Getting Creative. Give it a Week. Empowering Women. A Poem by Maya Angelou.

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Okay, little food for yourself life. Oh it's pretty Bay,
it's pretty beautiful. Laugh a little moth. You're kicking with

(00:30):
four Okay, Happy Thursday, everybody. I hope you're having a
great week. I just wanna start this podcast off with
saying if you aren't subscribed to four Things with Amy Brown,
then you should please subscribe and rate and review because

(00:52):
that's like super helpful and just a reminder because you
might be listening now and you're like, I don't even
know how I find found this girl. I don't know
if I'm going to subscribe. I'm just gonna go and
tell you you should subscribe. UM, thank you so much
for your Pimp and Joy purchases, the last um we're
gonna have ever since the tornado in Tennessee. Y'all have
been amazing, Like I am blown away at your generosity

(01:16):
and your willingness to like maybe you have ten Pimp
and Enjoy items already and the last thing you need
is another one. But you you show up every time
and you're like, you know what I'm gonna get. I'm
gonna get the new tied I thing. I'm gonna get
a new hat, or I'm gonna buy a shirt for
a friend, because it's going towards a great cause, and
all proceeds are going to the Tornado. Really right now,
and really anytime we have to rally together and and

(01:38):
raise money for something for someone or something that's going on.
I mean, PIM enjoy is all proceeds, all the time,
and we even keep a general fund that we can
pull from at times if we hear of a need
and we're able to respond. But it's literally because of you,
and that's not lost on us one single bit. So
I just wanted to say thank you, thank you, thank you,

(01:59):
and also to all of you that have responded and
purchased the shirts that Stashira designed and made that say
empowered Women, Empower women, Like it's so cool to see all.
We haven't eve really talked about it that much, but
y'all are buying them and that's it's just super cool
because all the proceeds from that are going to organizations

(02:20):
that empower women and girls and we can make a
difference together. You can hopefully own an item from our
line that is super cute and it's comfortable and feels good,
but you can feel good wearing and knowing that it's
supported some awesome causes and anytime you shop four Things
or a squaw like that's supporting Haiti. So it's just

(02:44):
not lost on us. And we've seen a lot of
you shopping and posting lately and that is just super cool.
It is why we do what we do and why
I'm thankful to have a platform that I have and
so that I can combine the apparel and fashion type
stuff that we're doing for good but actually have people
that will respond and buy it. So that's neat Chase

(03:05):
is here to say what up? Jason? It up? Um
so a radio ama dot com. That's where you can
find uh links to the Empowered Women shirts, That's where
you can find pimp enjoy stuff. That's where you can
find four Things totes which are under our SPUA line.
So thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm excited about
today's episode speaking of empowered Women because I have Britt

(03:28):
Morin coming on and she is definitely an empowered woman
that is empowering women and she's the founder and CEO
of Britta and Co. And this is the Britain co.
This is the you know, think the bio on Instagram
on a mission to help women feel better, get smarter,
and l O l a little. I love that so much,

(03:51):
so I got some fun stuff with her. And then
also ways you can support women around the world, like
kind of the World Vision put up this article and
talked about different ways you can show up for women. Um,
whether it's helping provide clean water, which is like a
huge thing, or it's just like we've said a couple

(04:12):
of times on the podcast, just sending someone that you admire,
like a woman that is a figure in your life
that you look up to, send them a text and
tell them you appreciate them. Simple, free costume, nothing, but
you can. That's a way to empower a woman in
your life. And then that's you being empowered. So that

(04:32):
but but the other there's things around the world. There's
different ways where you can be intentional about supporting women
and girls. And then I've got a cool quote from
my Angelo. Not even a quote, actually it's a point
and you might have to listen to it once or twice.
I think it's I mean, obviously it's good and it's
my Angelo. Anytime I think of my Angelo, now I

(04:54):
think of Oprah back when we were doing the Gratitude
episode and and uh, we were just highlighting all of
the positive reasons why you should be practicing gratitude. And
we had this thing from Oprah dot com where she
in like N six or something was it it was nine. Yeah,

(05:15):
she had she she shared her from her gratitude journal
and it was like I had sorebet on a bench
in a park and I was like, Okay, that's cool.
And then like her fourth thing was like the biggest
name drop ever. She's like, my friend Maya Angelo called
me today and shared with me some wise words. I
was like, dang, Like that's baller status when you're a friend.

(05:36):
I know she is so um, but yeah, So my
friend Maya Angelo um shared with me this beautiful poem
and I'm I'm going to read it to you. So
I hope that um, y'all are doing well and that
you're going strong with the Gratitude challenge. And for me,
it's been so helpful. I'm so thankful that we're doing

(05:58):
this and it's the whole month of March. Don't worry
if you haven't started, you can hop on board. Now, Chase,
are you doing it? I'm doing it? Okay, you're still
still on track. So cruizy. There. There was a night
when I was so tired where I had already crawled
in bed, and I was like, dang it, I have
to practice gratitude. I forgot him in a challenge, and
I'm I'm posting every day, so that's my accountability is

