January 29, 2024 • 28 mins
Have you ever felt the profound impact of sisterhood ripple through your life? Nancy and Amy Harrington, creators of The Passionistas Project, join us to weave a tapestry of stories that celebrate the strength of female bonds and their effects on our emotional and brain health. As we traverse their transition from Hollywood to fostering a vibrant community for passion-driven women, we uncover the resilience behind their mission and the importance of having a support system that's as unwavering as it is nurturing. Their tales of empowerment remind us that whether in personal triumphs or professional pursuits, the solidarity of sisterhood is a force that can propel us to greatness.
Stepping into the arena of mindset, we bring in the expertise of a hypnotherapist and a motivational speaker to dissect the often paralyzing grip of negative thoughts and perfectionism. My own journey to medical school, littered with obstacles and self-doubt, stands testament to the power of encouragement. As we navigate the therapeutic world of journaling and the essential practice of gratitude, we gather the tools not only to redefine success but to embrace it in its true form. This episode is a heart-to-heart, a compilation of life lessons in resilience, gratitude, and kindness, all underpinned by the love and wisdom passed down from our dearest mentors. Join us as we share these narratives, strategies, and the undeniable warmth of a community rooted in passion and support.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (00:00):
Hello Glow family, thank you and welcome to
another episode of Brain Powerwith Dr.
Eko.
I have some amazing guests forus today The Passionistas
Sisters, Nancy and AmyHarrington.
Yes, I'm going to let themexplain what Passionistas means.
I think you can already guessby the name.
But yes, they are amazingsisters and they are here to
(00:22):
share with us the importance ofsisterhood, or even a
brotherhood or whatever the casemay be for you, but how
important all of that is tobuilding and growing our
emotional and brain health.
So without further ado.
I'm going to let them introducethemselves better, because I
know they have lots more to addto that.
(00:43):
I like to let my guestsintroduce themselves, so welcome
to the show, Nancy and Amy.
Nancy Harrington (00:49):
Thank you, thanks for having us.
So yeah, The PassionistasProject is an inclusive
sisterhood where passion-drivenwomen come to get support, they
find their purpose, they feelempowered to transform their
lives and change the world.
And we've had the Passionistasproject now for seven years, I
(01:10):
think.
I don't know, I can't do math,I'm not good at math but since
2017, whatever that is and westarted it just because we used
to have backgrounds in Hollywood.
We both worked in Hollywood andwe really wanted to use our
skill set to do something moreimpactful.
And there was so much going onwith women around the world,
with the Me Too movement, Time'sUp movement, and we really
(01:31):
wanted to share the positivestories about women and the
empowering stories about womenand inspire women to step into
their power.
So that's where thePassionistas project came from.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (01:43):
I love it.
It's wonderful.
So, Amy, would you like to addto that introduction?
Amy Harrington (01:49):
No, I think Nancy summed it up really well
except we're just.
We are constantly surrounded byincredible women who are doing
amazing and diverse things, whoare from marginalized
communities, who are you know,don't ever don't find.
They don't often get a chanceto speak for themselves, to
(02:09):
share their own stories.
People tend to speak for themor about them, and we give
everybody a platform to telltheir own story, and we're just
so fortunate to have thatsupport network for ourselves as
well.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (02:25):
Yes, so critical to have support networks.
I don't think I'll be sittinghere talking to you if I didn't
have a support network, becauseit is real and I tell all my
parents, my parents, we all needpeople to talk to.
It's so critical for us becausethere is no way we can take
care of our kids if we haven'ttaken care of ourselves.
So 100% impossible.
Amy Harrington (02:46):
I think you would agree with that Nancy was
sick for a few months last yearand I had to do a lot of it just
me, and I'm not used to that.
You know, with Nancy and I havebeen business partners now for
20 years and it was reallystressful just the thought of,
(03:06):
oh, I should run this by her.
Oh, no, I can't.
And we've been preaching toeverybody for years now, and
especially with this newmembership community that we're
starting, that we are our targetaudience and our members and
our loyal following are peoplewho are out there doing it all
by themselves.
They don't work in bigcompanies, they don't have HR
(03:27):
departments or they don't have,you know, some big medical
network that they can tap intofor their personal needs and
what they like.
About what we have is thesisterhood and how we can rely
on each other, we can trust eachother, we support each other
without question, and we alwayssay, well, be a part of our
(03:48):
sisterhood, because weunderstand and it was until
Nancy got sick that I reallyunderstood.
Oh my God, doing this 100% oreven 98%, because I could still
be like so I know you're in bed,but just one quick question.
Doing it on your own is so hardand you really just need
(04:09):
someone to say, like, does thislook okay to you?
Or, before I send this email,will you check it out?
So we have a new appreciationin the last eight months for how
hard it is to not have peoplearound you in your business, in
your personal life, in making animpact in the world.
To be out there doing it onyour own is daunting.
(04:32):
So we want to give people achance to join our sisterhood so
that we can be supportivebecause we get it.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (04:39):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Let's go back to the beginning.
How did this sisterhood evenbegin?
I know you are sisters, butstill there are sisters that
don't talk to each other.
Nancy Harrington (04:54):
Amy and I have been best friends since she was
born.
The family lures that I askedmy mother to have a baby when I
went to kindergarten so that shewouldn't be lonely.
But in fact I was the one whowas lonely and I wanted a sister
and I got my sister a fewmonths later and we've been best
friends ever since and we'vespent a lot of time together and
we loved each other and we haveall the same interests and
(05:20):
thought processes.
We really do kind of share abrain.
It's a little strange.
We sometimes say we're twinsthat have separated by five
years, because we sort of havethat twin power.
But after college Amy moved toCalifornia and I was back on the
East Coast.
I followed her.
10 years later Finally came outto California.
We were both in Hollywood.
(05:40):
Amy was the vice president ofpost-production and visual
effects at Warner BrothersStudios, working on all of the
feature films.
She worked on over 250 featurefilms While she was there,
including Harry Potter and theMatrixes and Batman and all
sorts of amazing movies.
