (28:26):
Yeah. So women's circles are a practice I found completely by accident. One time I went to eSalon on what I thought was going to be a yoga retreat, but ended up being a intensive workshop about connecting with the divine feminine, which I was there for, but surprised by. And a large part of that week was spent in women's circles. So literally women sitting in a circle speaking their truth, speaking openly and honestly, and oftentimes quite vulnerably from their heart space. I was like, this is cool. This is magical. There's something happening in these spaces that's palpable and meaningful and that I was just really attracted to. So sort of we were just speaking about, I was working at a tech job in marketing at the time. I was not doing this, but I was like, I'm curious. I want to be in more spaces like this. I want to see how other people lead a space like this. And so I started doing this as my hobby, which is the funny thing to say, a hobby. But it really changed my perspective in what it meant to show up. So I think when I talk about women's circles to people who are like, I don't get it, what is it? My answer is always, it's a place to see and be seen, but not in the CNBC world that we think of. When you usually hear that term,
Elise Hu (30:05):
It's not a club or a hot restaurant.
Hillary Power (30:08):
The opposite, seen at the same
Elise Hu (30:10):
Level. Yes, at the psyche
Hillary Power (30:12):
Level we and be seen as a human being in this lifetime having difficult, beautiful, challenging, heart-wrenching experiences. And I feel like I've sat in hundreds of circles at this point. There is something so cool about being in a space that's held as sacred where everything is confidential and where people can just show up fully as they are. I think that especially in this time, there's so much thought and attention given into presentation and personal brand and all of those elements of how people can move through the world. And this is almost the opposite. It's like you don't know who anyone is, it doesn't matter who they are, and you see them as a human being having a human experience. And what I take always is just the magic of how much we're all holding at any single time. And it really creates, for me a sense of connection to each other, to ourselves. It is quite profound sometimes how much I can feel shifts happening internally in circles where I don't say a single word.
Elise Hu (31:31):
Yep. And what you're describing is very reminiscent of the AA tradition, the na tradition. For those of us who have had addiction in our lives, this is very similar to just coming into a room and it could be a church basement or whatever, and everybody's sort of on the same level. You don't really know who anybody is. In your case, this is gendered, you're saying it's specifically women identifying. What do you feel like is powerful about that element of it?
Hillary Power (32:04):
I think that women crave this connection, and in our society at least, there's so much that's sewing division among women and like, oh, this kind of parenting or this kind of exercise or whatever. So many ways that women are pitted against each other. And for me it's just like, oh my God, being a woman is so cool. I am sure there are many men that can sit around and have these kinds of experiences as well, and I do sometimes have co-ed offerings, but I think there is something so potent and powerful about women connecting with themselves and connecting with each other that is really a special part of being a woman. I don't know. It really taps me into, oh, thank God. Thank God we get to do this. Yeah,
Doree Shafrir (33:00):
Very cool. What advice would you give someone who wants to not do exactly what you do but wants to be a consultant or start their own? Because you started your own business, essentially, essentially. And so I'm curious from that perspective, what advice would you give people?
Hillary Power (33:21):
Yeah. Well, there's this idea out there, I think it's a Steve Chandler idea that there are mythical clients that you think clients are out there and they're not for you, and that you have a whole vibrant life full of people who are probably the most likely people to hire you. And I think that some people can feel really embarrassed or tentative about talking about the work that they do with the people that are already in their lives and love 'em. But I've found that starting with people I know and people who know me and just being really honest about, I'm starting this business, you're going to be one of my first clients, not pretending that I've been doing this for 20 years, but starting exactly where I am, a real theme for me and turning towards people that I know, who know me, who love me, who are like, I want to be around you. It's like, cool. Do you want to do this work together? And then holding it really non personally if they say no.
Elise Hu (34:33):
You mentioned that poem earlier. I'm wondering if you have it or you want to read it to us before we let you go.
Hillary Power (34:39):
Okay, so this is start close in by David White. Start close in. Don't take the second step or the third. Start with the first thing close in the step. You don't want to take, start with the ground, the pale ground beneath your feet, your own way to begin the conversation. Start with your own question. Give up on other people's question. Don't let them smother some to hear another's voice. Follow your own voice. Wait until that voice becomes an intimate private ear that can really listen to another start. Right now, take a small step. You can call your own. Don't follow someone else's heroics. Be humble and focused. Start close in. Don't mistake that other for your own, start close in. Don't take the second step or the third. Start with the first thing close in the step you don't want to take.