(06:20):
posting to my Insta stories and I did not. I
tell you, I was not feeling it, but once I
did it, I felt better. I'll go back a day
if I have to, like I might wake up and
I didn't do it. That's that's not every day. That
is not that's not kind of cheating. That's cheating. There's
no pressure twice, it's not even it's like it's been

(06:41):
like twelve days or whatever. I failed. I guess I'm trying. Okay,
I'm just kidding. I'm just giving you a hard time.
There is no there's no you know, fail until you don't.
Like my friend Bobby Bones would say, actually that my
name drop like is Oprah's my Angelo, like me being
able to be like my good friend Bobby Bones once
told me, I think that fail until you don't fight

(07:02):
grind repeat, So you'll know there's even fight grind to
repeat merch. Some people don't know that, but it's up
at the Shot Forward under can't see apparel like there's
fight and they support. I don't know what cause it's
supporting for sure, but there is fight, grind, repeat stuff
and it is. That's another thing. Like you can wear
pimp and joy or wear whatever, but everything from the

(07:23):
Shop Forward has a good message attached to it, and
I feel like when you wear it, you'll be reminded
of some sort of gives back. And yeah, gives back
for sure. So keep that, keep at it, chase, keep
at it. You need like what I can't believe this,
Although there's no judgment, I am shot. I'm going to
say like I've been doing this for almost a year

(07:44):
because of you, because you told me like January two nineteen,
I needed to start doing it so off days. Wow,
you were way way ahead of me, because I mean
all although I was speaking, speaking, the talk goes, not
walking the walk. That's why I needed to enforce this
challenge because I'm creating more of a habit and I

(08:06):
want to rewire my brain so I want more joy
and like my friend Burnet Brown says, there is no
joy without gratitude. Pick that one up off the floor
except for now. I don't know if she's gonna be
my friend, because I'm supposed to meet her next week,
but I don't know if I'm being able to meet her. Corona,
we just don't know. Coronavirus got to say coronavirus because
Corona Beer is taking a hit because of the same name. People. Yes, yeah,

(08:30):
the company is. It's crazy. It's too bad for them,
but that's even worse for the people. I know. Places
are all and then all you know, the hand sanitizer
tizer business is booming right now. I the jackpot. I
got wet wipes from Target, and you were like, I
would have bought you some, but they cut me off.
So Target has a limit on how many you can buy.
I'll give you a pro tip. All the sanitizer, like

(08:52):
the aisle was wiped out. But if you go over
to like you know the baskets that have the travel size,
they have wet wipes over there. Yeah, And so I
got and I'm not like worried about it, but I'll
be flying and traveling the next We're going to New York.
And I saw the Mayor of New York like on
the news, and there's some role so I was like,
I'll take some wet what precautions going down, but yeah,

(09:12):
check the travels. I also saw in the news to
like this could be a good time that people invest
in cruise lines and airlines because their stock is down
and it will go back up. I mean, I listen.
It was just in passing is on the news I
worked by, I heard that do not get your stock
tip advice for me at all whatsoever ever good like

(09:38):
this is just not the place for that. Like usually
there's a lot of good advice here, but I probably
wouldn't go. I didn't say that, but it just it
is a bummer on what it's doing to our economy
and people are not shopping. Mary was telling me, I
think that there's a or somebody was telling me there's
a mall where if you go, if you shopped in

(09:59):
person and you spent that you would get they would
give you like three gift card or voucher or credit
or something, because they just wanted people to come and
shop in person and not necessarily online. And then Mary
also posted a video of her and this was last weekend.
She was at Fashion Island, which is an awesome mall

(10:21):
like an outdoor mall in like Newport Beach and there's
always packed with people, And I thought, what are you
there when it's not open, like there was nobody there.
That's eerie to me, Like do you have a coronavirus
closet that you're working on now? I guess because you're
going to New York for a little bit, A bobby
is building a closet to stay safe, not safe, to

(10:46):
stay prepared. Yeah, right, But then certain foods, like if
you because grocery stores are gonna be wiped clean of stuff,
like sort of like when a bad weather something is coming,
all the bread's gone because people get freak out mode.
But I think the big thing to like remind everyone

(11:06):
and like stress here is I mean, I'm no doctor,
but everything I've read I think from the level headed
folks advice here. Don't get wall straight advice from me.
Oh no, we're gonna be okay. It's more yes, like me,
we're healthy individuals. If I get coronavirus, I'm going to
survive on me fine. My dad, I worry about him.

(11:28):
He's weakened immune system, you know, currently in remission from cancer,
but still has a lot of um things that happen
with that that really like his lungs pneumonia, Like it
would be really bad for my dad to get this.
So yes, I worry about him or young young children,
infants and stuff. So yeah, we do need to be careful.
You do need to just wash your hands a lot.