I, back in Boston, had my owngraphic design business and my
(06:01):
own theater company that I hadwith my husband, and then, when
I moved to California, I startedworking at an ad agency that
did the Academy Award campaignsfor Miramax and Paramount
Classics.
So we were both heavilyentrenched in the Hollywood
business and we loved it.
But it was super stressful andwe both decided at the same time
(06:22):
that again because we share abrain that we were ready for the
next adventure.
So we quit our jobs at the sametime and we really know what we
were gonna do.
We were working with a friendon a project that it wasn't
really going anywhere and webounced around.
We did a bunch of different oddjobs, video jobs and all sorts
of crazy things.
(06:43):
But we landed in the world ofcelebrity interviewing and we
did, and still do, celebrityinterviews, archival interviews
under a couple of hours long.
We do a lot of red carpet stuffand it's really fun.
And it's really fun to do ittogether because it's like, oh
my God, that's Laverton andShirley and we used to watch
them together on TV when we werelittle, so it's been really fun
(07:06):
.
But in 2016, like we said,things started changing and we
realized we have these skillsthat we could apply towards
doing something more impactfuland we really wanted to promote
women.
So that's how the PassionistasProject came about and we
started with a podcast and wherewe interview women who are
following their passions.
(07:27):
And we still have our podcastsand if you've never heard it,
it's amazing, go check out thesewomen.
And we also have a subscriptionbox that's filled with products
by women-owned businesses andwe are launching.
We have an annual summit that'sthe Women's Equality Summit,
where we bring women frommarginalized communities
together to share, to talk abouttheir shared challenges.
(07:50):
And then we are launching nextweek the Sisterhood.
So that's kind of the longtrajectory of our story, wow
that's simply amazing.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (08:00):
That's all.
Through the twists and turns.
You remained together, evenwhen you were apart, you still
remain together.
Amy Harrington (08:08):
So you know, that's that it's really, it's
been one of the most interestingthings to me is like we
discovered these new foundpassions along the way and we
both had a passion for the samethings.
Like one of us ever dreamed ofbeing celebrity interviewers,
and we're actually veryintroverted people and now, all
of a sudden, we're like sittingdown and having three hour
(08:29):
conversations with people and weboth fell in love with it.
And then, when it was like,okay, we need to use these
skills to support women, we bothwere 100% on board with it.
Like everything along the wayhas just been like yep, that's
the next thing we're gonna do.
That makes total sense.
So we're very, very lucky thatwe are, our interests and our
(08:50):
passions have evolved on thesame path, thank God.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (08:54):
Well, because you do share a brain Totally.
Nancy Harrington (08:57):
Totally, we really do, we really.
I can't believe that.
What else, what the we?
Dr. Hokehe Eko (09:02):
can't explain it that Right.
So, yes, I agree, I agree toyour statement that you do share
a brain.
You can see it while we'resitting here.
We, like you can see it.
You look so unlike to and, yes,that's wonderful.
So what are the ways that youfound that helping women find
(09:24):
their voice that helps them growas people, as women, like, yeah
.
So what are the ways you foundthat that help with what you're
doing?
Amy Harrington (09:37):
Well, I think that in general, we've come a
long way, but we have a long wayto go right.
So I think, in general, womenstill are feeling like they're
supposed to be empowered,they're allowed to be empowered,
but there are all theserestrictions put on us, and even
politically, more and morerestrictions seem to be putting
(10:00):
on us, being put on us in recentyears.
So I think one is just it givespeople a chance to really step
into their power in a way thatthey might not, they might think
they can in the world outside,but they there's something
(10:22):
holding them back a little bit.
And I think when you'resurrounded by women who are also
trying to step into their poweror stepping into their power,
it gives you the strength andthe courage to do it.
So we have a lot of women whoare empty nesters, or they are
women who have had massivecorporate jobs or have had their
(10:48):
own medical practice andthey're at an age or a point in
their life where it's like, yeah, but I really want to have a
crochet business, or I reallywant to be a writer and no
matter how powerful you've beenin this position in the past,
that's a scary thing to stepinto.
(11:08):
That you know that truth ofwhat you really want to do.
So by having these other womenaround you who are encouraging
you to do it, but also holdingyou accountable for getting it
done and giving you the cheeringyou on and by giving you the
reality check, I think it justlets women be who they
(11:30):
ultimately really want to be andknow it's OK.
And I think our I mean we justspoke to a woman yesterday.
She's a disability rightsactivist and she's one of our
power passionistas.
In our community we have whatwe call our power passionistas
and they're our resident expertsand her name is Selena Luna.
She's an actress and adisability rights activist and
(11:52):
she was saying she just what sheappreciates about being a part
of this is just the inspiration,just like every event we've
done that she's been a part of.
She says she walks away from itfeeling inspired by what she's
heard the other women say andthere's a lot to be said.
Just from you know it's that ifyou see it, you can be it thing
you know.
So if you see a woman with adisability getting up and
(12:14):
talking about how she's overcomeall of the challenges society
keeps throwing in her path tobecome an actress or a comedian
or whatever that the journey is.
I think it just helps otherwomen realize they can do it too
.
So that's what the sisterhoodbrings out, you know.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (12:33):
Yes, that is so, so, so, so important.
Nancy Harrington (12:37):
Yeah.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (12:37):
I mean, I even I have my own brain story, which
is why I talk about the brain Iwas told.
Short story was I was told Icould not go to medical school
because I was in two caraccidents back to back and the
doctor flat out told me you willnever go to med school, I
suggest you go find somethingelse to do.
Well, I believed him at first,but then I had my family telling
(12:58):
me oh no, you're a doctor, youare going back to school,
whether you failed out or not.
So of course I headed back toschool and here we are.
But if I didn't have thatsupport in my corner, if I don't
, if I haven't found a tribe offellow women saying you can do
this, you can run a practice,you can from the ground up, you
can do all of those things, itwouldn't happen.
