April 5, 2025 • 22 mins
In this deeply moving episode, we welcome Lisa Zarcone, an inspiring advocate and survivor of child abuse, to hear her incredible story of resilience and transformation. As she recounts her life experiences, Lisa discusses the challenges she faced as a child, overcoming trauma, and how she now dedicates her life to advocating for awareness around child safety and mental health. The conversation also touches on the tragic White Island disaster, exposing the intricacies of trust between tourism companies and the responsibility they hold for their clients’ safety.
Lisa Zarcone
- Instagram: lisaunspokentruth
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-zarcone-0ba19135/
- Website: http://www.lisazarcone.net/
- Email: lzarcone@comcast.net
Through compelling statistics and personal anecdotes, Lisa sheds light on the urgent need for dialogue around abuse and the importance of giving survivors a voice. This episode is more than just stories; it’s a call to action for empathy, community support, and understanding as essential components in healing. As Lisa shares her mantra, “Embrace the Journey,” listeners are invited to reflect on their own paths and consider how they can engage in conversations that promote healing and safety.
Join us as we support the National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse this month!
Join us for this eye-opening discussion, and don’t forget to subscribe, share, and engage with our content!
Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!Start for FREE
Shireen's Bookkeeping Services LLC
Outsourcing your bookkeeping to Shireen’s Bookkeeping Services can save you time and money.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Stay Wild!
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@friendsfromwildplaces
- Website: https://friendsfromwildplaces.buzzsprout.com/
- Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/friends-from-wild-places/id1619076023
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/FFWP_podcast
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/friendsfromwildplacespodcast
Leave a review!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Voiceover (00:03):
Tales from the wild, stories from the heart.
A journey into the mind andsoul of fired up business
professionals, where they sharetheir vision for the future and
hear from a different non-profitorganization every month as
they create awareness of theirgoals and their needs.
Dive into a world of untamedpassion as we join our host,
(00:27):
Shireen Botha, for this month'sepisode of Friends from Wild
Places.
Shireen Botha (00:35):
All right, well, welcome, welcome, Shireen.
Here I am your virtual boutiquebookkeeper and QuickBooks
advisor.
Thinking about bookkeeping, itmay seem odd to go virtual, but
at Shireen's BookkeepingServices, we redefine what
service means.
Imagine having a personalfinance team that goes above and
beyond your expectations everysingle time.
(00:59):
With our virtual approach,you'll enjoy personal life
service without the overheadcosts of hiring an entire
finance department.
Our pricing is tailored forsmall business owners, making
expert support more affordablethan ever.
At Shireen's BookkeepingServices, we streamline your
finances so you can focus onwhat you do best.
(01:20):
Experience the difference today.
If you want to know more, gocheck me out at www.
shireensbookkeeping.
com and allow me to keep yourbooks clean so you don't have to
.
Well, welcome back listeners.
You are listening to Friendsfrom Wild Places with myself,
Shireen, and my lovely co-host,Tanya.
(01:42):
Good morning morning, Tanya.
How are you this morning?
Tanya Scotece (01:46):
Oh, doing great, Shireen.
Things are here in sunnyFlorida.
All is well.
And how's in South Africa?
What's happening?
Shireen Botha (01:55):
Lots of flooding, lots of rain and power outages
which is quite funny becauseI've just said that and on goes
the power.
So this might turn into asuccessful recording podcast.
So, Tanya, would you mindtaking a few moments and just
sharing with the listeners alittle bit more about our extra
(02:16):
content that we're creating forour subscribers?
Tanya Scotece (02:20):
Sure, I would love to.
So.
Here at Friends from WildPlaces we have some bonus
content which is behind apaywall which is to subscribe.
It's a minimum of $5 a month.
You can do more if you'd like,but for a minimum of $5, you can
get some extra deep dive onsome content that is would like
to learn more about, hear moreabout or have us explore with
(02:45):
you.
Just send us a line and behappy to incorporate that with
our bonus content behind thepaywall at Friends from Wild
Places.
Shireen Botha (02:54):
Awesome.
Thank you so much, tanya.
Yes, it's just $5 a month.
That's where we just go deepand we share a lot of some of
the struggles that we've facedand you might just enjoy it.
So, thanks a lot.
But first let's get into it andintroduce our guest for the
month.
Today we have Lisa Zarcone.
(03:17):
Please tell me I'm saying yourlast name correctly, Lisa, is it
last?
Lisa Zarcone (03:26):
name correctly.
Shireen Botha (03:26):
Lisa, is it?
It's Zarcone Zarcone perfect.
Lisa Zarcone is an author,child and health advocate and
public speaker.
As a survivor of child andsexual abuse, she decided to
turn her pain into purpose bysharing her story, written
through the eyes of a child,giving the child's perspective
of abuse.
