100 - legendary news anchor Liz Brunner teaches intentional transformation - The Flirty Vegan

Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Hey ladies, my name is Jenny Chaffetz and I am the host of
Sideline Sisters. Are you a busy mom, powerhouse
professional or high achieving go getter?
This show is for no BS women whowant to be inspired to get off
the sidelines of their lives. Ever feel like you're playing
small or safe or just on autopilot?

(00:23):
My guests are relatable women who've gone on a journey,
overcome challenges, and live toshare the lessons that we want
to hear. These conversations will be
funny, sad, scary, wise, encouraging, and most of all,
real. So whether you're driving.
Doing. Chores, exercising, walking the
dog, or just laying on the couch.

(00:45):
Settle in and enjoy. I want to invite you to take
back your power, reignite your passions and step off the
sidelines. Let's go.
Hello, my friends, my loyal listeners.
Thank you for being here. My name is Jenny Chaffetz.
I am your host. And today?

(01:06):
Is. Episode 100, Oh my goodness, I
cannot believe it's been 100 episodes.
And I am thrilled to present my conversation with the amazing
and comparable legendary Boston news anchor, Liz Bruner.
And something I'm so excited about is even though Liz and I

(01:27):
did not talk about veganism, that was not the point of our
conversation because the podcastis not yet The Flirty Vegan.
It will be tomorrow. But incredibly enough, so many
of the points that Liz makes about her own life, her journey,
and her current work overlap with what I'm doing now.

(01:49):
At The Flirty Vegan. You'll hear her talk about
neuroplasticity, the idea that the brain can actually change,
that we can change our thoughts and change our habits.
That old adage of you can't teach an old dog new tricks?
Not true. Because of neuroplasticity.
She also talks about trusting yourself, really feeling into

(02:14):
intuition and trusting what's within as opposed to
outsourcing, something that's come up on this show so many
times. And she also talks about
separating from that external noise and going within.
And she talks about her deliberate journaling practice.
And so there's just a lot of concepts that weave into my

(02:38):
mission here at The Flirty Vegan, which is maybe allowing
for that change of habits, the neuroplasticity going within and
ignoring all of those really loud marketing messages.
Maybe you are flirting with the idea of going vegan or
vegetarian, but grappling with that cognitive dissonance, that

(03:01):
disruption within because you care about animals, you love
your pets, you hate the thought of people doing harm to animals,
but yet you are a regular meat eater.
Well then I want to invite you to go inward, tune out the
noise, reflect on your own beliefs, what feels good in your

(03:24):
body because maybe you're just operating on autopilot.
Maybe you're just doing what other people are telling you to
do, even though it doesn't alignwith your deep rooted values.
So if there's any part of you that is curious, excited even,
about the idea of trying a plantbased life because the ethics

(03:45):
are at play or because health isyour main priority, maybe you've
had a diagnosis yourself or you've watched other people
crumble in their compromise situations, I want to invite you
to book a free coaching call with me.
It's a free introductory sessionwhere we will talk about what's

(04:07):
coming up for you, what's on your heart and mind and see if I
can offer some strategies, some ideas.
Hey, maybe it's just a recipe. You know, I was talking to
someone the other day and I suggested a whole food plant
based dessert that she had nevereven considered.
And it was like the heavens opened.

(04:28):
So that's the kind of thing thatcan come up on a call.
So check the show notes, book your free call, and just be
curious. Be.
Curious. And that is another thing that I
talk about with Liz Bruner, Curiosity.
Now let me tell you about Liz sowe can get into the
conversation. Liz Bruner is a sought after

(04:50):
keynote speaker, professional MCand executive coach helping
leaders, organizations, and event audiences harness the
power of communication, confidence, and intentional
transformation. As the CEO and Founder of Bruner
Communications, she has spent more than 35 years in media and
communications and if you watch this on video, you will not be

(05:13):
able to believe that I just said35 years because she is
absolutely drop dead stunning. Working with high profile
individuals and global brands tobuild compelling reputations and
master powerful storytelling. A dynamic keynote speaker, Liz
has taken the stage at corporateconventions, leadership summits
and top universities. She is also an experienced

(05:34):
professional MC, having hosted high profile events and
moderated conversations with industry leaders.
Before launching Bruner Communications in 2013, Liz was
an Emmy Award-winning TV news anchor for ABCT VS WCVB NEWS
CENTER 5 in Boston, where she Coanchored the number one rated
6:00 PM newscast and covered major breaking news stories.

(05:58):
She conducted exclusive interviews with world leaders
and cultural icons including Oprah and President Obama,
earning her recognition as one of the nation's top broadcast
journalists. And that's how I learned about
Liz. I saw her on TV for a number of
years. So I hope you love this
conversation like I did. I am so excited to celebrate

(06:21):
episode 100 and the final episode of Sideline Sisters.
Now let's get into the conversation with Liz.
Well, I am super excited to be celebrating episode 100 with
this very special guest, Liz Verner.
Welcome to the show. Oh, it's so great to meet you,

(06:42):
Jenny. We've we've been going back and
forth with emails for so long and it's just wonderful to
finally truly connect. Yes, and it's all fun to go down
that rabbit hole spiral of who do you know and how are we
connected? And it's it's just nice to see
that the person across the Zoom screen is actually a real human
who knows people and has relationships and sometimes they
intersect, which is really fun. And that certainly has happened

(07:05):
with us. We had a chance to sort of
dissect some of that before we began recording, so that was
fun. Yeah.
So for the listeners who are notin the Boston area, I just want
to let them know that this is just such a treat to be in the
Zoom room space with someone that I have admired from from my

(07:27):
couch to A to the small screen on the wall.
It's just really exciting to sitwith you and and have this
opportunity to go way deeper than the what's the expression
not puppet head bobble head. What what are the head on the
screen delivering the news that there is a really deep feeling

(07:49):
person with I'm. A human being just like
everybody else, yeah. I know, and as we were just
talking offline, we forget that celebrities are are just humans
whose names are more recognizable.
You know, it's funny because I don't consider myself a
celebrity and I really never have.
And I, I kind of, yes, I know I'm a public figure and have
been, but I'm just Liz. I'm really just Liz.