Elise Hu (35:35):
That's lovely. I love that. And I think a lot of folks can relate to that too, because especially that notion that the very first step is the one that you most don't want to take
Hillary Power (35:49):
And in life. Yeah. And I feel like sometimes so much of the world can feel like it's happening out there and around us and to us and our feeds are crazy and full. And to me, this poem is really an invitation to be like, well, what is mine and what's not mine? And how do I engage with that?
Elise Hu (36:09):
That's lovely. Thank you for sharing it with us, and thank you for just sharing your general insights about where you're at right now and how you're helping so many folks who need a business doula. Hillary, how can folks find you?
Hillary Power (36:25):
They can email me. They can go to my website, which is River Day Project with an s.com. I lead retreats. I work with people one-on-one. I work with businesses and I lead one-off workshops and things like that. There's one coming up on Friday, March 13th that I am partnering with an incredible herbalist to do flower essence making around the spring equinox and explore that medicine, which is so fun. And so just truly being a green witch. So I'm doing all kinds of fun things and I would love to have anyone who's curious, hear more Hillary power. Thank you so much. Thank you guys so much.
Doree Shafrir (37:24):
I thought having someone like Hillary on would be interesting because she has this very corporate background, but she also does this more like we were saying in the beginning, the women's
Elise Hu (37:35):
Circles.
Doree Shafrir (37:36):
Women's circles, yeah. And all this stuff. So
Elise Hu (37:38):
Somatic healing.
Doree Shafrir (37:40):
Yes, yes,
Elise Hu (37:41):
Yes. That's great. Yeah. Thank you Hillary. Yeah, thank you Hillary.
Doree Shafrir (37:44):
So intentions last week, I was going to not get overwhelmed by my social life, and so far so good. I was glad that I had postponed one of the events that I was supposed to do. I was supposed to have a dinner on Tuesday and I pushed it a couple weeks and I was like, you know what? That was the right choice. So that was good. This week we really need to start declutter fully decluttering our house because Henry is having a play date here at our house in a couple of weeks. We know, yeah, he's having three friends over.
Elise Hu (38:23):
Okay, okay.
Doree Shafrir (38:26):
That's a lot. And it's a lot. So dunno how that's going to go. We don't have a lot of plates here. You're just going to be trashing things.
Elise Hu (38:32):
Yeah, you're just going to put things in trash bags,
Doree Shafrir (38:36):
I guess. I don't know. There's so much that needs to be cleared out that we at least we need to get going on this because it's going to take a while. It's not something that we can just do in a day. So Godspeed, thank you so much. Speed during Matt, thank you so much. What about you?
Elise Hu (38:54):
Last week, my intention was to spend more time outside. I ended up with more time inside than I wanted because of Oscar developing a post-surgical complication than I had to spend so much time in waiting rooms of vets. So I'm going to try that again because the weather is beautiful. It rained a little bit, but now it's cleared up and we are just so, so fortunate to be in LA and have it not be freezing. So it's also coinciding with my birthday week, which is one of my favorite times of the year. My birthday is tomorrow February 17th and it's also Lunar New Year. Lunar new Year. And my birthday almost always happen on the same weekend, but very rarely on the same actual day. It is the beginning of the year of the fire horse, which is really auspicious according to my mother. The horse is an auspicious sign. The fire is fire is so generative in a lot of ways as an element. And so fire horse year only comes around every 48 years. So we're very excited about that. And it's me and Michael Jordan and Paris Hilton's birthday. So my intention is just to really
Doree Shafrir (40:06):
Celebrate life. Happy life. Birthday to all of you. Yeah.
Elise Hu (40:08):
Thank you. Thank you. I'll pass on word to parent,
(40:11)
But I just really want to celebrate life and all its abundance and it's an awesome time. I get to see a lot of friends. We usually get together and one of my friends whose baby I haven't met yet, she's going to bring the baby to birthday drinks. She's going to wear her. So I finally get to meet a new baby and squeeze her and smell newborn head. And I love the smell of newborns. There's just something so compelling about it. So anyway, I love it and I'm really excited and hoping that this new fire horse year brings goodness a little goodness and peace.
Doree Shafrir (40:50):
Yes. Amen. Alright, everybody. Forever35 is hosted and produced by me, Doree Shafrir and Elise Hu, and produced and edited by Sammee Junio. Sami Reed is our project manager and our network partner is Acast. Thanks everyone. Bye bye.