She also wrote her mother'sstory about her lifelong battle
(03:49):
with mental illness and theircomplex relationship.
Lisa is the MassachusettsNational Ambassador and Regional
Director of NAASCA, which isthe National Association of
Adult Survivors of Child Abuse,and she uses her stories and
titles a platform to speakpublicly to bring awareness and
(04:10):
advocate for child safety andmental health.
She's also a blogger on her ownwebsite, lisazarcone, and a
social media influencer.
Welcome Lisa, it's so good tohave you on the show.
Social media influencer.
Welcome Lisa.
Lisa Zarcone (04:25):
It's so good to have you on the show.
Yes, thank you so much, Shireenand Tanya, for having me today.
I'm glad that we can do this.
Shireen Botha (04:37):
Right, very excited.
Lisa has an amazinginspirational story that we're
super excited to get into today.
But, as an icebreaker, wealways like to start the podcast
with a little bit of either atrue crime story or a very
interesting one, and today Ithink I've got an interesting
one for us.
Ladies.
So I'm not sure if any one ofyou have heard of the White
(04:59):
Island disaster case disastercase For the listeners out there
.
The White Island disaster caserefers to the legal proceedings
following a volcanic eruption onValkari, white Island, new
Zealand, on December the 9th2019, where 22 people died and
many were severely injured whena tour group was present on the
(05:22):
island.
The case primarily focused onholding tour operations and the
island management companyaccountable for failing to
adequately assess and mitigatethe risks of a volcanic eruption
, resulting in multiplecompanies being found guilty of
health and safety violations andordered to pay significant
(05:46):
fines and reparations to thevictims and their families.
So it was quite recent that thecase closed and it was quite an
interesting case.
I did send the link to theladies so we have watched 60
minutes.
They did a wonderful coveringof the entire case and all the
(06:07):
victims and interviewed them all.
I also interviewed some of themembers from the tourist
companies, as well as the rescueteam that failed to get there
in a timely fashion, which wasalso quite interesting.
(06:28):
But yeah, so the key pointsabout the case was obviously the
eruption.
You know the fact that therewere 47 tourists on the island
when everyone was aware.
A tourist company was awarethat it was, I think, a level
three or it was at the highestlevel it could be to alert
(06:50):
people that the island isextremely dangerous and close to
eruption.
So the tourist companies wereaware of this.
And then, obviously, who wascharged?
That's obviously a number ofthe tourist companies, including
(07:14):
the cruise ship, which the onefamily, a couple of the families
were on the island that camefrom.
And yeah, so the key findingswere, obviously they failed to
provide adequate informationabout the risks and, while many
of them were found guilty ofhealth and safety breaches and
were fined.
So I think that my mainquestion for you, ladies, is,
first of all, what did you thinkof the story and you know what
is the one thing that stuck outto you about the disaster, and
(07:44):
do you think the cruise shipshould have been blamed for or
just been held liable for, whathappened?
Do you want to go first, lisa?
Lisa Zarcone (07:49):
Sure, I know.
As I'm listening to the story,I'm just like imagining myself
being put into that position,because you know when you book,
you know trips and adventureslike this, you put your trust in
, you know the people who aresetting this up for you, that
you are going to be safe, it'sgoing to be okay, and I can only
imagine what these people werethinking when they really got
into it and realized that theirsafety was at risk and lives
(08:11):
were lost because of it.
I believe they all should beliable, because they have a big
responsibility to travelers tokeep them safe at all costs, and
they were not given the properinformation.
So I find it very interesting.
We've hear a lot of stories,you know, of all these different
types of things that arehappening, and then you have
these national.
You know these, these disasters, and we we do need to keep our
(08:34):
travelers safe.
So I do believe, yes, theyshould be liable for that.
Shireen Botha (08:39):
I agree.
Tanya what do you think?
Tanya Scotece (08:42):
Yeah, no, I agree , I agree with Lisa.
I think you know, as far as youknow, especially with tourism,
you know there's always a bigprice with money, right, the
monetary value and, as far asyou know, getting the most in,
for you know the amount ofpeople and you know the nature
side of things, in addition tojust what disasters can go, can
happen.
In my opinion, it's just youknow there's so much liability
(09:03):
and I serve as expert witnessfor funeral home and cemetery
cases regularly and even thereit's like you know there's so
much like liability.
So I think what ends uphappening is sometimes, with the
cases, we only hearing like afraction of what the reality is,
and as you get closer to thecase, I think you hear the more
of the.
You know the nitty gritty kindsof things.
(09:24):
So I think the media also Imean, I'm not saying I heard you
say, shereen, that you know the60 Minutes did a great job
coverage and I'm sure they didI'm just saying a lot of times
the media leaves so much out ordistorts it or puts it in a way
that it's not really what isactually happening.
So I think, yeah, I agree withLisa.