(08:12):
And my job, because I was on television every night
delivering the news, just happened to be a profession that
people got to see what I did as opposed to other people who may
be a librarian or even for yourself when you were baking
and cooking. You know, it's just a different
world. Yeah.
But lucky for me, it is a world that gives me a little bit of
credibility to certain people inmy life, like my dad, who

(08:36):
doesn't really understand what Ido when I get on these podcast
interviews. But when I said to him, I'm
interviewing Liz Bruner, all of a sudden the antenna perk up.
Oh, really? Oh, so this podcasting thing is
a real thing, Like, like, like areal thing that Liz would make
time to to do and engage with you.
Yes, yes, this is legitimate. So.

(08:57):
So thanks again for that. You are welcome and thank you
for the invitation. All right, so, oh God, I'm just
so fascinated by you and everything that you are working
on post television news 'cause it is enormous and having such a
great impact in the world. So let's get into your your

(09:18):
trademark. It is trademarked.
I think your platform, the IT factor.
Let's get into that. Let's get into it.
Let's get into it, yes? Yeah.
See, I can tell you're a speaker, all right.
And then I'll dissect it further, but I'm going to, I
want to just give you an opportunity to tell the
listeners what's going on with the IT factor.

(09:38):
What is it? Well, first of all, let me ask
you this question. When you have been somewhere and
you see somebody walk into a room or even someone on
television, or it's a politicianor a celebrity or just an
ordinary person, and you go, wow, they have something.
They, they, they have this charisma, this energy, this

(10:00):
confidence, this presence. You recognize it, right?
Yes. That is the IT factor and I
believe every single person can have the IT factor through
intentional transformation. IT factor, intentional
transformation and it is about aligning your physical, your

(10:22):
mental and your relational self.And all of that, when in
alignment, affords you the opportunity to have more
confidence, to have more presence and authenticity.
And all of that leads to more influence.
And I love talking about this particular topic because it
encompasses everything that I'vebeen coaching on for the last 12

(10:44):
years since I left television. In fact, I just celebrated my 12
year anniversary. I can't believe it.
I can't believe it. I feel like I just turned on the
news and saw you last week. Well, it was 12.
Years ago. And and so it, it's so important
because it now developed this framework after looking, working
with top leaders around the world, you know, C-Suite

(11:04):
executives, also middle managers, but people who've come
to me wanting to understand how they could have more presence,
how could they be a better storyteller and share their
message? How could they have more
confidence and how could they bea better leader?
And so being able to work with these extremely intelligent,
wonderful human beings that I'vehad the opportunity to work

(11:27):
with. Now I've this framework that
comes brings everything togetherand I'm just very excited about
it because it works. And I believe #1 as I said,
anybody can have the IT factor. Now that may mean you have to
make some changes in your life if this is a choice.
And you know, when you start offthinking about the physical,

(11:47):
it's more than just your non verbal communication.
It is about your kinetic energy.All right.
What are you putting out there in your non verbal communication
and, and having people understand that you're
communicating without speaking? 65% of your communication comes
from non verbal. That's a pretty big piece of the

(12:09):
pie, right? So now let's move it a step
further. And I go into much more detail
in my keynotes about that. But the physical is also
movement. And we all know, you know,
working out is good for us and our well-being and all of that.
I'm not saying you have to work out 24/7.
Yeah, I like to work out about 6or 7 days, but it's about that
movement. Are you stretching?

(12:29):
Are you breathing? I know you do a lot of breath
work. And so all of that, that
physical is movement and that produces kinetic energy that you
put out there. And, and we're constantly
receiving and giving signals. I like to think of it as a
sonar. We're always sending out a
signal. We're receiving signals, sending
out a signal, receiving signal. We don't think of it typically

(12:50):
like that, but we're all doing that.
So what are you sending out there?
How is it being perceived? So I work with people on that as
well. But then the other piece that
is, is so interesting about the physical piece in that movement
is that's the bridge to the mind.
All right? This little thing, we sits on
our shoulders here. This is our internal GPS.

(13:12):
And that is the second pillar, Step 2 of transformation,
intentional transformation. So what are you telling
yourself? Because whatever these stories
are and what we believe about ourselves, those become our
actions. So what are you telling yourself
and how can you make that shift?And when you have both of those
two in alignment, now you can work on the third piece, which

(13:34):
is the relational self. And the relationship that you
have with yourself is a relationship you're going to
have with everybody else. And so when you bring all these
things together, this is not just for a personal
transformation. This is about also
professionally, when, when companies have teams and members
that are intentionally transforming, that have the IT

(13:56):
factor, these companies are moretrusted, they're, they're more
purposeful, they're more intentional.
So it's all about organizationaltransformation and cultivating
that as well. So it's, it's a lot of pieces.
I know I'm just sort of touchingon them a little bit, but it
works and I'm so excited about it.
And, and we have a choice every single day whether or not we

(14:17):
want to transform or stay where we are.
Yeah, it's a choice every day. This is so.
Interesting to me because again,I go back to seeing you on
television and the persona that you presented at what point in
your either TV career or or maybe it wasn't during then and
it was later. At what point did you realize

(14:40):
this, the pillars of the IT factor and you did you feel like
when you were on TV you had all these three things under
control? No, no.
I mean, I didn't have them put together in this framework, if
you will. So was I physical and active and
movement? And yes.