(13:20):
So I really applaud you forwhat you're doing and reaching
out to marginalized women, whooften are surrounded by people
telling them they can't.
That word can't, can't, can't.
Nancy Harrington (13:34):
And there's nothing stronger.
There's nothing stronger than awoman who's been told she can't
do something Exactly.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (13:42):
Right, because that's exactly what she's going
to do.
Nancy Harrington (13:46):
Yes.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (13:47):
Yeah, so that's so wonderful.
So in what ways do youencourage women to build
resilience?
I appreciate the community, butI'm sure that there are things
that you tell them that helpthem build up that power inside
of themselves to know, yes, Ican do it, even though I feel
the fear.
(14:07):
How can I overcome the fear andstill do it?
Nancy Harrington (14:11):
Right, yeah, we have a lot of great women in
our community that talk aboutbuilding confidence and stepping
into your fear and yeah, Ithink that's the biggest thing
and again it's you know you justneed somebody, like whether
it's your parents or your sisteror somebody like I think you
need to have somebody cheeringyou on.
You know you need to have thecheerleader.
(14:32):
So I think the biggest thing isto find your cheerleader, you
know, find somebody who's goingto be honest, give their feed
back.
But just not let you stop notlet you give up on your dream or
your passion, or you know yourdrive.
So I think to me that's thebiggest thing.
I don't know, what do you think, aimee?
Amy Harrington (14:51):
I mean I think if you're looking within, one of
our power passionistas is awoman named Lauren Best who is a
hypnotherapist, and she's beentalking a lot lately about
letting go of perfectionism.
Because I think that's anotherbig thing that women have been
told.
You know we, to get to that oneseat at the table, you have to
(15:13):
be 100 times better thaneverybody else, so you can't
make a single mistake and youcan't let them see you sweat,
you know.
So we've been having a lot ofconversations lately with Lauren
and Julie DeLuca Collins, who'sanother one of our power
passionistas, and just a lot ofother women about the fact that
Just do it, don't wait till it'sperfect, move forward, and it's
(15:37):
never gonna be perfect.
The only person that's looking,really looking for that
perfectionism is you, yep, andnobody else knows what perfect
means.
Exactly Right, you have thisimage of perfect in your head
and it's like if I said to Nancyoh, that's not perfect, she'd
(15:57):
be like why it looks great.
You know, I'm constantly doingthat like this is crooked and
she's like okay, I want to letgo, like just what you are, so
much more than good enough.
You're amazing.
Let go of the perfectionism anddo it.
You can fix any mistakes alongthe way, you know.
(16:19):
Just just you got to.
You got to find it in yourselfto let go of all that pressure.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (16:26):
Yes, you're absolutely right, Because nobody
else can actually do that Right, and it's actually like
starting to believe that weactually have value.
I think a lot of the issuescomes from when we think because
of what we've been told, oreven as a side effect of what
we've been told, we come up withthe idea in our heads that we
(16:47):
are not enough and we are notincapable, and all of that, and
it does take.
It does take some doing tochange your thoughts where it's
possible.
It's possible to change thethoughts that you're thinking
about yourself, because I thinkultimately that affects the
steps that you take right.
(17:07):
And your ability to move forwardAbsolutely.
Nancy Harrington (17:12):
Absolutely, 100% agree.
As a medical professional, doyou have this?
Do you, are you aware of thesteps, the thoughts you need to
tell yourself to get out of thatnegative space?
Dr. Hokehe Eko (17:25):
Yes, I am Definitely.
Oh, yeah, I have them all daylong.
But it's about questioning thethoughts, right?
So if a thought comes in yourhead is asking, is that true?
And then the question, theanswer may be yes or no and you
ask yourself again is thatreally true?
(17:46):
And the fact that you justpaused by asking you pause that
thought by asking the question,already pauses the thoughts in
its steps, in its tracks, right?
And then your brain has achance to like recalibrate
itself.
Because now you're questioningyour brain versus just letting
your brain like take over.
I like to remind people we arestill in control of our brains
(18:07):
and we still can overridethoughts.
So that's what I found, I tellpeople and when I teach that to
my parents, or wherever I'mtalking.
Even the kids I take care of.
I'm like let's question yourthought.
Is that really true?
And then, if it's not true,then what's the truth?
Then we tell ourselves thetruth and then we go take the
(18:27):
corresponding action, because Ifound that helps.
Is that what you used to?
Nancy Harrington (18:32):
That's great, it's perfect.
Yeah, I just always hear whatother people have to say about
it, because it's so helpful toeveryone.
We all have those negativethoughts, right?
Dr. Hokehe Eko (18:41):
Yeah.
Amy Harrington (18:42):
And so what reminds me?
It's a slightly different topic, but it reminds me of this.
I heard this monk speak onetime and he was talking about
monkey brain.
In that, which I have a lotlike, I get five years ahead,
it's like no wait, what'shappening right now?
And his thing was when yourmonkey brain starts to spin out
of control, give your monkeysomething else to do.
(19:02):
So say to your monkey like okay, monkey, let's focus on what
you know, what are you going towear tomorrow?
Because it always happens inthe middle of the night, right?
So I always think that, like,that's my little.
It's a similar thing.
Like okay, I'm spinning out ofcontrol on this.
Like you know why I focused onthis crazy thought.
(19:22):
And it's like, give your monkeysomething else to do and it
just, you know, helps yourefocus on the task at hand or
the reality of your situation.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (19:33):
Yes, oh, I love that, the monkey.
I like that when I tell themthat, so I'm going to borrow
that.
No, tell me a monkey.
Okay that's funny.
So, Nancy, what do you use tocounteract your negative thought
?
Nancy Harrington (19:53):
It's funny, Amy taught me the monkey thing
and I definitely do the monkeything.
I found my bed spinning out,I'll find myself lying in bed
trying to go to sleep andfeeling anxious.
It's like I'm in the safety ofmy own bedroom.
Everything's calm.
Why am I anxious?
I do that thing like, okay,good process.
(20:14):
What I'm really anxious about?