I think as far as the liabilityfor keeping the travelers safe,
keeping people informed, andyou know, obviously you know
(09:48):
coming forth with theconsequential pay because so
many people lost their lives orwere injured.
Shireen Botha (09:54):
Right, yeah, yeah , ladies, I feel the same.
I agree with both you, tanyaand Lisa, so I won't reinforce
that.
But you know, the other thingthat stuck out to me is that
young girl's life completelychanged.
She lost her father and hersister that day on the island
(10:15):
and she survived.
And so she was saying how shehas moments where she has that
survivor grief, and I mean Ican't remember the exact fact,
but I think like almost 80percent of her body was covered
with three degree burns,including her face, her head,
(10:35):
and she lost most of her fingers.
So she's she's a very brave andamazing young woman.
I mean mean she's living lifenow.
She was walking around for agood number of years with that
mask on and now the mask is offand she's walking around with
(10:58):
her scars and everything.
And so brave, you know, sobrave and such a confident young
lady but despite, everythingthat she went through is
absolutely amazing.
So if you want to go get alittle bit more into the story,
60 Minutes does have the YouTubechannel listeners so you can go
(11:22):
and search on 60 MinutesYouTube the White Island
volcanic disaster case and thatshould automatically bring the
coverage up.
So thank you, ladies, for justsharing your two cent piece on
that story, but let's get intoit.
(11:42):
So the quote of the day is ourvery.
It's important for us to havethe quote of the day because
normally there's a lot of peoplethat hang on to a specific
saying, a quote that means a lotto them and gets them through a
lot of hard times, and so welove to keep the quote of the
(12:04):
day as something to share and ifit possibly touches someone's
threads out there that'slistening, they might want to
take that with them asencouragement, motivation.
So Lisa gave us her quote andit's called Embrace the Journey,
and it's such a good one, thejourney and it's such a good one
(12:32):
.
Lisa Zarcone (12:32):
So go ahead, lisa, and tell us what that specific
quote means to you and why.
Yes, you know to backtrack justslightly on that.
So every year I pick a quote ora word to step into a new year,
to just give myself thatinspiration and encouragement to
go forward and do the things Ineed to do.
(12:53):
And back when I first starteddoing that for myself, the first
quote that I ever picked wasembrace the journey, because at
that time in my life I was goingthrough so many transitions and
going forward with writing mybook, sharing my unspoken truths
of my life, and that, to me,embrace the journey was really
powerful because you reallythink about that, you're
embracing all that you're goingthrough.
(13:14):
You're embracing all thatyou've been through and you're
stepping forward into a newdirection and you never know
what life's going to throw atyou.
You never know what life'sgoing to put in your path.
So I always say be strong, beready and embrace whatever comes
and step forward.
So embrace the journey is areally big one for me and as
I've moved forward and pickeddifferent phrases and terms to
(13:34):
step into new years, I alwayskeep embrace the journey with me
, because that's where it allbegan for me not just the good
times, but the bad times as well.
Shireen Botha (13:45):
Cause that I think it gets harder to embrace
the journey when things arereally not going the way you
would like it to go.
But I think that's, yeah,that's even more.
Lisa Zarcone (13:58):
Absolutely yes, I mean, and for myself definitely,
embrace the journey meantembracing everything I had to.
When I broke the silence ofwhat happened to me, I had to
embrace.
When I broke the silence ofwhat happened to me, I had to
embrace that part of myself,that part of my life that was
hidden and dark and horrendous,and I had to embrace that
because that is part of who I amand what I've been through.
(14:19):
But saying that that doesn'tdefine who I truly am.
But I've embraced that piece,I've worked with it, worked
through it and I keep movingforward.
So we do.
We embrace the good, we embracethe bad, we embrace the ugly.
It's all part of the journey.
Tanya Scotece (14:33):
I love that Thank you and Lisa, I've been
following you for.
I'm trying to sit here andremember how many years and I'm
thinking, was it on LinkedIn?
It has to be.
I'm probably on eight years offollowing your journey.
It has to be.
I'm probably on eight years offollowing your journey.
I've read your book, the firstbook and, yeah, just know your
(14:56):
story is always just, you know,just kind of shed some light on
some, you know just some darktimes that you know all of us
may have faced and I just findyour story inspirational.
So I really appreciate yourquote of the day for us to quote
, of your year for our day andas we move forward.
Lisa Zarcone (15:10):
Thank you so much.
Yes, we did connect on LinkedInand that was back when my book
really first came out, and youhave followed me, so I do
appreciate you, Tanya, foralways following me and
supporting my story and thethings that I'm doing, and it is
it's a continued journey.
We're all on this continuedjourney as we step forward.
Shireen Botha (15:30):
I love that.
Thank you, ladies, lisa.