(15:01):
And did I know what my body language conveyed?
Did I know the research and the science behind it?
And that's what I love about theIT factor.
I love uncovering the science and the soul behind it for
people. So did I actually know all those
numbers? You know, 65% is non verbal, 35%
is verbal and how you use your voice.
Did I know that specifically in those scientific terms?

(15:22):
No. But did I know it internally?
Yes, I knew that physical movement was important for
well-being. I knew that physical my, my
persona, if you will, non verbalcommunication, how I dress,
where my eyes were looking, did I have a smile on my face.
All of that conveyed part of my presence and the IT factor.

(15:43):
Did I know that my mind, you know, was that big a factor?
Not necessarily. I knew that I had my own issues
of imposter syndrome and limiting beliefs, and I love the
fact that I'm learning so much about neuroplasticity, which
means that we can rewire our brains at.
Any. Age with specific intentional

(16:06):
practices and exercises. How wonderful is that?
That's the best. It is because we do.
We can change. We can change our thinking, we
can evolve our thinking, and we can grow into becoming more of
who we were meant to be. So did I understand it from the
scientific standpoint? No.

(16:27):
But I knew all these little things in my head, the inner
voices and the critics, where they were getting in my way.
And then when it came to the relational piece, I don't think
I had a label for it at that time.
But again, as I've said, throughthe 12 years of working with
people, I've now kind of broughtall this together.
Like, wow, this all makes sense.There's a framework that I've
developed here and it works and I love sharing it with people.

(16:51):
That's the best. So when you think about
specifically the mental stuff, the the stories, the judgement,
the self, the negative self talk, that noise that most
people I know are walking aroundwith men and women.
What were you hearing and and? How?
How do you deal with it? Well, first of all, I think it's

(17:13):
very important point that you made and I love to share this
with people. This is about both men and women
who either can feel impostor syndrome or limiting beliefs.
Now impostor syndrome is, I feellike a fraud.
I don't deserve this. The limiting beliefs are I'm not
good enough, I'm not smart enough, I'm too old, I can't do

(17:34):
this. I'm not enough.
That's the slight difference between the two.
And sometimes they crossover. And nearly 3/4 of the population
at some point in time will feel either one of those or both.
Now how did I feel it? Oh my gosh.
I mean, when when you're sittingin the coveted anchor chair and
you have people who, you know, want your job, you know, it's

(17:57):
not easy. I questioned my own confidence
many, many times. I'm probably more confident
today than I have ever been in my entire life.
And I'm in my mid 60s. How long did it take to get
there? Right.
And so it's, you know, when you're in that profession that
is so competitive, you, you really have to find that rock.

(18:18):
And for me, it was my faith. And I just had to keep believing
in myself. And it was not always easy, I'm
not going to lie. And so I've had to work really
hard to get to that place of trusting myself.
And one of the quotes from my mother, who is actually, it's
from my grandmother. No knowledge is ever wasted.
And I'd love being able to sharethat with people because we know

(18:40):
more than we think we know when we have to learn to trust that.
And I am also a big proponent ofreally listening to my
intuition. And you have to separate the
noise, which is not always easy because, let's face it, there's
so much distraction going on. Indeed.
But that's what reasons why I journal every day and have for
40 plus years. That's amazing.

(19:03):
Yeah. I think that practice alone is
huge. And I'd love, I heard you say on
our friend Jodi Carrington's podcast, I heard you talk about
journaling. And I love how you described it
as a brain dump because I think that's so important for people
to understand is yes, there's a lot of good books out there and
a lot of good influencers out there sharing journal prompts.

(19:26):
And I've been known to share some myself.
Me too. I probably still will, but I
love the concept of the brain dump.
Well, what I think is important is, first of all, there is no
right or wrong way to journal. That's the first thing.
Just just do it and and for me, it's extremely extemporaneous.

(19:46):
Whatever is on my mind, I just start typing and I used to write
hand. I can't read my handwriting
anymore, but I I now do it on mycomputer and I just and.
See, right there, that's anotherthing to to permission someone
to do because I think a lot of people think I need a pretty
journal, the right pen and and, you know, write until my hand
cramps. If that works for you, great.

(20:06):
I used to handwrite in journals,but then when I was traveling so
much, it was this one more thingto carry.
I was like, well, I'm already carrying my computer.
Maybe I should just start typingin my computer.
And, and now because my handwriting has gotten so bad
that I can't read it, I'm like, what did I write down there?
So I, you know, and I don't careabout the spelling.
I don't care about punctuation. That's not the important piece

(20:27):
for me. It's processing what's going on
in my brain and getting it out and being able to connect the
dots of what I'm writing. And I'll go back sometimes and
go whoa, like I'll have aha moments where I might have like,
it could be a week, could be a year.
It doesn't even matter. But going back and, and seeing

(20:47):
what I was kind of processing and thinking about, that's the
way for me. I call it sort of a meditation,
if you will. Some people might disagree.
I don't really care. It's my way of meditating in
addition to reading like 6 different, you know, devotional
books, etcetera. But it's, it's for me, the way
that I process, the way that I listen to my intuition, because

(21:11):
all of these things start to come up.
And that's how I connect the dots for me, and that's how I
listen to my angels, to the universe, whatever you want to
call it, God, all of the above. That's how I listen to my own
intuition. Yeah, it's like being your own.
Not that I'm discounting anything, but it's like being
your own therapist, professor, neuroscientist.