(11:48):
You need to not touch your face. I touched my
face all the time. And clean your cell phones, like
wherever where you touch, Like, just be aware because it
can be just sitting there and then boom, you get
it and then you go stick your hand in your mouth,
and then just washing your hands is going to be
the biggest thing. And not twice. Yeah, like my dad

(12:10):
this listed living place there, they told him to sing
Happy Birthday twice? Which how many seconds is that? I
wonder why we have to give ourselves songs over and over,
Like why don't we just count to twenty? I don't know.
Is it just because I'm boring. I worked in a
hospital for two years, so I'm in the good habit
of every time you like, even though I wasn't like
on the medical side, like anytime you enter an exit room,

(12:32):
you get the sanitizer wash your hands, which at hospitals
they do a great job of keeping the sanitizer right
right when you walk in the room or right before
you watch, just whenever you see it, Like, go ahead
and get a little bit and take full advantage of
keeping your hands clean. Yeah, let's just do that for
each other. Let's please and like when the corona is gone,
like coronavirus, coronavirus, sorry corona, But like, let's keep washing

(12:53):
our hands people like a little Maybe this sort of
will re wire our brains um to wash all the time.
Just like with gratitude, the more you practice it, the
easier it gets. The more you practice washing your hands,
the easier it gets. Okay, well we'll go ahead and
get into today's episode. I just want to encourage you,

(13:13):
each and every person listening, even if you're not a female,
I hope you enjoy this episode. But we are focusing
on women today and I just want to encourage all
of you out there, especially women, that you're awesome and
you can do whatever it is you set your mind to.
I truly believe that. So um, yeah, surround yourself with

(13:35):
good people that believe in you and that are positive,
and um, make sure that you try to be an
encouragement to other people too, because we all could use
a little bit of that and then radio Ama dot
com for anything you hear us talk about always. Okay,
here is today's episode. First. Okay, So, like I mentioned,

(13:56):
I've got Britt more And on the phone, and Britt
you're the founder of britain and Co. And I read
the bio your Instagram bio in the intro. But tell
me a little bit about why you formed britain Co
and what you've learned about it when it comes to
women and what's happening with us and where we're going. Yeah,

(14:18):
that's a loaded question, but I can dry lost all
the things exactly. Um. Yeah, So I started britain Co
almost ten years ago. I was twenty five, if you
can imagine. And at the time I had come out
of tech companies like Apple and Google, and especially my
play at Google. I was working on YouTube and Google
and how to search queries were always the top of

(14:40):
Google and YouTube every year, and they were largely searched
for by women, and similar to me, you know, women
were looking for how to do things. Um, and yet
you know I started, you know, finding that the content
behind how to like how to cook scrambled eggs or
how to put a ball paper um was really boring

(15:00):
in the land. And at the heart of all of this,
the psychological need women had was they wanted to feel creative.
It was also around the time that Pinterest was launching,
and you know, Pinterest is like a woman's playground, right,
It's like creative inspiration all day long. And so the
original part of Britain co was to like inspire women
to be more creative. And it turns out seventies six

(15:24):
of adult women say they're not creative. I don't know
what you feel, Amy, I I feel like I've said
this before too, and I don't know what has happened,
but I feel like in my early twenties I felt
super creative and I don't know what happened, but I
can't tap into it right now. And but in the

(15:44):
last you know, seven years or so, I have become
a mom to two kids, like are I lost my
mom to cancer. There's been certain life events and I
have no idea if those things are related. But something
about me just does not feel creative like I used to,
and it bugs me so much. I feel like I

(16:05):
need to go to therapy for it, just to tap
into my creativity. Yeah, well, I mean create. Creativity is
kind of therapy. Actually, there's a lot of studies about
this where like, you know, you get lost in a
closed date, whether you're you're cooking, maybe you're painting, you're
I think children are actually an amazing way to get
back into creativity. But regardless, you know, you know, so

(16:26):
we spent ten years almost trying to help women become
more creative, and it turns out like they couldn't even
get there because you know, creativity is so aspirational, and
most women in their twenties and thirties and forties are
just trying to survive every day. You know, now three
quarters of us are working. Um, we don't have affordable childcare,

(16:48):
so we're still the sort of household champion at home,
like making sure the houses running, the kids are you know,
taking care of and we're working like we have no
time for ourselves. And what that's led to its actual
burnout and you know, mental health problems. One and four
women UM have some sort of mental health disorder, whether
that's depression, anxiety, of CD, etcetera. UM, And I think

(17:11):
it's obvious, like we're just trying to do so many
things and so you know, in the last year or two,
britain Co is really shifted to being about how do
we help women find more time for themselves, like keep learning,
keep evolving, feel a little bit more fulfilled every day
because they are growing and taking care of themselves. And
like also just when we say l O L a

(17:33):
little because like let's not take ourselves too seriously. There's
enough serious things happening in the world right now, Like
we can just beat girlfriends together and have fun even
while we're growing and learning. Yeah. Wow, I mean and
if you've seen in the last ten years, will since
you started britain Co and now and especially the last
two years when you've been focusing on that, have you

(17:54):
seen a shift and some of the people that you've
that have connected with y'all on this, have you seen
them start taking that initiative to learn more and be
more creative. Yeah, it's been really fascinating. We're trying to
figure out exactly like what the breaking point is so
we can repeat it over and over. But you know,
it starts with women dabbling, right, Like they take a

(18:15):
chance on themselves to try something new, and that's that's
a really that's like stepping off the edge of the
Cliff right, Like they don't feel confident. Um, they're you know,
they need to build up this courage to be brave,
whatever it is, whether they're trying a new career, they're
putting themselves out there and dating. Maybe they're even just
trying a new hairstyle that they think might be dumb,