So with that, I'd love you togive us a little bit about your
background, of who you are.
Lisa Zarcone (15:40):
Oh, that's like.
That's like a loaded questionbecause I call myself the woman
of many hats, because I, I, I'mjust in so many places and doing
so many things.
But so the backstory, um, who Iam?
I'm Lisa Zarkone, a wife, amother of three grown children,
a grandmother of four, raisingtwo of our grandchildren.
(16:03):
My husband and I have steppedup into that role, so doing it
all over again, and it's been anamazing, you know, part of our
lives to be able to have thatopportunity to do it again and
we love all of our babies somuch.
So that's the personal side ofme.
Who's just?
I'm a bird geek.
I love nature, I just all ofthose things.
(16:24):
But when you really look at whoI am professionally, I am an
author, a public speaker, childand mental health advocate.
I'm blogging on my own website.
I, you know, a social mediainfluencer, because I say that
as because I'm always out therepushing inspiration, pushing
encouragement, motivation andhope all over the place.
(16:45):
So I'm all over.
But you know, when I think ofthe back, the backstory to
everything, I was a child whowas severely abused.
I was a child who went throughtrauma, loss, abandonment, all
of it.
My story is so complex it's.
You know I say this, I don'tsay this lightly, but it's like
(17:06):
it isn't just one thing, it'sjust not.
I say this, I don't say thislightly, but it's like it isn't
just one thing, it's just not.
I was in, I was abused andthat's very broad, because abuse
is is abuse and it's alwayshorrendous.
But I had so many other thingshappen along the way and in my
story and in my life that it's avery complex, very complex
story to all that I've beenthrough and bringing in my
mother, you know, with hermental illness and how we had to
(17:28):
, you know, go through that andwalk the path together, a very
complex road together.
And you know I stayed close tomy mother right out through her
whole life.
It was very difficult to do sobecause my mother was one of my
main abusers.
So I did travel a horrendouspath for many years.
Then went into my teenage years,which I was very angry, and
(17:49):
then I had to make transitionsin my life, to make decisions,
to move forward.
Do I move forward in a positiveway or do I stay in this
negative space?
And I chose to be positive andI chose to be fierce and fight
everything that I was up against.
So, moving forward from teenyears into adulthood, you know,
I made the really, you know,very strong choices of what I
(18:13):
wanted to do with my life andhow I wanted it to unfold.
The interesting piece to all ofthat is that I kept everything
silent.
I did not share and disclose myabuse to anyone.
My husband even didn't know thefull extent of what I went
through.
He knew about my mom, of course, you know, being mentally ill
and and those struggles, but hereally didn't know about the
(18:36):
sexual abuse pieces and how deepthe abuse actually went.
So all of this fighting that Idid, in this fierceness inside
of me to keep pushing forward,did actually come back to haunt
me as I moved forward in lifeyou know, having my children
starting my family because allof my darkness from my past came
(18:56):
flooding forward into mypresent life and I had to make
those steps to face it and fightthrough it and move forward on
a healing journey.
So that healing journey hasbrought me here now and what I'm
doing, and here today, withboth of you ladies sharing all
of this.
Shireen Botha (19:16):
Right Jeez, that is so many questions.
Tanya Scotece (19:22):
Lisa, can you share what are the current like
statistics?
Lisa, can you share what arethe current like statistics?
I remember when I got involvedwith, you know, sexual survivor
abuse.
You know at that time there wasa statistic of one in four
women and I believe it was oneout of eight men or one out of
six men.
(19:43):
That was probably back around2016.
Do you have any like currentdata or more?
You know more relevant datathan that as far as this, what
the statistic is and or how isit defined?
Just so for our listeners outthere, just so they can kind of
get a broader perspective ofthat topic and as we listen to
your, you know your journey ofthe healing part.
Lisa Zarcone (20:04):
Good question, yes it is a good question and the
statistics.
So, when we came into thepandemic, a lot of things
changed, you know, of course,because people are home and
there's really no way out, ifyou want to say it that way.
So the numbers did risesignificantly with child abuse,
sexual abuse, domestic violence,violence, suicide.
(20:27):
All those numbers justskyrocketed and and now at this
point I think we've kind ofleveled off a little bit, but
the numbers are still high.
I mean, you're still looking atone in three or one in four
young women who are beingsexually abused.
The number for men has changedsignificantly.
So you're talking like one ineight.
(20:48):
Now men are down to like one infour or one in five, because
men have stepped forward in thepast couple of years to disclose
their abuse.
So the numbers will changebecause back, when, you know,
men did not disclose their abuse, it was more women doing so,
but men are now taking thosebrave steps to, you know,
(21:08):
disclose what's happened to them.