(21:36):
Like you can you, you have all of this wisdom within you.
You just need to freaking listen.
Right, you know more than you think you know.
That's what I'm trying to share too.
And and you know my book Dare toown you, taking your
authenticity and dreams into your next chapter was based on
my grandmother's quote. No knowledge is ever wasted.
And and the tagline was in the good Lord's sight.

(21:57):
That's what she would say, but it truly is.
And and I think it's so important for people to
understand that you do know morethan you think you know.
You just have to learn to trust yourself.
You have to learn to, you have to learn to trust yourself.
And you have to give yourself permission to trust yourself and
to listen to that and not discount it.

(22:18):
Because sometimes you'll get those little nudges and they're
just kind of quiet little whispers.
And then sometimes you might be hit over the head with a frying
pan. But you eventually, if you
listen, you'll know well that. Brings me to a question that you
may or may not want to address, but we'll we'll cross that.

(22:38):
So in terms of this trusting yourself, it's so easy for our
smart hypercritical investigative reporter type
brain to say, well, how can I trust myself?
Because when I did XY and Z it blew up in my face.

(22:59):
So I'm, how can I, how can I know if this is the right thing
for me when the past shows me I'm really bad at making
decisions? So when I think of you and what
I've heard you discuss about let's go with interpersonal
relationships, marriage, how do you reflect on personal past

(23:23):
choices and the ability to move forward and trust oneself?
First of all, nobody's perfect. Let's just start right there.
I'm not perfect. Nobody's perfect.
And sometimes being imperfect ismore perfect because you're
being your best authentic self #2 We all make mistakes, and for

(23:45):
a long time I felt like I was a failure.
But what I've now come to understand is that none of those
experiences were failures. They were lessons learned.
And did I learn the lessons? And failure is only the enemy if
you don't learn the lessons. And look, I'm, I'm first big

(24:06):
proponent of, hey, therapy is great, OK.
And and so is journaling becauseyou begin to understand some of
the things that you've done. And somebody recently asked me,
you know, do you regret any of the choices you've ever made?
Well, some of them were maybe not the best choices, but I made
them with the information I had at that time.

(24:29):
And on top of that, I wouldn't be who I am today, where I am
today without having gone through all of those
experiences. So we all can learn from our
experiences. And quote from my mother, the
goal of living is to be able to absorb all of the pain of life

(24:52):
and lose none of the joy. Does that mean that life's going
to be easy? Hell no, not always.
Sometimes you're going to go through very dark, difficult
tunnels, but it's all about how you rise and how you move
through that tunnel and continueto pick yourself up and move
forward. That's life.
We're all going to face challenges.
We're all going to face obstacles.
This is life, right? None of us is perfect.

(25:16):
We're gonna make mistakes, and that's OK, right?
It's OK. Yeah, yeah, to to bring in a
silly kind of light hearted example.
I don't know if you've seen the latest Charlie Sheen documentary
on Netflix. And I have not yet.
OK, it it's highly entertaining and I learned something really

(25:38):
intriguing about him, which is he turned down, I believe,
turned down the role of The Karate Kid.
So I do remember hearing about that.
I didn't know that that part of his story.
And so it's like, you think regret is that AI told someone.
After I saw that episode, I toldsomeone about it.

(25:59):
I said, did you know that Charlie Sheen could have been
The Karate Kid? And they're like, oh, I bet he's
been sitting on that one for 40 years regretting it.
And I said, I don't know, based on what you just said, there was
a lesson there, I'm sure. And it, it actually stemmed from
a lesson his father taught him at the time he was contracted to
do something else. And that's why he declined The

(26:19):
Karate Kid. Does he regret doing, you know,
Aliens from the Underground Part2?
I don't know. I don't know.
But he stuck with that promise versus taking the the new role.
But I just thought, I don't know.
I mean, would his life have turned out completely different
if he had been The Karate Kid? We'll never know.

(26:40):
That's not the way the the path was supposed to unfold for him.
You know, the other thing about that is, and there is I believe
some validity to this. We end up where we're supposed
to end up and and maybe there was a detour or two or three or
4, but do we end up where we're supposed to be?

(27:00):
Kind of think so, kind of think so if we continue to listen, if
we continue to align, if we continue to give ourselves
permission to grow. And I'm such a big proponent of
we should always stay curious. We should always want to learn

(27:20):
more and grow and be open to learning new things.
Not everybody is open to learning new things.
And sometimes you have to be willing to shift.
You know, when I'm working with top level executives, obviously
they're very successful and whatgot them?
There are some really great habits.
However, those habits that got you to where you are and to your

(27:43):
success may not get you to whereyou want to be tomorrow and you
may have to make some changes. And let's be honest, the older
we get, change is hard. None of us like to be out of
that comfort zone, but that's where we learn and grow at the
edge of that comfort zone. Yeah.
Sorry for the interruption, but I have to ask, have you thought

(28:03):
about going vegan but then reconsidered because it sounds
too hard, too overwhelming, too removed from the normal way of
eating? If so, that is totally normal.
We've all been there. So I want to share with you a
fun video. It's kind of like a tutorial of
me going through my local grocery store magazine.