(18:36):
like the top knot or like something like that. Like
for me, for instance, I feel like I look really
dumb in a top not, But you know what, like
sometimes I just need to try it, because that is
the domino effect. When you try something really small, that
opens you up to trying one more small thing and
one more small thing, and over time you're building these
habits of something much bigger. And and when you start

(18:58):
taking a chance on yourself, you start to believe in yourself.
And so whether it's you know, taking some time out
to be creative or making them a bigger move what
we've seen at Britain co I can't tell you how
many times a woman has stopped me on the streets
in the airport wherever I am and said to me, Britt,
oh my gosh, I was an accountant and like no,

(19:19):
like I'm not trying to dig the accountants out there.
But like, let's say something like I was an accountant.
I hated my job. It was so boring, Like I
never felt creatively fulfilled. All I really loved was flower
arranging and like, but I didn't think that was a career.
And I started just arranging flowers on the weekend, and like,
I need so much fulfilment out of it. And even
though I get paid half as much, I quit my

(19:41):
job in accounting and I started a flower shop and
I've never been happier. And and like it's that moment
that I'm like, ah, this is like what every woman
needs to do, you know, find that thing that lights
them up. Oh I love that. And you yeah, find
what you're passionate about and then start small. It's not
like she went and quit her job right away and
I was like, Okay, I'm gonna open a fly shop.
It's like she started on the weekends and then she

(20:02):
started doubling there and then grew it and then left
her job and now she is much more fulfilled. And
I thought it was interesting too that you said, you know,
it can start with something as simple as a top
knot and taking baby steps, because I too, sometimes with
fashion I don't like to take a risk of whatever's
in or I feel like I look stupid, and then

(20:24):
I look back on once I do take that because
for me, especially being in the public eye, sometimes I
feel like I don't like that I have to put
too much emphasis on what I'm going to wear to something.
But I know that if it's amazing, that I'm going
to be so much more confident up there and I'm
gonna feel good. And I would say Kelly from Velvet's Edge,

(20:44):
Kelly Henderson. She helps me pick out my clothes, and
most of the time when she shows me something, I'm like, Nope,
no way, can't do that. Not doing it. That's just
not me. I can't wear that. What is that? That's
so that's the fashion needs to people wear that. That's
not me. And then she encourages me to just do it,
and then I do it and it's such a small step,

(21:05):
but I feel like so confident, and then like a
few months later, I find myself wearing that kind of
all the time. But that confidence just grows and plays
on it and I know it sounds silly because it's
it's a style, or we're a way to do your
hair or a piece of clothing. But I performed better
at my job. I just was out there owning it
more simply because I felt really good inside and it

(21:28):
it is. It's a snowball effect, which then allowed me
to take more risks and just stand there with my
head high and the microphone and like, is what I'm
saying making sense? I feel silly because it's all flows.
But it's um not necessarily creativity, but it's about confidence,
um exactly. We think what we learned is that creativity

(21:50):
and confidence are interlink, right, um, because most women aren't
confident to be creative. I think creativity is everything too write.
It's like what you put on your body, like what
you dress yourself in, how you do your makeup, that
is art, right, You're matching things you're doing especial makeup,
your ingredients and your hair hair styling as an art.
You know, getting ready every day, you're making breakfast, you're cooking,

(22:11):
that's an art. That's creativity. You're decorating your home like,
there's creativity and so many of the things we do.
And to your point, like just a little baby step
will really help you continue to make like diater and
bigger strides over time. M hmm, okay, I love it. Well.
Thank you for the encouragement that you are to women
and all that you do, like through your company. I

(22:33):
like again, I'll just reiterate, reiterate your bio of that
your on a mission to help women feel better, to
get smarter and l O L a little. And then
one of your posts that I saw recently too is
um was saying that behind every woman is And I
saw one of your latest posts too, and I assume

(22:53):
it was for International Women's Day, but you put up
behind every successful woman is a group text hype in
her up and I want to say that as a
reminder to get a group text going with your girlfriends. Yeah, totally.
I mean I think, you know, we live in this
culture where the mentality is that girls want to tear
each other down, and you know, we're so competitive and catty.

(23:17):
But like at the end of the day, I know,
I don't know about you, but for me, I have
probably four or five girl group texts of different groups
of women. Like one walk of life, you know is college.
I still my college friends. We have like a WhatsApp
group together, you know. I have another from some of
my work friends and just like a little milestones, you know,

(23:37):
like whether it's like my kid had a tantrum and
I kept it together and I am so proud of myself,
or like I mean this morning, one of the group
threads was like, is it is it still like trendy
to wear a one piece bathing suit? Like like there
am I going to be like a total mom? You know?
And and so it's just like little things that you know,

(23:57):
women can be supportive of each other. And I think
at the end of the day, like we are all
fairly insecure. Like I hate to admit it, but it's true.
It's the way that we're raising this culture from the
time we're girls, you know, on the board of the
Girl Scouts actually, and so I have a bunch of
data about girls and and you know, the pressure of
that girl's face as they're getting older, and the stigmatism