So the numbers have changed,but it is happening, and it is
happening all the time and andthis is why I abdicate and this
is, you know, why I've, you know, pushed forward to write my
books and do the things thatI've done is because we still
don't know what happens behindclosed doors, we still don't
talk about it the way we should,and we still need to work on
(21:32):
making safe spaces for people todisclose their abuse.
So the numbers are still upthere and you know, abuse
doesn't, you know, choose gender.
Abuse comes from both.
It's male and female that arebeing abused.
So you always have to be awareof your surroundings and really
take notice to what's happening,because it's amazing to think
(21:54):
that so much is still going onin this day and age, in 2025.
We are still fighting thosebattles absolutely yeah.
Tanya Scotece (22:03):
Tune in next week for part two from friends from
wild places
Voiceover (22:09):
You've been listening to friends from wild places
with shireen Botha.
Be sure to subscribe to thepodcast from the links to catch
every episode and unleash yourpassion.
Tales from the wild, stories from the heart.
A journey into the mind andsoul of fired up business
professionals, where they sharetheir vision for the future and
hear from a different non-profitorganization every month as
they create awareness of theirgoals and their needs.
Dive into a world of untamedpassion as we join our host,
(00:27):
Shireen Botha, for this month'sepisode of Friends from Wild
Places.
Shireen Botha (00:35):
All right, well, welcome, welcome, Shireen.
Here I am your virtual boutiquebookkeeper and QuickBooks
advisor.
Thinking about bookkeeping, itmay seem odd to go virtual, but
at Shireen's BookkeepingServices, we redefine what
service means.
Imagine having a personalfinance team that goes above and
beyond your expectations everysingle time.
(00:59):
With our virtual approach,you'll enjoy personal life
service without the overheadcosts of hiring an entire
finance department.
Our pricing is tailored forsmall business owners, making
expert support more affordablethan ever.
At Shireen's BookkeepingServices, we streamline your
finances so you can focus onwhat you do best.
(01:20):
Experience the difference today.
If you want to know more, gocheck me out at www.
shireensbookkeeping.
com and allow me to keep yourbooks clean so you don't have to
.
Well, welcome back listeners.
You are listening to Friendsfrom Wild Places with myself,
Shireen, and my lovely co-host,Tanya.
(01:42):
Good morning morning, Tanya.
How are you this morning?
Tanya Scotece (01:46):
Oh, doing great, Shireen.
Things are here in sunnyFlorida.
All is well.
And how's in South Africa?
What's happening?
Shireen Botha (01:55):
Lots of flooding, lots of rain and power outages
which is quite funny becauseI've just said that and on goes
the power.
So this might turn into asuccessful recording podcast.
So, Tanya, would you mindtaking a few moments and just
sharing with the listeners alittle bit more about our extra
(02:16):
content that we're creating forour subscribers?
Tanya Scotece (02:20):
Sure, I would love to.
So.
Here at Friends from WildPlaces we have some bonus
content which is behind apaywall which is to subscribe.
It's a minimum of $5 a month.
You can do more if you'd like,but for a minimum of $5, you can
get some extra deep dive onsome content that is would like
to learn more about, hear moreabout or have us explore with
(02:45):
you.
Just send us a line and behappy to incorporate that with
our bonus content behind thepaywall at Friends from Wild
Places.
Shireen Botha (02:54):
Awesome.
Thank you so much, tanya.
Yes, it's just $5 a month.
That's where we just go deepand we share a lot of some of
the struggles that we've facedand you might just enjoy it.
So, thanks a lot.
But first let's get into it andintroduce our guest for the
month.
Today we have Lisa Zarcone.
(03:17):
Please tell me I'm saying yourlast name correctly, Lisa, is it
last?
Lisa Zarcone (03:26):
name correctly.
Shireen Botha (03:26):
Lisa, is it?
It's Zarcone Zarcone perfect.
Lisa Zarcone is an author,child and health advocate and
public speaker.
As a survivor of child andsexual abuse, she decided to
turn her pain into purpose bysharing her story, written
through the eyes of a child,giving the child's perspective
of abuse.
She also wrote her mother'sstory about her lifelong battle
(03:49):
with mental illness and theircomplex relationship.
Lisa is the MassachusettsNational Ambassador and Regional
Director of NAASCA, which isthe National Association of
Adult Survivors of Child Abuse,and she uses her stories and
titles a platform to speakpublicly to bring awareness and
(04:10):
advocate for child safety andmental health.
She's also a blogger on her ownwebsite, lisazarcone, and a
social media influencer.
Welcome Lisa, it's so good tohave you on the show.
Social media influencer.
Welcome Lisa.
Lisa Zarcone (04:25):
It's so good to have you on the show.
Yes, thank you so much, Shireenand Tanya, for having me today.
I'm glad that we can do this.
Shireen Botha (04:37):
Right, very excited.
Lisa has an amazinginspirational story that we're
super excited to get into today.