But yeah, I tell the monkey,like, think about something else
that you can't solve thisproblem right now.
It's like clock in the morningit's like you look too bad yeah.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (20:25):
Yeah, no, have you found that?
I saw that you have yoursuccess journal.
So you talk about theimportance of journaling,
because that's a reallyimportant thing to help you
demand.
Amy Harrington (20:38):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think it's just such the
best way to get the thoughtsout of your head, you know, and
to write them down.
I used to have two journals.
I haven't done this in a longtime, but I used to have two
journals One that was like moreof my gratitude, like these okay
, these are my positive thoughtsand these are like the things
(20:58):
I'm going to remember when I getstressed out, like lately it's
been Nancy's healthy, anythingthat starts to worry me or freak
me out.
I'm like, yes, but Nancy'shealthy, and she wasn't for a
long time last year.
But then I also had a secondjournal which was letting my
negative stuff just spew out andI didn't want to mix the two up
(21:19):
.
I wanted, like one to just belike the good stuff and one to
be my darkest, you know,thoughts and, and so that I
found that really helped me.
And then, when Nancy and Istarted to realize we had all of
these quotes from all theseincredible women that we've been
interviewing, we've done over Idon't know a hundred and
(21:39):
something interviews at thispoint and just for our podcast,
and we, everyone we always askwhat's your definition of
success?
Because that's a huge part ofour community and our philosophy
.
You know we had from theoutside world.
We had what you would considerultimate success, but we weren't
enjoying it and we weren'thappy doing it, and so we needed
(22:05):
to figure out what successmeant to us after that, because
it certainly wasn't going to betitles and it certainly wasn't
going to be money.
So what did success look likeif those weren't the definitions
of it?
And so, as we were interviewingwomen, we always ask that
question and we get the mostamazing and, again, inspiring
answers.
So we put together the journalas a, as a, you know, helpful
(22:28):
tool for women out there who aretrying to kind of redefine that
in their lives.
And I've gone through it.
I've actually, you know, wewrote it and we put it, pulled
it all together, but I'veactually gone through it now and
I've started doing it, and itjust shifts your perspective.
When you hear someone else saysuccess is feeling satisfied at
the end of the day, it's like,yeah, okay, I, I, I do feel that
(22:51):
.
Or who are the women in yourlife that are your support
network?
And you make that list and yousee who's there on your side
cheering you on.
It's like it just totally againshifts your perspective and
gets those negative thoughts incheck.
Nancy Harrington (23:08):
Yeah, the way the journalists set up, we had
it's a 52 week journal.
I mean you can do it quickerthan that, but if you want you
to do one a week, there's aquote from somebody that we've
interviewed on our podcast andnext to it there's a prompt, and
so sometimes it's make a listor, you know, make a playlist of
songs and, you know, have adance party or do a collage of
(23:29):
something you know.
So it's a fun journal and itreally, like Baby says, it
really gives your thoughtprocess, it shifts your thought
process a little bit, yeah, andwe hope that we can help women
to find success on their ownterms, you know, because success
isn't just money or a title.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (23:45):
You know, those two things can disappear really
fast.
And then what right that bringsyou to?
Who am I and what's my identityand where do I fit in this
world?
And those eight littlequestions we asked.
But I wanted to go back tosomething about your journal,
because when your thoughts shift, once it shifts your
(24:06):
perspective, then that shiftsyou into gratitude, which of
course, will help your newfoundthoughts, like, keep going right
, and so you're less likely, oreven when you fall back into the
negative thoughts, or you havethem, then you're more,
hopefully, will remember thethings you agree to for the
things that have happened andthe success you've defined for
(24:28):
yourself, and then you'll bemore likely to move forward.
Right, so it's like stepwise.
Right, so it helps you Like,yeah, that's wonderful.
So, yeah, do you have any lastminute tips that you would like
to share with our parents, tipsabout how they can implement
(24:50):
this in their own lives?
We've talked about, we'vetouched, a few different things,
but your last takeaways wouldbe great.
Amy Harrington (24:58):
Yeah, I mean it's interesting that, speaking
to parents, because we weretalking to someone recently and
we were saying, you know, thisis all the real genesis of this,
if you really want to dig deepinto it, is the principles our
mother taught us.
Our mother was amazing and shepassed away when we were in our
20s and 30s, and which was along time ago, and you know, she
(25:23):
taught us the importance of thefact that your brother and your
sisters are always your bestfriends.
They're always there for you.
They are no matter what happensin life.
You can have your littlesquabbles over who gets to put
one on the TV or whatever, butthe end of the day they're there
for you.
(25:43):
And we realized very, you know,probably six months ago, as we
were working on this, like thisis really for our mother and
really important guidance andbasic principles of love and
kindness that she instilled inus.
And so I think, as parents, notonly for your children but for
(26:06):
yourself and each other, it'slike don't forget those Betty
principles, you know, like giveyourself, cut yourself some
slack, give yourself a littlebit of love when you're having a
hard day, you know, rememberthat you're always there for
yourself.
And then you know, spread thatwith the other people in your
(26:27):
life.
Nancy Harrington (26:29):
I can't say it any better than that.
That was beautiful.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (26:35):
Yes, it sounds like back to basics love,
kindness, grace for yourself,because, again, nobody's perfect
, nobody is a rife.
You never quite arrive.
I don't think that's the fun.
Amy Harrington (26:50):
It's the journey that is, and is the fun part.
Like we the other day had arealization like oh my God, but
this weird thing that we spent ayear doing in our lives that
seemed completely disconnected.
We were like, oh my God, thisis why we did that thing for a
year, because now we're doingthis and it makes sense, so you
got to enjoy the journey.
It's not easy every day, but itis the fun part.
Nancy Harrington (27:14):
Wonderful.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (27:16):
But when you do it in sisterhood, it makes all
the difference, it's even better.
Yeah, yes.
So tell our listeners wherethey can find out about your
podcast, about your sisterhoodthat's launching, about the
success journal.
Nancy Harrington (27:32):
The best way to find us is go to
thepassionistasprojectcom.