(28:24):
And it doesn't matter if you don't live near a Hannaford,
this still applies. And I show you how easy it is to
veganize the various recipes presented.
You can get the Hannaford Fresh magazine online for free and
follow along with me. Or you could just watch and
listen as I explain the ease andaccessibility of incorporating a
plant based diet. So I'd love to share this video

(28:47):
with you. Just go to the show notes and
click on free supermarket video and enjoy.
And if you want more individualized help to implement
a plant based diet, then click on the link that's also in the
show notes for a free coaching. Now let's get back to the
episode. So what?
What is something that you are curious about or learning about

(29:11):
yourself at this point? Well, right now I'm extremely
fascinated with neuroplasticity for one thing, and so I'm kind
of devouring a lot of content onthat.
But I've always been very curious about spiritual things
and whether you want to call it ESP or whatever.
I mean, I'm not going to necessarily call it that, but

(29:32):
have I known things before they've happened?
Sometimes, yes. And is it just that I am
listening? So I'm just very curious about
that. And I have friends who
legitimately are certified mediums and things like that.
I mean, they are so skilled and I do believe all of us can have

(29:53):
that capacity to some extent or another if we're willing to be
open to it, if we're willing to listen to it.
So I'm always curious about that.
And I'm curious about how to continue to help the people that
I work with. And I, I always get so excited,
Jenny, when I'm working with someone and I, I come up with

(30:15):
maybe a new way to help them do something that they didn't know
that they could learn how to do.And that's always fun.
And for me when I'm in a session, for example, I just had
a session recently, a couple of weeks ago.
It was the last session with this particular client who is a
data analyst, OK. And he had to do this

(30:37):
presentation on how their company, their firm had really
evolved with analytics and data.Now you would think data and
analytics is not interesting. And, and yes, to some extent and
not to me, but when you have to present data and analytics and
research, it's always about what's the story behind that?

(30:57):
Why should I care about those numbers, those statistics?
And so helping my clients, for example, figure out what that
story is, I'm always curious about how can I figure out what
that story is? And I'm always curious about my
clients. I just had a whole group of
people that I was working with who were getting ready to pitch
to private equity and investors to sell the company.

(31:18):
And I was working with them on their elevator pitches, as I
like to call it, or connections.How are you going to introduce
yourself? Are you just going to say, well,
my name is Liz Bruner and I'm the CEO and founder of Bruner
Communications. That means nothing.
So again, putting my interviewing skills to work,
curiosity to work and asking them who are they as people, as
human beings. And that's how we started our

(31:39):
conversation about being human and and coming.
And so I'm always curious about the people I work with and what
makes them tick, and how can I help them take what they don't
even know is a strength, for example, and turn it into one
for them. So those are things I'm
passionate about. Do you find yourself in
situations with friends or family where your brain is going

(32:02):
1,000,000 miles a minute, wanting to dissect their
behaviors and their choices and their patterns and all of it?
I think it comes naturally from the standpoint that my mother
was a school social worker and my father was a minister, my
grandfather was a minister, my brother is a minister.
I have lots of doctors and ministers in my family.
And so there was always a lot oftalk about psychology and

(32:22):
sociology and philosophy. So yeah, it just kind of comes
naturally. And, and those are the kinds of
conversation I love to have deepconversations with people.
I always have. So, you know, to answer your
question again about curiosity, I'm always really enjoy deep
conversations with people. You know, I'm not going to
profess to know all the answers,but I've done a lot in my 60s

(32:44):
plus years to, to kind of have alittle bit of experience and
expertise. And I also believe that that I
have been blessed with some gifts and talents.
And when I was trying to figure out what to do about leaving
television after 28 years, couple years beforehand, I was
like, OK, you know what, what might be next for me?
And while I didn't know exactly what it was, I did know that I

(33:08):
wanted to be of service in some way.
And I wanted to be able to sharewith people the information and
the experience and the expertisethat I had to help them get
better at something that they didn't know they could get
better at or how to get better at.
Right. Yeah, I think the how really
trips a lot of people up. It does.
You know, sometimes people will come to me and say, well, you
know, my boss says I need more presents, but I don't know what

(33:32):
that means. And they don't know how to go
about figuring that out. And so working with them and,
and dissecting it, if you will, we do have to do a lot of
peeling of the layers to get down to the essence of some
things. And for a period of time, I
thought I wanted to, to become apsychologist.
So maybe this is kind of my my little way of doing it.

(33:52):
Right. I'm not a doctor, but.
But I'm acting like 1 on TV, yes, exactly or or or on
broadcast podcast exactly. So in Speaking of pulling apart
the layers and women in particular, that's predominantly
this audience stepping into an era of evolution.

(34:17):
I recently turned 50 and Doctor Jodi Carrington helped me
celebrate when she came on the show.
And, and this being the 100th episode is a huge turning point
for me because from this point of forward, it will have a
completely different mission andvibe.
Can we can we talk about that? Like what?

(34:38):
What is what is it that keeps women stuck in that cycle of
it's too late, I'm too old? I, I, I made, I picked my lane,
I have to stay in it. What is that?
Oh, there. There's so many pieces to
answering that question, and thefirst of which is that they

(35:00):
don't trust what they know. They don't trust themselves
enough to think they could do something differently.
They feel like I can't make a change.
I've got too many responsibilities.
I'm already overwhelmed. I mean, how do you expect me to
change? I can't change.
I've got parents and kids to take care of and this and that,
and I'm on this treadmill that Ican't get off of.
I get it, I get it. It's scary.

(35:24):
So being able to step back and trust that you know more than
you think you know, and then being able to give yourself
permission. And I think that's really hard
for women at times to give themselves permission because we
do get stuck in our heads. I'm too old.
If I had thought I was too old at 54 leaving television, I
wouldn't be where I am today. And, and just was I scared?

(35:48):
Yes. I never, ever wanted to own my
own business. I didn't think I was smart
enough to own my own business, let alone like, I never, ever
wanted to own my own business. But I just had this knowing that
this was what I was supposed to do.
And it it came after a couple ofyears of quietly and

(36:09):
confidentially talking to leaders in the community,
saying, you know, if I want to do something else, I really have
no clue what to do. I, I I.
Really don't know what what whatdo you think I'd be good at?
But I had to be vulnerable and authentic enough to ask those
questions. Now, some of the answers were

(36:29):
pretty funny. Oh well, I see you read the news
every night. I'm like, trust me, it's more
than just reading the news. Right.
But then others would say to me,you're smart.
When I admitted to someone, I said I just, I don't know if I'm
smart enough to own my own business.
He said, you're smart enough, you'll figure it out.
Wow, that was like a an amazing feeling of validation, right.