But, as an icebreaker, wealways like to start the podcast
with a little bit of either atrue crime story or a very
interesting one, and today Ithink I've got an interesting
one for us.
Ladies.
So I'm not sure if any one ofyou have heard of the White
(04:59):
Island disaster case disastercase For the listeners out there
.
The White Island disaster caserefers to the legal proceedings
following a volcanic eruption onValkari, white Island, new
Zealand, on December the 9th2019, where 22 people died and
many were severely injured whena tour group was present on the
(05:22):
island.
The case primarily focused onholding tour operations and the
island management companyaccountable for failing to
adequately assess and mitigatethe risks of a volcanic eruption
, resulting in multiplecompanies being found guilty of
health and safety violations andordered to pay significant
(05:46):
fines and reparations to thevictims and their families.
So it was quite recent that thecase closed and it was quite an
interesting case.
I did send the link to theladies so we have watched 60
minutes.
They did a wonderful coveringof the entire case and all the
(06:07):
victims and interviewed them all.
I also interviewed some of themembers from the tourist
companies, as well as the rescueteam that failed to get there
in a timely fashion, which wasalso quite interesting.
(06:28):
But yeah, so the key pointsabout the case was obviously the
eruption.
You know the fact that therewere 47 tourists on the island
when everyone was aware.
A tourist company was awarethat it was, I think, a level
three or it was at the highestlevel it could be to alert
(06:50):
people that the island isextremely dangerous and close to
eruption.
So the tourist companies wereaware of this.
And then, obviously, who wascharged?
That's obviously a number ofthe tourist companies, including
(07:14):
the cruise ship, which the onefamily, a couple of the families
were on the island that camefrom.
And yeah, so the key findingswere, obviously they failed to
provide adequate informationabout the risks and, while many
of them were found guilty ofhealth and safety breaches and
were fined.
So I think that my mainquestion for you, ladies, is,
first of all, what did you thinkof the story and you know what
is the one thing that stuck outto you about the disaster, and
(07:44):
do you think the cruise shipshould have been blamed for or
just been held liable for, whathappened?
Do you want to go first, lisa?
Lisa Zarcone (07:49):
Sure, I know.
As I'm listening to the story,I'm just like imagining myself
being put into that position,because you know when you book,
you know trips and adventureslike this, you put your trust in
, you know the people who aresetting this up for you, that
you are going to be safe, it'sgoing to be okay, and I can only
imagine what these people werethinking when they really got
into it and realized that theirsafety was at risk and lives
(08:11):
were lost because of it.
I believe they all should beliable, because they have a big
responsibility to travelers tokeep them safe at all costs, and
they were not given the properinformation.
So I find it very interesting.
We've hear a lot of stories,you know, of all these different
types of things that arehappening, and then you have
these national.
You know these, these disasters, and we we do need to keep our
(08:34):
travelers safe.
So I do believe, yes, theyshould be liable for that.
Shireen Botha (08:39):
I agree.
Tanya what do you think?
Tanya Scotece (08:42):
Yeah, no, I agree , I agree with Lisa.
I think you know, as far as youknow, especially with tourism,
you know there's always a bigprice with money, right, the
monetary value and, as far asyou know, getting the most in,
for you know the amount ofpeople and you know the nature
side of things, in addition tojust what disasters can go, can
happen.
In my opinion, it's just youknow there's so much liability
(09:03):
and I serve as expert witnessfor funeral home and cemetery
cases regularly and even thereit's like you know there's so
much like liability.
So I think what ends uphappening is sometimes, with the
cases, we only hearing like afraction of what the reality is,
and as you get closer to thecase, I think you hear the more
of the.
You know the nitty gritty kindsof things.
(09:24):
So I think the media also Imean, I'm not saying I heard you
say, shereen, that you know the60 Minutes did a great job
coverage and I'm sure they didI'm just saying a lot of times
the media leaves so much out ordistorts it or puts it in a way
that it's not really what isactually happening.
So I think, yeah, I agree withLisa.
I think as far as the liabilityfor keeping the travelers safe,
keeping people informed, andyou know, obviously you know
(09:48):
coming forth with theconsequential pay because so
many people lost their lives orwere injured.
Shireen Botha (09:54):
Right, yeah, yeah , ladies, I feel the same.
I agree with both you, tanyaand Lisa, so I won't reinforce
that.
But you know, the other thingthat stuck out to me is that
young girl's life completelychanged.
She lost her father and hersister that day on the island
(10:15):
and she survived.
And so she was saying how shehas moments where she has that
survivor grief, and I mean Ican't remember the exact fact,
but I think like almost 80percent of her body was covered
with three degree burns,including her face, her head,
(10:35):
and she lost most of her fingers.
So she's she's a very brave andamazing young woman.
I mean mean she's living lifenow.