All of our social is there, thebook is there, the sisterhood
links are there and you canalways email us and DM us on
social media.
We're open books and we'reready to answer any questions
you have and give you somesupport.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (27:51):
Yeah, wonderful.
Thank you so much, ladies, forcoming on.
I'm sure I got some wonderfulthings out of this, and I'm sure
you did too, so please leave usyour thoughts, questions,
reviews.
We appreciate it all and lookforward to talking with you on
the next episode.
So, thank you.
Amy Harrington (28:10):
Thanks for having us, thanks for having us,
thank you, thank you.
Hello Glow family, thank you and welcome to
another episode of Brain Powerwith Dr.
Eko.
I have some amazing guests forus today The Passionistas
Sisters, Nancy and AmyHarrington.
Yes, I'm going to let themexplain what Passionistas means.
I think you can already guessby the name.
But yes, they are amazingsisters and they are here to
(00:22):
share with us the importance ofsisterhood, or even a
brotherhood or whatever the casemay be for you, but how
important all of that is tobuilding and growing our
emotional and brain health.
So without further ado.
I'm going to let them introducethemselves better, because I
know they have lots more to addto that.
(00:43):
I like to let my guestsintroduce themselves, so welcome
to the show, Nancy and Amy.
Nancy Harrington (00:49):
Thank you, thanks for having us.
So yeah, The PassionistasProject is an inclusive
sisterhood where passion-drivenwomen come to get support, they
find their purpose, they feelempowered to transform their
lives and change the world.
And we've had the Passionistasproject now for seven years, I
(01:10):
think.
I don't know, I can't do math,I'm not good at math but since
2017, whatever that is and westarted it just because we used
to have backgrounds in Hollywood.
We both worked in Hollywood andwe really wanted to use our
skill set to do something moreimpactful.
And there was so much going onwith women around the world,
with the Me Too movement, Time'sUp movement, and we really
(01:31):
wanted to share the positivestories about women and the
empowering stories about womenand inspire women to step into
their power.
So that's where thePassionistas project came from.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (01:43):
I love it.
It's wonderful.
So, Amy, would you like to addto that introduction?
Amy Harrington (01:49):
No, I think Nancy summed it up really well
except we're just.
We are constantly surrounded byincredible women who are doing
amazing and diverse things, whoare from marginalized
communities, who are you know,don't ever don't find.
They don't often get a chanceto speak for themselves, to
(02:09):
share their own stories.
People tend to speak for themor about them, and we give
everybody a platform to telltheir own story, and we're just
so fortunate to have thatsupport network for ourselves as
well.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (02:25):
Yes, so critical to have support networks.
I don't think I'll be sittinghere talking to you if I didn't
have a support network, becauseit is real and I tell all my
parents, my parents, we all needpeople to talk to.
It's so critical for us becausethere is no way we can take
care of our kids if we haven'ttaken care of ourselves.
So 100% impossible.
Amy Harrington (02:46):
I think you would agree with that Nancy was
sick for a few months last yearand I had to do a lot of it just
me, and I'm not used to that.
You know, with Nancy and I havebeen business partners now for
20 years and it was reallystressful just the thought of,
(03:06):
oh, I should run this by her.
Oh, no, I can't.
And we've been preaching toeverybody for years now, and
especially with this newmembership community that we're
starting, that we are our targetaudience and our members and
our loyal following are peoplewho are out there doing it all
by themselves.
They don't work in bigcompanies, they don't have HR
(03:27):
departments or they don't have,you know, some big medical
network that they can tap intofor their personal needs and
what they like.
About what we have is thesisterhood and how we can rely
on each other, we can trust eachother, we support each other
without question, and we alwayssay, well, be a part of our
(03:48):
sisterhood, because weunderstand and it was until
Nancy got sick that I reallyunderstood.
Oh my God, doing this 100% oreven 98%, because I could still
be like so I know you're in bed,but just one quick question.
Doing it on your own is so hardand you really just need
(04:09):
someone to say, like, does thislook okay to you?
Or, before I send this email,will you check it out?
So we have a new appreciationin the last eight months for how
hard it is to not have peoplearound you in your business, in
your personal life, in making animpact in the world.
To be out there doing it onyour own is daunting.
(04:32):
So we want to give people achance to join our sisterhood so
that we can be supportivebecause we get it.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (04:39):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Let's go back to the beginning.
How did this sisterhood evenbegin?
I know you are sisters, butstill there are sisters that
don't talk to each other.
Nancy Harrington (04:54):
Amy and I have been best friends since she was
born.
The family lures that I askedmy mother to have a baby when I
went to kindergarten so that shewouldn't be lonely.
But in fact I was the one whowas lonely and I wanted a sister
and I got my sister a fewmonths later and we've been best
friends ever since and we'vespent a lot of time together and
we loved each other and we haveall the same interests and
(05:20):
thought processes.
We really do kind of share abrain.
It's a little strange.
We sometimes say we're twinsthat have separated by five
years, because we sort of havethat twin power.
But after college Amy moved toCalifornia and I was back on the
East Coast.
I followed her.
10 years later Finally came outto California.
We were both in Hollywood.
(05:40):
Amy was the vice president ofpost-production and visual
effects at Warner BrothersStudios, working on all of the
feature films.
She worked on over 250 featurefilms While she was there,
including Harry Potter and theMatrixes and Batman and all
sorts of amazing movies.
I, back in Boston, had my owngraphic design business and my
(06:01):
own theater company that I hadwith my husband, and then, when
I moved to California, I startedworking at an ad agency that
did the Academy Award campaignsfor Miramax and Paramount
Classics.
So we were both heavilyentrenched in the Hollywood
business and we loved it.
But it was super stressful andwe both decided at the same time
(06:22):
that again because we share abrain that we were ready for the
next adventure.
So we quit our jobs at the sametime and we really know what we
were gonna do.
We were working with a friendon a project that it wasn't
really going anywhere and webounced around.