(36:53):
And then I had kind of narrowed it down to three different
lanes. And I'll kind of explain a
little further how women can kind of get out of that other
piece. Just a moment.
I'll show this story first, which is that I thought, OK,
maybe I could be some communications expert for a
company. I don't know who.
And I didn't really have a timeline of when I thought I
might want to go do something different.

(37:14):
I just knew, you know, things were changing in television.
I needed to be thinking about that.
And then I thought, well, I could be an executive director
for a nonprofit, although I'd never done that before either.
That seems to have not stopped me in the past.
Or I could launch a business. And I remember sharing this with
one of my mentors who said to me, Liz, you're well known,

(37:34):
you're well respected, You have credibility.
That is value. Why would you give that value to
somebody else? Launch your business.
If in six months or nine months you don't like it, you don't
have any clients, you can alwaysgo do something else.
Jenny. In that moment in his office, a
kaleidoscope went click. And I made the decision that I'm

(37:58):
going to launch a business and Ihad been playing around with a
marketing team like, well, here's some pictures, here's a
URL. Liz burner.com.
You know, you don't need to do anything for another six months,
a year. I called him that day and I
said, remember when I said you had six months?
I said, you have six weeks because I knew I wouldn't have
the courage if I didn't do it inthat moment.

(38:21):
Now back up to how can you get out of your head with some of
those imposter syndrome things and those limiting beliefs?
First of all, that's just talk in your head.
And we come to believe these things as fact, right?
When it comes to limiting beliefs and when there's zero
truth to them. So sometimes it requires

(38:41):
professional help to kind of uncover why in the world do I
think that way about myself. Yeah.
And and also, can you flip it around?
OK, I just, I just don't think I'm enough.
I don't know enough. OK, why?
And you may not be able to answer it yourself, but start
asking your because is that really true?

(39:03):
And think about, well, I, I can't do this or I can't do
that. What are the skills that you
have? And what I love working with
people, helping them figure out what are the skills that they do
have because you may not be thinking of them as skills when
in actuality they are. 100%. So I mean, I literally I would

(39:25):
go on LinkedIn, I was looking around, I'm like, OK, I don't
know, communications or public relations or I didn't know what.
I would just put stuff in and see what jobs were out there.
Not that I was going to take anyof them, nor did I ever apply
for anything, but I would go down the job description, go, I
can do that, I can do that. Oh no, don't want to ever do
that. And so I kind of just was, I

(39:46):
mean, I went down a few lanes just kind of playing around with
being open, curious, willing to learn.
And I did a lot of informationalinterviews, which the other
piece too is people always say, well, how in the world?
So I'm in chapter 4. This is Liz 4 point O OK.
I started out as a high school music teacher, singing semi

(40:07):
professionally, touring Europe and a couple years and I'm like,
oh, I think there's something more for me to do.
I had no clue. And I was reading this amazing
book called Who's Hiring Who by Richard Lathrop and he talked
about informational interviews. Never heard of such a thing.
And I had done 1 television commercial when I was Miss
Illinois 1979 and the Miss America Scholarship pageant, by

(40:31):
the way, paid for my education. So I'm very proud of that.
I paid every penny of my education.
And and so there were two television stations in
Champaign, Urbana, IL, where I was living at the time.
And I bravely, literally blindlycalled them up and said, you
know, I think I want to do something in television.
Do do I need to go back to school?
Do I need to get another degree?Is what I think I'm even

(40:53):
interested in exist. Fast forward six months time, a
position was literally created for me at my first television
station. And they wanted me to.
I was the, what was my title? Oh, community relations liaison.
So fancy. Yeah, and I basically was just

(41:15):
doing the public service announcements and helping the
the other anchors, reporters getout speaking engagements.
And then suddenly they said to me, well, we want you to voice
these announcements, these public service announcements.
I'm like, oh, I don't know how to do that.
I'm like, oh, sure, OK, fine. No problem.
I'd go into the sound with it today.
The Kiwanis Club is going to have a pancake practice today

(41:36):
that I mean, I didn't know what I was doing.
And then they said, no, we want you to do these on camera.
And then they had me doing my own talk show and then they had
me doing the weather. We had a three women weather
team, Jenny probably the only one in the country.
That's awesome. Best training you could ever
have for live TV because there'sno script.

(41:59):
So I did that at that station for three years and then I got
called to the station in Tampa, FL as the director of community
relations. I was the only female in upper
management. Talk about pushing through the
glass ceiling. And there was no, there was no
one there to ask for help on. And I did a lot of listening.
I did a lot of observing. And then within a very short

(42:22):
period of time, they tapped me to be the Morning News anchor.
And oh, yes, you're going to keep your day job.
So I was getting up at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning going into
work. I do the news.
Then I'd go put my manager's haton.
I worked 80 hours a week. Yeah.
And I finally at a point was like, I can't do this anymore.
And I took myself off the air and I said, if God wants me to

(42:43):
be back on the air, it'll happen.
And a year later, my agent callsand says, there's this show
Chronicle in Boston on WCVBTV, Channel 5, ABC affiliate.
And so I came for Chronicle and within a year, tap on the
shoulder, they wanted me to do the eye opener, the early
morning newscast. I'm like, I can do this.