(24:20):
of the media and what we're supposed to be and
all these different things, and like, of course we're insecure
as women, and so we need each other to hold
us up, whether it's like to make a huge move
in our career or in a relationship or something so
small as like will I be totally like dorky if
I get a one piece some suit, or am I
going to be like actually, still trendy and cute. Yeah,

(24:42):
And then I think that the topics will get um,
they can get much deeper. They can be something simple
about hey, how should I wear this? And then you
also have that group text to go to if there's
something really hard in life where you need legit advice,
like life advice, this conversation or find me a post
that I saw that my friend put up on International

(25:03):
Women's Day named Laura and Um, I just pulled it
up so I could read it because I thought it
was it fits perfectly with this, she said. When my
sister was planning her wedding several years ago, she would
send group text to me, along with some of our
closest friends, to ask opinions on different things she was
deciding on for her wedding. After we all gave our
opinion on something, she jokingly responded, Okay, thanks for your

(25:24):
support and just like that, our group of BFFs had
a name, this support group, and it's the best thing
to happen to me and I can't imagine my life
without them. Happy International Women's Day. And so it started
with simple like yeah, just wedding questions. But they named
their text group the support Group, And I know, I
know she's not putting it in here, but I can

(25:44):
tell by reading that that the text became so much
more than just about wedding stuff, you know. Yeah, of course,
I'm in a mom's group called reality Check, and it's
because like we have to ask each other like am
I am I being crazy? Right now? I mean, I'm
sure you get this a lot to like when you
know you really don't know how parenting is like a

(26:04):
skill you learn on the go. Um be like there's
just crazy things that happened and you don't know what
to do, and so having a group to just bounce
that off of and be like what should I be
doing right now? Did I make this call? Right? Like?
Am I crazy? It's just so nice, you know, it's
so refreshing that people will be there so honestly for you,
especially in a world of social media where I think

(26:26):
we're a mile wide and an inch cheap, Like, to
know that we have these pockets that go super deep
is incredibly refreshing and necessary at this day and age. Yeah,
and Britain co is doing something positive on social media,
so give them a follow. I think that we give
social media a bad rap sometimes because there is some
negativity on there and we don't have time for that.

(26:47):
But I am met one of my best friends on Twitter.
I actually have a girl flying in from New York
today to do a disordered eating podcast with me, like
a series that we're working on. I met her on Instagram,
and you know, so there are positive things, and there
are companies and people out there like Britt that are
doing things to empower and spread the positivity. So thank

(27:09):
you for that. And the next Brett, will you I
want you to talk to in the second thing, I
want you to talk to us about what you did
your little experiment that was called give it a Week,
because I think a lot of women may want to
try this out, try out what you did, and so
we'll do that next. Okay, so Brett tell us about

(27:34):
give it a week. So, um, A couple of years ago,
I was heading into the New Year and I hadn't
made my big New Year's resolution yet because I was
frankly like annoyed that I had like failed all my
nears as a ways s engineers prior. But turns out
I'm not alone. The average dates that most people fail.
Their NEWARS resolution turns out to be February eight, so

(27:56):
most of us, you know, are getting about five weeks
in of whatever that big goal is that we set
for ourselves a year um, and then we feel and
we feel bad about it, whether it's like losing weight
like you know, ansiet, like changing career whatever. So for me,
I was like, I'm not going to fail again. You know,
There's a million things that I've been wanting to do,
but they're also little like and then I was like,

(28:18):
wait a second, what if I do one a week
for fifty two weeks? That seems totally doable. These things
were also random, by the way, like stuff I just
wanted to try, um, ranging from like I wanted to
practice um everything from like sewing to coding to like drawing.
I wanted to drink more water. I wanted to like
try this experiment of sitting all of my trash for

(28:42):
the week insroide of a Mason jar to really understand
what like a zero waste lifestyle was. Like I wanted
to try being blonde for a week. I wanted to
try being edgy for a week because I'm a very
conservative person, so Anyways, I did fifty two of these experiments,
one a week, and I committed to putting them on
Instagram in my stories every day of so people would
hold me accountable. And it transformed my life. Um. First

(29:05):
of all, like similar what we just talked about, it
created this community of women that started doing them with me,
and so I had this support group, you know, when
I was feeling so dumb learning how to dance on
the internet, like there were other women learning how to
dance just alongside me, and um, and I failed out
a lot of things and that was really awkward to

(29:25):
do publicly, but it made me so much stronger and frankly,
like you know, as a mom, I'm I'm thirty four.
I run a company that's venture back you know Silicon Valley,
you know, really high stakes. It's really stressful. I have
two kids that are toddlers. Like I would never have
thought I could be exposed to you know, fifty two

(29:46):
things um in a year, and frankly, it felt like
I hit almost everything on my bucket list, you know
that I had wanted to try in life, and I
found things that really stuck and so um, it was
It's been something I've continued to do now, you know,
over a year later, and um, anytime I want to
try something like so, for instance, I recently tried oil polling. Um, Like,

(30:08):
I heard bunch of hype about how swishing coconut oil
and your mouth can make your teeth whier and killed
germs and bacteria more effectively. Yeah, I've heard of it. Yeah,
So I was like, I'm gonna try that for a week,
and every day I did like twenty minutes of oil
point and you can see the before and after on
my Instagram. But I think it totally worked. And so
um it's just been like such a cool new way