We did a bunch of different oddjobs, video jobs and all sorts
of crazy things.
(06:43):
But we landed in the world ofcelebrity interviewing and we
did, and still do, celebrityinterviews, archival interviews
under a couple of hours long.
We do a lot of red carpet stuffand it's really fun.
And it's really fun to do ittogether because it's like, oh
my God, that's Laverton andShirley and we used to watch
them together on TV when we werelittle, so it's been really fun
(07:06):
.
But in 2016, like we said,things started changing and we
realized we have these skillsthat we could apply towards
doing something more impactfuland we really wanted to promote
women.
So that's how the PassionistasProject came about and we
started with a podcast and wherewe interview women who are
following their passions.
(07:27):
And we still have our podcastsand if you've never heard it,
it's amazing, go check out thesewomen.
And we also have a subscriptionbox that's filled with products
by women-owned businesses andwe are launching.
We have an annual summit that'sthe Women's Equality Summit,
where we bring women frommarginalized communities
together to share, to talk abouttheir shared challenges.
(07:50):
And then we are launching nextweek the Sisterhood.
So that's kind of the longtrajectory of our story, wow
that's simply amazing.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (08:00):
That's all.
Through the twists and turns.
You remained together, evenwhen you were apart, you still
remain together.
Amy Harrington (08:08):
So you know, that's that it's really, it's
been one of the most interestingthings to me is like we
discovered these new foundpassions along the way and we
both had a passion for the samethings.
Like one of us ever dreamed ofbeing celebrity interviewers,
and we're actually veryintroverted people and now, all
of a sudden, we're like sittingdown and having three hour
(08:29):
conversations with people and weboth fell in love with it.
And then, when it was like,okay, we need to use these
skills to support women, we bothwere 100% on board with it.
Like everything along the wayhas just been like yep, that's
the next thing we're gonna do.
That makes total sense.
So we're very, very lucky thatwe are, our interests and our
(08:50):
passions have evolved on thesame path, thank God.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (08:54):
Well, because you do share a brain Totally.
Nancy Harrington (08:57):
Totally, we really do, we really.
I can't believe that.
What else, what the we?
Dr. Hokehe Eko (09:02):
can't explain it that Right.
So, yes, I agree, I agree toyour statement that you do share
a brain.
You can see it while we'resitting here.
We, like you can see it.
You look so unlike to and, yes,that's wonderful.
So what are the ways that youfound that helping women find
(09:24):
their voice that helps them growas people, as women, like, yeah
.
So what are the ways you foundthat that help with what you're
doing?
Amy Harrington (09:37):
Well, I think that in general, we've come a
long way, but we have a long wayto go right.
So I think, in general, womenstill are feeling like they're
supposed to be empowered,they're allowed to be empowered,
but there are all theserestrictions put on us, and even
politically, more and morerestrictions seem to be putting
(10:00):
on us, being put on us in recentyears.
So I think one is just it givespeople a chance to really step
into their power in a way thatthey might not, they might think
they can in the world outside,but they there's something
(10:22):
holding them back a little bit.
And I think when you'resurrounded by women who are also
trying to step into their poweror stepping into their power,
it gives you the strength andthe courage to do it.
So we have a lot of women whoare empty nesters, or they are
women who have had massivecorporate jobs or have had their
(10:48):
own medical practice andthey're at an age or a point in
their life where it's like, yeah, but I really want to have a
crochet business, or I reallywant to be a writer and no
matter how powerful you've beenin this position in the past,
that's a scary thing to stepinto.
(11:08):
That you know that truth ofwhat you really want to do.
So by having these other womenaround you who are encouraging
you to do it, but also holdingyou accountable for getting it
done and giving you the cheeringyou on and by giving you the
reality check, I think it justlets women be who they
(11:30):
ultimately really want to be andknow it's OK.
And I think our I mean we justspoke to a woman yesterday.
She's a disability rightsactivist and she's one of our
power passionistas.
In our community we have whatwe call our power passionistas
and they're our resident expertsand her name is Selena Luna.
She's an actress and adisability rights activist and
(11:52):
she was saying she just what sheappreciates about being a part
of this is just the inspiration,just like every event we've
done that she's been a part of.
She says she walks away from itfeeling inspired by what she's
heard the other women say andthere's a lot to be said.
Just from you know it's that ifyou see it, you can be it thing
you know.
So if you see a woman with adisability getting up and
(12:14):
talking about how she's overcomeall of the challenges society
keeps throwing in her path tobecome an actress or a comedian
or whatever that the journey is.
I think it just helps otherwomen realize they can do it too
.
So that's what the sisterhoodbrings out, you know.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (12:33):
Yes, that is so, so, so, so important.
Nancy Harrington (12:37):
Yeah.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (12:37):
I mean, I even I have my own brain story, which
is why I talk about the brain Iwas told.
Short story was I was told Icould not go to medical school
because I was in two caraccidents back to back and the
doctor flat out told me you willnever go to med school, I
suggest you go find somethingelse to do.
Well, I believed him at first,but then I had my family telling
(12:58):
me oh no, you're a doctor, youare going back to school,
whether you failed out or not.
So of course I headed back toschool and here we are.
But if I didn't have thatsupport in my corner, if I don't
, if I haven't found a tribe offellow women saying you can do
this, you can run a practice,you can from the ground up, you
can do all of those things, itwouldn't happen.
(13:20):
So I really applaud you forwhat you're doing and reaching
out to marginalized women, whooften are surrounded by people
telling them they can't.
That word can't, can't, can't.
Nancy Harrington (13:34):
And there's nothing stronger.
There's nothing stronger than awoman who's been told she can't
do something Exactly.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (13:42):
Right, because that's exactly what she's going
to do.
Nancy Harrington (13:46):
Yes.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (13:47):
Yeah, so that's so wonderful.
So in what ways do youencourage women to build
resilience?
I appreciate the community, butI'm sure that there are things
that you tell them that helpthem build up that power inside
of themselves to know, yes, Ican do it, even though I feel
the fear.