(43:05):
I've done 2 jobs before. I must have a sign on my back
that says give me two jobs to doat the same time.
But again, I was working a gazillion hours and before long
I ended up only in the news department and the rest is
history for 28 years. But my point in sharing this
story is people like, how did you go from doing this to, to
doing what this now? And now you have this business

(43:27):
and you're it's all been storytelling and using my voice,
I'm connecting the themes and patterns and the dots of my
life. I know more than I think I know.
When I was singing and teaching high school, we were sharing
stories through song, using voice as a news anchor.

(43:47):
I'm sharing other people's stories using my voice.
As an executive communications coach, I'm helping other people
learn how to tell their stories and how to use their voice well
with all my vocal training. And now as a keynote speaker and
an author, I'm sharing my story using my voice.
Those are my themes and patterns.

(44:08):
Those are the dots that I was able to connect and I love
helping people figure out again,you know more than you think you
know. Wow, that's so cool.
All right, so. So let's see Liz Berner,
leadership genius on the spot. Connect the dots of my life.
OK, I. OK, go for it.

(44:29):
Give me, give it to me. I'll leave out the first couple
of jobs that were. Why no, No, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no. Because.
I mean, out of college I worked at APR agency for a year, OK,
then I worked at an art gallery for a couple months.
Then I worked as an aide in a school in an elementary school,

(44:50):
which prompted me to go back formy master's and I became an
elementary school teacher. Yep.
Then I had children, left teaching and opened my own food
business, which, by the way, I was in the first iteration of
it. I was featured on Chronicle in
New Hampshire. Oh.
My gosh, I love. Signed up with Tiffany Eddie and

(45:12):
then after closing up the the mobile bakery coincidentally
right before the pandemic, I have now found myself in
coaching and now specifically vegan lifestyle coaching.
OK, all right, 321 go. I was going to say on the spot.

(45:33):
First of all, when you were a teacher, think about this.
Being a teacher is also like being a coach.
Yes, that that I. So you can connect those dots,
correct? Yeah.
OK. When you were working in an art
gallery and or your food business, both of those are very
creative professions. Yes.

(45:55):
In your PR agency, you were learning how to market yourself,
market your other products. You are now marketing you, yes.
So all of those things are connected to where you are today
and even your veganism, understanding food and

(46:15):
understanding how your life revolves around it and the
challenges you've had, but also now what you're doing to help
other people move through those challenges with some of the
changes that you have made and why and how.
So that's how I would initially connect your dots.
Wow, Right, right, right, right.Obviously your work is a little

(46:38):
more a little. More complicated than that and
we get deeper, but that's for another day.
Yes. I'm not in the C-Suite, so I'm
not your target audience, but. But I'm hoping that your
listeners understand that you know more than you think.
You know, I keep coming back to that, but it's it's about, OK,
what did I learn in that PR agency?
What did I learn when I was in art gallery?

(46:59):
Why did I like it or why did I leave?
What was it about teaching, regardless of the fact that it
was only elementary kids perhaps, but what was it about
that? And then in your baking business
to now you're coaching. All of those things do intersect
at some point in time. Yeah, yeah, it is.
It is fascinating to think how when you said earlier I didn't

(47:25):
write it down, but that the pathwhether whether there were, you
know, 3 failed marriages behind us or not, the path forward is
where we were supposed to end up.
So whether it's you or Charlie Sheen missing The Karate Kid,
it's the path you were supposed to be on.
And and I'm where I'm supposed. To be right, right.

(47:47):
And that everything I did that led me to finally embracing my
passions at 50, you know, like you said in your 50s, to finally
pivot and step into this new identity.
I want people to hear that thereis no expiration date.
And and I, I'm such a big proponent of no matter how happy

(48:07):
you are in your career, no matter how much money you may be
making, I wonder what else I might do someday.
And there's no harm in exploring.
There's no harm in learning. There's no harm in asking.
Yeah, questioning. Yeah, I'm sorry.
No, I'm retirement. Retirement is not retirement.

(48:28):
And I'm all about, some people call it reinvention.
I call it recreation because you're taking all of that
experiences, good and bad, all of them, and you're using it to
move forward. It's recreating your life as
opposed to necessarily doing a complete 180.
Yeah, I mean, it's like taking all the Lego bricks, taking
apart the Death Star and building something new.

(48:49):
Exactly. Yeah, yeah, that was just, that
was very clear, very visual for the multi learning types to see
that there is just so much possibility ahead of us.
I, I it makes me so sad when people think I'm in this stage
of life and it is what it is. I've already spent 30 years

(49:10):
doing this, so whatever. But then it makes me happy when
I hear friends in their 50s who are on LinkedIn poking around
and applying for other things. Why not?
Life is too short not to continue to explore and offer
whatever gifts and talents that I believe we all are blessed

(49:30):
with. Sometimes it just takes a little
longer to figure out what the heck those are, but we all have
gifts and talents that we can use to be of service in some
way. Amen.
Amen. All right, Liz, I am so grateful
for all the time that you have given to us.
I want you to tell everybody where to find all the good

(49:53):
things that you're offering. Oh thank you so much.
It basically if you just go to my website itslizbruner.com.
Because you took the leap and said I'm getting lizbruner.com.
Well, you know, it's funny, it was, well, a couple years, well
before I even was thinking abouta business.
I mean, if you had said to me 15years ago, you're going to have

(50:14):
your own business someday, I always said hell no, I have no
interest. 0 But it was back thenthat a friend of mine said, you
know, you should get Liz brunner.com.
And I was like, why? He said, just get it.
OK, fine. Well, boy, was I glad I did.
So Liz brunner.com, you can learn all about my keynote
speaking, my coaching, also my book Dare to own you, taking

(50:37):
your authenticity and dreams into your next chapter.
And you can also, even though mypodcast is on hiatus, I still
have great episodes that people can listen to.
And it's called Live Your Best Life with Liz Brunner.
And it's all about people who have created next chapters,
pivoted, risen above tough times.
And you can find it on all the major directories, Apple,

(50:57):
Spotify, blah blah blah, so, andit's also on my website, so and.
Chances are, if people are listening to this podcast, they
would like yours because we lovestories of resilience and
overcoming and inspiration. And creating next chapters.
I mean, you know, we have a longlife ahead of us.
Hopefully, God willing, let's, let's make the most of it.