(30:30):
for me to live because seven days is not hard
to commit to. It's probably like most of the things
I did it require thirty minutes or less a day.
And I have this whole community with me, you know,
rooting me on or doing it alongside me. Yeah, okay,
I'm trying to think what could I start to try.
You mentioned fitting trash in a mason jar for a
week and having a more minimalist type lifestyle. What talk

(30:54):
to me about that week? Yeah? It was really hard. Um,
you know, I think I learned a lot about the
type of products I use um from like you know,
disposable water, but like plastic water bottles and take out
containers and you know straws like everything else that UM,
I end up trashing most days. And so now you know,

(31:16):
almost two years later, I have all glass water bottles,
all reusable, you know. I um, I try to bring
my own you know, food containers with me to the office. Um,
you know when I bring my lunch in, things like that. Um.
It was even hard. Went back when I was doing this,
I had a baby who was um I think it's
one and a half at that point, and so I

(31:37):
switched to cloth diapers, which was a whole experience. UM,
and I yeah, I actually found that really difficult. But
so UM yeah, I mean it just made me We're
more aware of how much trash, you know, we humans
are creating every week, and how we could be a
little bit more thoughtful. Um, you know, paper towels versus dishcloths,

(31:59):
you know, stuff like at it it really, um, it's
about like all these little things that really add up.
Now when you documented that, like your year of doing
that was that on your your Britt which her Instagram
handle is at britt And then the company want is
at Britt and Co. Which where does that live? That's right? Yeah,
that give It a Week is on apt Britt and

(32:19):
I've archived all of the weeks so you can see
them right at the top of my profile. But yeah,
I've done. You know, some of them were heavier, some
of them were lighter. Um, I didn't you know, like,
you know how Steve Jobs in Mark Zuckerberg wear the
same thing every day, you know? I was like, oh,
you know, and in order to be more efficient with
my mornings, I'm going to wear the same APPA every

(32:40):
day for a week. So it's like random things like
that all the way to UM, I found really cool
new technologies. And there's an app, for instance, called Veneto
that teaches you how to sing in tune, which I
thought was so amazing. Um So I took singing lessons
um through this app and learned how to too my voice,

(33:01):
which you know, just like fun things I would have
never discovered before. And also like, who that's a MoMA
to running a company takes time out to learn to sing,
Like that's so random. But I enjoyed it so much
and it just made me like I have my time
for thirty minutes a day and where I felt like
I was evolving and growing and becoming a better person.
When you talk about having your time, I think that's

(33:21):
another important thing we need to remind women is just
about um taking care of yourself and and self care.
Like you you need to make sure that you're you're
being watered because sometimes that's how I feel. Literally when
I'm drinking my water, I can feel myself come alive.
But you have to think of the figuratively, what are

(33:43):
you doing to water yourself and give yourself that that
space to grow and be as awesome as you need
to be, which sometimes might be taking up a new
hobby or an activity where really there's no you're not
gonna it's not gonna get you anywhere in the world,
like you're not gaining anything. I think we're constantly after
of the hustle and how busy can we be and
what can be we be accomplishing And if you're not

(34:04):
doing something that's productive towards your gold and you're it's
a waste of time. But we should all step back
and really kind of find things where really literally we're
kind of what we're doing really means nothing, but it
could be good for our soul. Yeah, exactly. And I
think the one thing is to be aware of how
much time you still, you know, in these down moments

(34:25):
with what social media or Netflix you know, or any
of these things. You know, the average American adult is
spending five to six hours a day on their phone
and on video or TV content. It's like, oh my gosh,
even if you made it four hours a day, imagine
what you could do with that extra hour or two

(34:46):
of your life, whether it's like taking a warm bath,
or like learning you know, to draw or sing or dance,
or you know, practicing something new that you would never
have thought of before. And so I would really encourage
each other. I actually did some some weeks where I
I did like a social no social media for a week.
I also did a week without my phone, but I

(35:08):
could have like my computer and my Apple Watch, and
so it just made me like stop fidgeting as much
for the week. Um, and and so just little things
and just see how you feel. I think that's the
whole goal is like does it stick? Should you incorporate
that into your life or if not, that's awesome, Like
you tried it and you can like pass it on,

(35:28):
you know, and just trying new things that will make
you a more transformative person and the more I think,
frankly interesting person because you've been exposed to so many
more things in life. Oh, I agree, and I know
that you're given a week experiment, is um, what kind
of You have a new podcast called Teach Me Something New,
And it was part of the inspiration for that, right yeah, exactly,

(35:50):
it's the same kind of idea of the podcast, you know,
has a new episode every week, UM, with a different
type of theme of something to learn. Um. And so
it's the same idea. Actually, all of the Britain's, the website,
our email, everything is migrating to be about this one
topic a week, and UM. Oftentimes I'm actually gonna be

(36:11):
doing give It a Week challenges alongside the topic of
the podcast as well. And so we're interviewing experts, you know, scientists, celebrities, athletes, um,
to get their expertise on these different topics. And then
again I'm going to be sharing kind of my perspective
on it and actually trying some of them each week. UM.