(14:07):
How can I overcome the fear andstill do it?
Nancy Harrington (14:11):
Right, yeah, we have a lot of great women in
our community that talk aboutbuilding confidence and stepping
into your fear and yeah, Ithink that's the biggest thing
and again it's you know you justneed somebody, like whether
it's your parents or your sisteror somebody like I think you
need to have somebody cheeringyou on.
You know you need to have thecheerleader.
(14:32):
So I think the biggest thing isto find your cheerleader, you
know, find somebody who's goingto be honest, give their feed
back.
But just not let you stop notlet you give up on your dream or
your passion, or you know yourdrive.
So I think to me that's thebiggest thing.
I don't know, what do you think, aimee?
Amy Harrington (14:51):
I mean I think if you're looking within, one of
our power passionistas is awoman named Lauren Best who is a
hypnotherapist, and she's beentalking a lot lately about
letting go of perfectionism.
Because I think that's anotherbig thing that women have been
told.
You know we, to get to that oneseat at the table, you have to
(15:13):
be 100 times better thaneverybody else, so you can't
make a single mistake and youcan't let them see you sweat,
you know.
So we've been having a lot ofconversations lately with Lauren
and Julie DeLuca Collins, who'sanother one of our power
passionistas, and just a lot ofother women about the fact that
Just do it, don't wait till it'sperfect, move forward, and it's
(15:37):
never gonna be perfect.
The only person that's looking,really looking for that
perfectionism is you, yep, andnobody else knows what perfect
means.
Exactly Right, you have thisimage of perfect in your head
and it's like if I said to Nancyoh, that's not perfect, she'd
(15:57):
be like why it looks great.
You know, I'm constantly doingthat like this is crooked and
she's like okay, I want to letgo, like just what you are, so
much more than good enough.
You're amazing.
Let go of the perfectionism anddo it.
You can fix any mistakes alongthe way, you know.
(16:19):
Just just you got to.
You got to find it in yourselfto let go of all that pressure.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (16:26):
Yes, you're absolutely right, Because nobody
else can actually do that Right, and it's actually like
starting to believe that weactually have value.
I think a lot of the issuescomes from when we think because
of what we've been told, oreven as a side effect of what
we've been told, we come up withthe idea in our heads that we
(16:47):
are not enough and we are notincapable, and all of that, and
it does take.
It does take some doing tochange your thoughts where it's
possible.
It's possible to change thethoughts that you're thinking
about yourself, because I thinkultimately that affects the
steps that you take right.
(17:07):
And your ability to move forwardAbsolutely.
Nancy Harrington (17:12):
Absolutely, 100% agree.
As a medical professional, doyou have this?
Do you, are you aware of thesteps, the thoughts you need to
tell yourself to get out of thatnegative space?
Dr. Hokehe Eko (17:25):
Yes, I am Definitely.
Oh, yeah, I have them all daylong.
But it's about questioning thethoughts, right?
So if a thought comes in yourhead is asking, is that true?
And then the question, theanswer may be yes or no and you
ask yourself again is thatreally true?
(17:46):
And the fact that you justpaused by asking you pause that
thought by asking the question,already pauses the thoughts in
its steps, in its tracks, right?
And then your brain has achance to like recalibrate
itself.
Because now you're questioningyour brain versus just letting
your brain like take over.
I like to remind people we arestill in control of our brains
(18:07):
and we still can overridethoughts.
So that's what I found, I tellpeople and when I teach that to
my parents, or wherever I'mtalking.
Even the kids I take care of.
I'm like let's question yourthought.
Is that really true?
And then, if it's not true,then what's the truth?
Then we tell ourselves thetruth and then we go take the
(18:27):
corresponding action, because Ifound that helps.
Is that what you used to?
Nancy Harrington (18:32):
That's great, it's perfect.
Yeah, I just always hear whatother people have to say about
it, because it's so helpful toeveryone.
We all have those negativethoughts, right?
Dr. Hokehe Eko (18:41):
Yeah.
Amy Harrington (18:42):
And so what reminds me?
It's a slightly different topic, but it reminds me of this.
I heard this monk speak onetime and he was talking about
monkey brain.
In that, which I have a lotlike, I get five years ahead,
it's like no wait, what'shappening right now?
And his thing was when yourmonkey brain starts to spin out
of control, give your monkeysomething else to do.
(19:02):
So say to your monkey like okay, monkey, let's focus on what
you know, what are you going towear tomorrow?
Because it always happens inthe middle of the night, right?
So I always think that, like,that's my little.
It's a similar thing.
Like okay, I'm spinning out ofcontrol on this.
Like you know why I focused onthis crazy thought.
(19:22):
And it's like, give your monkeysomething else to do and it
just, you know, helps yourefocus on the task at hand or
the reality of your situation.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (19:33):
Yes, oh, I love that, the monkey.
I like that when I tell themthat, so I'm going to borrow
that.
No, tell me a monkey.
Okay that's funny.
So, Nancy, what do you use tocounteract your negative thought
?
Nancy Harrington (19:53):
It's funny, Amy taught me the monkey thing
and I definitely do the monkeything.
I found my bed spinning out,I'll find myself lying in bed
trying to go to sleep andfeeling anxious.
It's like I'm in the safety ofmy own bedroom.
Everything's calm.
Why am I anxious?
I do that thing like, okay,good process.
(20:14):
What I'm really anxious about?
But yeah, I tell the monkey,like, think about something else
that you can't solve thisproblem right now.
It's like clock in the morningit's like you look too bad yeah.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (20:25):
Yeah, no, have you found that?
I saw that you have yoursuccess journal.
So you talk about theimportance of journaling,
because that's a reallyimportant thing to help you
demand.
Amy Harrington (20:38):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think it's just such the
best way to get the thoughtsout of your head, you know, and
to write them down.
I used to have two journals.
I haven't done this in a longtime, but I used to have two
journals One that was like moreof my gratitude, like these okay
, these are my positive thoughtsand these are like the things
(20:58):
I'm going to remember when I getstressed out, like lately it's
been Nancy's healthy, anythingthat starts to worry me or freak
me out.