(51:20):
Let's make the best of it and and really go after what we
want. Another Amen.
Clearly, you know what you're doing in the speaking
department. Oh, I, you know, what I love
about keynote speaking is just the energy exchange, Jenny, with
people and even just having thisconversation with you.
It's about that energy that's exchanged and ideas that can be

(51:42):
shared. And I'm always so grateful and
hopeful that if some of my stories of some of the
experiences that I have gone through can help somebody say,
you know, she did it, maybe I can too.
She rose above that. Maybe I can too.
And that is part of my purpose. If I can help somebody figure

(52:05):
something out then done my job. Well, I think you hit on a key
point earlier on in the conversation, which is the
curiosity factor, right? If we can just go about life
with a little bit of curiosity about ourselves, about other
people, about how the world works, the doors that will open.
Yes, and sometimes, you know, just being that open

(52:28):
opportunities present themselves.
So don't shut the door because you say, oh, I haven't crossed
that TI haven't dotted that. I have never done that before.
Just go, huh, Let me think aboutthat for a moment.
What could I do? What could I do?
Yeah, you've never done that yet.
And I also, Speaking of have people in follow me on social

(52:49):
media, join my e-mail newsletter.
It's, I promise it's only like once a month after you get past
the first 3, but it's, you know,it's, it's once a month.
And I, I try to share with people some new insights and
blog posts and things like that.Also a little bit about what
I've been up to and this will this show will be there sometime
at some point in time in the newsletter.
Yay, yay. All right, Liz, Well, before I

(53:11):
let you go, I want to invite youto.
Raise a glass. I have my water bottle, raise
the water bottle and let us say cheers to Failure is only the
enemy if you don't learn the lesson.
Absolutely. Failure is not the enemy.

(53:31):
Failure is not the enemy. It's only if you don't learn the
lesson. And there is always a lesson in
every experience, good and bad. Cheers to that.
Cheers. Is it early?
Is it too early to have a glass of wine?
Maybe this afternoon. All right, Liz.
Well, thank you so much for yourtime.
I'm so grateful and I know the listeners are too.

(53:54):
Thank you so much for the opportunity.
It's a pleasure to meet you, Jenny.
Be well. Wow, what a treat to.
Be in the space with someone I spent years admiring from the
comfort of my living room. So I want to thank Liz Bruner
for being here and sharing so much wisdom and encouragement.
Now let me get to her many notesfrom the sidelines.

(54:18):
Number one, the IT factor is theenergy and charisma that people
naturally have. And everyone can have it through
intentional transformation. And that means aligning all of
our different parts, our physical, mental, and relational
selves #265% of your communication comes from

(54:39):
nonverbal behaviors and movements.
So what are you putting out there #3?
The relationship you have with yourself is the relationship
you're going to have with everybody else #4.
We have a choice every day to transform or stay the same.
That leads to #5 Neuroplasticity.

(55:01):
We can rewire our brains at any age.
Isn't that exciting? We can evolve no matter how old
we are #6 3/4 of the population at some point will feel imposter
syndrome and or limiting beliefs.
That's a really interesting statistic, and I can speak to

(55:22):
both of those situations many times #7 we know more than we
think and we have to learn to trust our intuition #8 there is
no right or wrong way to journal.
And I want to give a shout out to a podcast interview I did a
long time ago on the Journal with Jenny podcast.

(55:42):
And I will link that in the shownotes.
If you want to hear me talk about journaling #9 failure is
only the enemy. If you don't learn the lesson
#10 we end up where we're supposed to end up #11 we should
always stay curious and want to learn more and grow #12 the
habits that got you to where youare now.
And your success may not be whatget you to where you want to be

(56:06):
tomorrow. And when Liz said that, I
immediately thought of somethingthat came up in my interview
with Doctor Jen Simmons. If you heard that episode,
amazing. If you didn't, you should
definitely make a point to checkout that two parter.
I will link it in the show notes.
The thing that Doctor Jen said that to me was the most powerful

(56:26):
was you can't heal in the same environment that got you sick.
Kind of aligns with what Liz just said.
And finally #13 life is too short not to continue to explore
and offer your gifts and talents.
And several times in my conversation with Liz, you heard
the word permission. And I just love that because so
many of us subconsciously feel like we need to be granted

(56:50):
permission to change, to switch directions, step out of the role
people have always known us to be in.
And so I feel like that is a perfect segue for me to announce
The Flirty Vegan For Real. Because starting tomorrow, this
podcast is renamed. And from here forward, you will

(57:11):
hear incredibly supportive, hopeful, inspiring conversations
from vegans who at one point flirted with the idea of making
a. Change decided to move forward
and experienced beautiful changes, improvements and
purpose. So please make sure to subscribe

(57:34):
to this podcast here wherever you're listening and also on
YouTube because video is fun. And I'm just so excited to have
you here for this evolution thatI'm experiencing.
I wish you a beautiful week. I will see you next time on the
Flirty Vegan. Cheers to you.

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100 - legendary news anchor Liz Brunner teaches intentional transformation

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}100 - legendary news anchor Liz Brunner teaches intentional transformation