(36:31):
And I would love, you know, for anyone out there
to join me as well. UM, I'll be sharing all
of it on at britt um on Instagram or or
at Britain Coe. We also have an email you can
sign up for or just listen to the podcast Teach
Me Something New. Yeah, okay, Well, if anyone's looking to
try to give something a week, they can now they
go hand in hand. They can listen to teach me
something new. Whatever you taught, maybe that could be the

(36:52):
thing they try for the week. So exactly. Yeah, well,
I love it. Thank you for what you're doing to
empower women. You're awesome it and I appreciate you coming
on to talk with us. Thanks so much for having me. Okay,
so I'm gonna go over some ways that you can
empower women and girls. I saw a post by world

(37:15):
Vision dot org that they put up in honor of
International Women's Day, which was last Sunday, and it's simple
things that you can do to help empower women. Ride
in your own home or all over the world, whatever
it looks like for you, however you want to do it.
If you are a girl, if you're a guy listening
to this, maybe you want to get in on empowering

(37:37):
women and young girls. Um. But if you're a mom,
I encourage you to grab your daughter make this a conversation.
Let this be something maybe y'all can bond over. How
do y'all want to invest in other women in your
life or in women that you don't even know. Um
they had seven things listed in this article, and at
number seven is actually something I want to mention first

(37:58):
because it costs nothing and words are free, and it's
simply tell the women in your life that they care
and you care or they matter and that you care
about them. I mentioned this last week in the intro
with Chase before the Kelsey Ballerini interview because we were
that episode was leading up to International Women's Day, and
I encourage you'll on that day to just reach out

(38:19):
to a woman that you respect and that empowers you
and lift them up, tell them why you appreciate them.
And that's that's basically what they're saying to do here,
and we can continue to do this year round. But
we're going to kind of have a theme this whole
month of March in the in the podcasts that support women,

(38:39):
because it's it's basically Women's Month, it's technically Women's History Month,
but we're gonna make it all about the ladies. So really,
if you want to encourage empower girls starting your own home,
your workplace, your community. Just write a note of thanks,
send a text, pick up the phone, make a phone call.
Maybe it's too an old teacher who encouraged you years ago.
What a nice surprise that that would be. Or if

(39:02):
you've got kids that have teachers, you could surprise them
with a note and even have your kids get in
on it too. Or pick up coffee for that new
mom in your office who's struggling to balance at all,
something like that. Or if you've got a friend that
has a new baby, how can you help out and
lift her up? Tell your own sister, your daughter, your mother,
your mother in law, sister in law, somebody in your

(39:22):
life just how much you appreciate them. So that's an
easy way to empower women. You can also UM help
out a new mom through various organizations. I know we
work with through SPOA, our line that supports Haiti. Spoa
means Hope in Haitian creel. If y'all shop a Spoa,

(39:43):
y'all have empowered women. UM. But you can maybe find
specific groups you want to work with or volunteer with
or make a donation to, or you could just shop Spoa,
But really a lot of the work we do in
Haiti is with maternity centers, particularly Heartline Ministry and Project
Meta Share, where they are empowering moms every day and

(40:06):
they're they're bringing in pregnant women and there's a high
mortality rate in these Third world countries where a lot
of times in the birthing process, mothers lose their lives
and then you have orphans, and they really are helping
in the orphans cycle by giving the women the tools
that they need to survive and have a healthy pregnancy,

(40:29):
and then postpartum care they give them that too. So
I feel like you could shop a spot to do that,
or you could research organizations in the US or in
other countries that might be on your heart, and you
could find a way to help new moms and help
them have a healthy life. Because honestly, I feel like

(40:50):
I was born in a hospital. If I I never
was able to get pregnant, I have to adopted children.
But if I were to get pregnant, I would be
able to go to my doctor for all of my appointments.
I would be able to give birth in a hospital.
That is not the case for I mean, even if
I wanted to give birth at home, it would be
done so in a healthy manner. I could have a
midwife and all the things that I need. It doesn't

(41:12):
have to be in a hospital per se. But you
see what I'm saying, Like I would have all the
tools I needed to have a healthy pregnancy because of
my privilege. And I was born with privilege, and that's
not lost on me. I know that I work hard
and that I have kept that, but I was born
into a good family. I have good relationships, I have
a steady life. Like well, yeah, I mean that's my privilege.

(41:35):
Not everybody in this world was born with that. So
we need to keep that in mind, especially for other women,
especially if your mom you know what it was like.
Think of other Think if you were born in another
country that or another place or a different part of
America or our world, or different socio economic status that
your family didn't have. I mean, your resources are just different.