I'm like, yes, but Nancy'shealthy, and she wasn't for a
long time last year.
But then I also had a secondjournal which was letting my
negative stuff just spew out andI didn't want to mix the two up
(21:19):
.
I wanted, like one to just belike the good stuff and one to
be my darkest, you know,thoughts and, and so that I
found that really helped me.
And then, when Nancy and Istarted to realize we had all of
these quotes from all theseincredible women that we've been
interviewing, we've done over Idon't know a hundred and
(21:39):
something interviews at thispoint and just for our podcast,
and we, everyone we always askwhat's your definition of
success?
Because that's a huge part ofour community and our philosophy
.
You know we had from theoutside world.
We had what you would considerultimate success, but we weren't
enjoying it and we weren'thappy doing it, and so we needed
(22:05):
to figure out what successmeant to us after that, because
it certainly wasn't going to betitles and it certainly wasn't
going to be money.
So what did success look likeif those weren't the definitions
of it?
And so, as we were interviewingwomen, we always ask that
question and we get the mostamazing and, again, inspiring
answers.
So we put together the journalas a, as a, you know, helpful
(22:28):
tool for women out there who aretrying to kind of redefine that
in their lives.
And I've gone through it.
I've actually, you know, wewrote it and we put it, pulled
it all together, but I'veactually gone through it now and
I've started doing it, and itjust shifts your perspective.
When you hear someone else saysuccess is feeling satisfied at
the end of the day, it's like,yeah, okay, I, I, I do feel that
(22:51):
.
Or who are the women in yourlife that are your support
network?
And you make that list and yousee who's there on your side
cheering you on.
It's like it just totally againshifts your perspective and
gets those negative thoughts incheck.
Nancy Harrington (23:08):
Yeah, the way the journalists set up, we had
it's a 52 week journal.
I mean you can do it quickerthan that, but if you want you
to do one a week, there's aquote from somebody that we've
interviewed on our podcast andnext to it there's a prompt, and
so sometimes it's make a listor, you know, make a playlist of
songs and, you know, have adance party or do a collage of
(23:29):
something you know.
So it's a fun journal and itreally, like Baby says, it
really gives your thoughtprocess, it shifts your thought
process a little bit, yeah, andwe hope that we can help women
to find success on their ownterms, you know, because success
isn't just money or a title.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (23:45):
You know, those two things can disappear really
fast.
And then what right that bringsyou to?
Who am I and what's my identityand where do I fit in this
world?
And those eight littlequestions we asked.
But I wanted to go back tosomething about your journal,
because when your thoughts shift, once it shifts your
(24:06):
perspective, then that shiftsyou into gratitude, which of
course, will help your newfoundthoughts, like, keep going right
, and so you're less likely, oreven when you fall back into the
negative thoughts, or you havethem, then you're more,
hopefully, will remember thethings you agree to for the
things that have happened andthe success you've defined for
(24:28):
yourself, and then you'll bemore likely to move forward.
Right, so it's like stepwise.
Right, so it helps you Like,yeah, that's wonderful.
So, yeah, do you have any lastminute tips that you would like
to share with our parents, tipsabout how they can implement
(24:50):
this in their own lives?
We've talked about, we'vetouched, a few different things,
but your last takeaways wouldbe great.
Amy Harrington (24:58):
Yeah, I mean it's interesting that, speaking
to parents, because we weretalking to someone recently and
we were saying, you know, thisis all the real genesis of this,
if you really want to dig deepinto it, is the principles our
mother taught us.
Our mother was amazing and shepassed away when we were in our
20s and 30s, and which was along time ago, and you know, she
(25:23):
taught us the importance of thefact that your brother and your
sisters are always your bestfriends.
They're always there for you.
They are no matter what happensin life.
You can have your littlesquabbles over who gets to put
one on the TV or whatever, butthe end of the day they're there
for you.
(25:43):
And we realized very, you know,probably six months ago, as we
were working on this, like thisis really for our mother and
really important guidance andbasic principles of love and
kindness that she instilled inus.
And so I think, as parents, notonly for your children but for
(26:06):
yourself and each other, it'slike don't forget those Betty
principles, you know, like giveyourself, cut yourself some
slack, give yourself a littlebit of love when you're having a
hard day, you know, rememberthat you're always there for
yourself.
And then you know, spread thatwith the other people in your
(26:27):
life.
Nancy Harrington (26:29):
I can't say it any better than that.
That was beautiful.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (26:35):
Yes, it sounds like back to basics love,
kindness, grace for yourself,because, again, nobody's perfect
, nobody is a rife.
You never quite arrive.
I don't think that's the fun.
Amy Harrington (26:50):
It's the journey that is, and is the fun part.
Like we the other day had arealization like oh my God, but
this weird thing that we spent ayear doing in our lives that
seemed completely disconnected.
We were like, oh my God, thisis why we did that thing for a
year, because now we're doingthis and it makes sense, so you
got to enjoy the journey.
It's not easy every day, but itis the fun part.
Nancy Harrington (27:14):
Wonderful.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (27:16):
But when you do it in sisterhood, it makes all
the difference, it's even better.
Yeah, yes.
So tell our listeners wherethey can find out about your
podcast, about your sisterhoodthat's launching, about the
success journal.
Nancy Harrington (27:32):
The best way to find us is go to
thepassionistasprojectcom.
All of our social is there, thebook is there, the sisterhood
links are there and you canalways email us and DM us on
social media.
We're open books and we'reready to answer any questions
you have and give you somesupport.
Dr. Hokehe Eko (27:51):
Yeah, wonderful.
Thank you so much, ladies, forcoming on.
I'm sure I got some wonderfulthings out of this, and I'm sure
you did too, so please leave usyour thoughts, questions,
reviews.
We appreciate it all and lookforward to talking with you on
the next episode.
So, thank you.
Amy Harrington (28:10):
Thanks for having us, thanks for having us,
thank you, thank you.
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