She was walking around for agood number of years with that
mask on and now the mask is offand she's walking around with
(10:58):
her scars and everything.
And so brave, you know, sobrave and such a confident young
lady but despite, everythingthat she went through is
absolutely amazing.
So if you want to go get alittle bit more into the story,
60 Minutes does have the YouTubechannel listeners so you can go
(11:22):
and search on 60 MinutesYouTube the White Island
volcanic disaster case and thatshould automatically bring the
coverage up.
So thank you, ladies, for justsharing your two cent piece on
that story, but let's get intoit.
(11:42):
So the quote of the day is ourvery.
It's important for us to havethe quote of the day because
normally there's a lot of peoplethat hang on to a specific
saying, a quote that means a lotto them and gets them through a
lot of hard times, and so welove to keep the quote of the
(12:04):
day as something to share and ifit possibly touches someone's
threads out there that'slistening, they might want to
take that with them asencouragement, motivation.
So Lisa gave us her quote andit's called Embrace the Journey,
and it's such a good one, thejourney and it's such a good one
(12:32):
.
Lisa Zarcone (12:32):
So go ahead, lisa, and tell us what that specific
quote means to you and why.
Yes, you know to backtrack justslightly on that.
So every year I pick a quote ora word to step into a new year,
to just give myself thatinspiration and encouragement to
go forward and do the things Ineed to do.
(12:53):
And back when I first starteddoing that for myself, the first
quote that I ever picked wasembrace the journey, because at
that time in my life I was goingthrough so many transitions and
going forward with writing mybook, sharing my unspoken truths
of my life, and that, to me,embrace the journey was really
powerful because you reallythink about that, you're
embracing all that you're goingthrough.
(13:14):
You're embracing all thatyou've been through and you're
stepping forward into a newdirection and you never know
what life's going to throw atyou.
You never know what life'sgoing to put in your path.
So I always say be strong, beready and embrace whatever comes
and step forward.
So embrace the journey is areally big one for me and as
I've moved forward and pickeddifferent phrases and terms to
(13:34):
step into new years, I alwayskeep embrace the journey with me
, because that's where it allbegan for me not just the good
times, but the bad times as well.
Shireen Botha (13:45):
Cause that I think it gets harder to embrace
the journey when things arereally not going the way you
would like it to go.
But I think that's, yeah,that's even more.
Lisa Zarcone (13:58):
Absolutely yes, I mean, and for myself definitely,
embrace the journey meantembracing everything I had to.
When I broke the silence ofwhat happened to me, I had to
embrace.
When I broke the silence ofwhat happened to me, I had to
embrace that part of myself,that part of my life that was
hidden and dark and horrendous,and I had to embrace that
because that is part of who I amand what I've been through.
(14:19):
But saying that that doesn'tdefine who I truly am.
But I've embraced that piece,I've worked with it, worked
through it and I keep movingforward.
So we do.
We embrace the good, we embracethe bad, we embrace the ugly.
It's all part of the journey.
Tanya Scotece (14:33):
I love that Thank you and Lisa, I've been
following you for.
I'm trying to sit here andremember how many years and I'm
thinking, was it on LinkedIn?
It has to be.
I'm probably on eight years offollowing your journey.
It has to be.
I'm probably on eight years offollowing your journey.
I've read your book, the firstbook and, yeah, just know your
(14:56):
story is always just, you know,just kind of shed some light on
some, you know just some darktimes that you know all of us
may have faced and I just findyour story inspirational.
So I really appreciate yourquote of the day for us to quote
, of your year for our day andas we move forward.
Lisa Zarcone (15:10):
Thank you so much.
Yes, we did connect on LinkedInand that was back when my book
really first came out, and youhave followed me, so I do
appreciate you, Tanya, foralways following me and
supporting my story and thethings that I'm doing, and it is
it's a continued journey.
We're all on this continuedjourney as we step forward.
Shireen Botha (15:30):
I love that.
Thank you, ladies, lisa.
So with that, I'd love you togive us a little bit about your
background, of who you are.
Lisa Zarcone (15:40):
Oh, that's like.
That's like a loaded questionbecause I call myself the woman
of many hats, because I, I, I'mjust in so many places and doing
so many things.
But so the backstory, um, who Iam?
I'm Lisa Zarkone, a wife, amother of three grown children,
a grandmother of four, raisingtwo of our grandchildren.
(16:03):
My husband and I have steppedup into that role, so doing it
all over again, and it's been anamazing, you know, part of our
lives to be able to have thatopportunity to do it again and
we love all of our babies somuch.
So that's the personal side ofme.
Who's just?
I'm a bird geek.
I love nature, I just all ofthose things.
(16:24):
But when you really look at whoI am professionally, I am an
author, a public speaker, childand mental health advocate.
I'm blogging on my own website.
I, you know, a social mediainfluencer, because I say that
as because I'm always out therepushing inspiration, pushing
encouragement, motivation andhope all over the place.
(16:45):
So I'm all over.
But you know, when I think ofthe back, the backstory to
everything, I was a child whowas severely abused.
I was a child who went throughtrauma, loss, abandonment, all
of it.
My story is so complex it's.
You know I say this, I don'tsay this lightly, but it's like
(17:06):
it isn't just one thing, it'sjust not.
I say this, I don't say thislightly, but it's like it isn't
just one thing, it's just not.
I was in, I was abused andthat's very broad, because abuse
is is abuse and it's alwayshorrendous.
But I had so many other thingshappen along the way and in my
story and in my life that it's avery complex, very complex
story to all that I've beenthrough and bringing in my
mother, you know, with hermental illness and how we had to
(17:28):
, you know, go through that andwalk the path together, a very
complex road together.
And you know I stayed close tomy mother right out through her
whole life.
It was very difficult to do sobecause my mother was one of my
main abusers.
So I did travel a horrendouspath for many years.
Then went into my teenage years,which I was very angry, and
(17:49):
then I had to make transitionsin my life, to make decisions,
to move forward.
Do I move forward in a positiveway or do I stay in this
negative space?
And I chose to be positive andI chose to be fierce and fight
everything that I was up against.
So, moving forward from teenyears into adulthood, you know,
I made the really, you know,very strong choices of what I
(18:13):
wanted to do with my life andhow I wanted it to unfold.
The interesting piece to all ofthat is that I kept everything
silent.
I did not share and disclose myabuse to anyone.
My husband even didn't know thefull extent of what I went
through.
He knew about my mom, of course, you know, being mentally ill
and and those struggles, but hereally didn't know about the
(18:36):
sexual abuse pieces and how deepthe abuse actually went.
So all of this fighting that Idid, in this fierceness inside
of me to keep pushing forward,did actually come back to haunt
me as I moved forward in lifeyou know, having my children
starting my family because allof my darkness from my past came
(18:56):
flooding forward into mypresent life and I had to make
those steps to face it and fightthrough it and move forward on
a healing journey.
So that healing journey hasbrought me here now and what I'm
doing, and here today, withboth of you ladies sharing all
of this.
Shireen Botha (19:16):
Right Jeez, that is so many questions.
Tanya Scotece (19:22):
Lisa, can you share what are the current like
statistics?
Lisa, can you share what arethe current like statistics?
I remember when I got involvedwith, you know, sexual survivor
abuse.
You know at that time there wasa statistic of one in four
women and I believe it was oneout of eight men or one out of
six men.
(19:43):
That was probably back around2016.
Do you have any like currentdata or more?
You know more relevant datathan that as far as this, what
the statistic is and or how isit defined?
Just so for our listeners outthere, just so they can kind of
get a broader perspective ofthat topic and as we listen to
your, you know your journey ofthe healing part.
Lisa Zarcone (20:04):
Good question, yes it is a good question and the
statistics.
So, when we came into thepandemic, a lot of things
changed, you know, of course,because people are home and
there's really no way out, ifyou want to say it that way.
So the numbers did risesignificantly with child abuse,
sexual abuse, domestic violence,violence, suicide.
(20:27):
All those numbers justskyrocketed and and now at this
point I think we've kind ofleveled off a little bit, but
the numbers are still high.
I mean, you're still looking atone in three or one in four
young women who are beingsexually abused.
The number for men has changedsignificantly.
So you're talking like one ineight.
(20:48):
Now men are down to like one infour or one in five, because
men have stepped forward in thepast couple of years to disclose
their abuse.
So the numbers will changebecause back, when, you know,
men did not disclose their abuse, it was more women doing so,
but men are now taking thosebrave steps to, you know,
(21:08):
disclose what's happened to them.
So the numbers have changed,but it is happening, and it is
happening all the time and andthis is why I abdicate and this
is, you know, why I've, you know, pushed forward to write my
books and do the things thatI've done is because we still
don't know what happens behindclosed doors, we still don't
talk about it the way we should,and we still need to work on
(21:32):
making safe spaces for people todisclose their abuse.
So the numbers are still upthere and you know, abuse
doesn't, you know, choose gender.
Abuse comes from both.
It's male and female that arebeing abused.
So you always have to be awareof your surroundings and really
take notice to what's happening,because it's amazing to think
(21:54):
that so much is still going onin this day and age, in 2025.
We are still fighting thosebattles absolutely yeah.
Tanya Scotece (22:03):
Tune in next week for part two from friends from
wild places
Voiceover (22:09):
You've been listening to friends from wild places
with shireen Botha.
Be sure to subscribe to thepodcast from the links to catch
every episode and unleash yourpassion.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.