(41:55):
So I think empowering new moms in that way is
the way to do it. Um, you can use your
voice to help keep girls in school, like education is
so important, gosh. I also think of the work we
do in Haiti with Project Meta Share because they have
a school there that we support. Our four Things Gratitude
Journal supports education in Haiti. We're also involved in a

(42:18):
few other groups in Haiti that are helping with schooling
and education. And it really is super important. I mean
it could be it's life altering if a girl has
an education or not. And a hundred and thirty million
girls ages six to seventeen or out of school. So
there's actually um an act called Keeping Girls in School Act,

(42:40):
and it can help more adolescent girls around the world's
stay in school and receive high quality education. So you
could ask your representatives in the US House or Senate
to co sponsor this important act. I mean that's something
where you can like really get in and make a difference.
UM invest in small business owners, Like there's I think

(43:01):
of Noonday Collection, uh, the work that Jessica Honter is doing.
She's the founder of that and she has artisans all
over the world, UM, a lot of them female, and
it has changed their lives, Like they went from poverty
to now they have they're running their own business in

(43:22):
there wherever they live in this world. Like she's literally
got them all over the place and now they can
buy homes and their kids can go to school and
their life, they can have food, their life is just different.
And I I love Noonday Collection. Think about where you're shopping,
Like she's got cute jewelry and handbags and a lot

(43:43):
of other things. Like you can think of where you're
spending your money and look for uh, hard working female
entrepreneurs who are making an impact in this world. I mean,
there's there's a lot more than just Noonday Collection, But
I'm just thinking of her because she's a friend of
mine and she's a female, and she really is making
an impact globally for for women and children. Um, you

(44:07):
can mentor a girl close to home. That's another option.
Like many girls growing up in the United States are
held back by poverty, for performing schools and teen violence,
which is something I hadn't really thought about. But you
could reach out and influence the life of a girl
in your own community by volunteering. One way to do
that is through big brothers, Big sisters. Bobby on the

(44:28):
Bobby Bone Show, he was a big brother for a while. Now,
I know this is about empowering women, but guys, you
can get in and help help boys out there too.
But my friend Lauren Petrowski based out of Austin. She
is really involved with Big Brothers, Big Sisters. And you
can be a mentor for young girls out there and

(44:48):
kids that you know, maybe you don't have a mom
type figure in their life, or their mom is working
a lot, like their mom wants to be there but can't.
Um So yeah, mentor a girl close to home. Every
community has something different. But Big Brothers, Big Sisters I
personally know is doing great things. You can support girls
and women in crisis. This is what this is hard.

(45:10):
It gets me. You know, millions of girls are subjected
to abuse, child labor, trafficking, child marriage, and other offenses.
And so we've got to protect girls and women from
this like and when they're given an education and they're
given the skills like they they have more of a

(45:32):
chance of not falling into that. Even adopting our daughter Stashira,
we we adopted older kids from Haiti and Stashira was
probably five and a half or six and we started
the process with her and she didn't come to America
until she was ten. But the older children are the
less likely they get matched and some of them age out.
And I, even Stashia, I just thought Oh my gosh,

(45:54):
like we're if you feel called to adopt older children, uh,
please please try to start that process and do it.
Because when girls age out, depending on the type of
education they have or where they fall or what type
of orphanage they were in, and then where they go
when they turn eighteen or whatever age it is, it
can be really scary out there and they fall into

(46:16):
some stuff that's unimaginable UM or that it's hard to
even imagine it is really happening, but guess what it is.
It is happening. And World Vision actually has a Girl's
and Women in Crisis Fund which helps in developing countries. UH.
Poverty and harmful cultural traditions like often really deny women

(46:39):
the ability to thrive and it forces them into this
stuff that I was talking about, like early marriage UM
and different abuses that are hard to think about. And
then no education, so you can donate through world Vision
dot org like that is an option. Then there's also
UM lastly, clean water. UM it's important, Like women are

(47:01):
getting water all over the world. They spent two hundred
million hours each day getting water and it's often dirty
and dangerous for their health. And I know when I
was in Kenya and I know in Haiti like it's
the women that I see fetching the water. I don't
know where the men are. I'm not saying it's all
men that aren't doing it, but it's the women that
are out there with the buckets on their head, walking

(47:23):
miles and miles to get water for their family. And
oftentimes it may not even be clean. So you can
actually help provide clean water through World Vision as well.
World Vision dot org they have a clean Water Fund,
so you can make a donation there. So there you go.
That's just some ways where you can help empower women

(47:44):
and girls, maybe right in your community or all over
the world. I just really feel like we've got to
take action and instead of just saying we want to
empower women, let's let's really do something about it. So
maybe none of these things speak to you, find something
that speaks to you and try to go do it. Okay,

(48:11):
So for this last thing, I am going to close
with a poem by Maya Angelo and it's called Phenomenal Woman,
Pretty Woman. Wonder where my secret lies? I'm not cute
or built to suit a fashion model size, but when
I start to tell them, they think I'm telling lies.
I say it's in the reach of my arms, the

(48:31):
span of my hips, the stride of my step, the
curl of my lips. I'm a woman, phenomenally phenomenal woman.
That's me. I walk into a room just as cool
as you please, and to a man, the fellow stand
or fall down on their knees. Then they swarm around me,
a hive of honey bees. I say, it's the fire

(48:52):
in my eyes and the flash of my teeth, the
swing in my waist, and the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman, phenomenally phenomenal woman. That's me. Men themselves
have wondered what they see in me. They try so much,
but they can't touch my inner mystery. When I try
to show them, they say they still can't see. I say,

(49:12):
it's in the arch of my back, the son of
my smile, the ride of my breasts, the grace of
my style. I'm a woman, phenomenally phenomenal woman. That's me.
Now you understand just why my head's not bowed. I
don't shout or jump about or have to talk real
loud when you see me passing. It ought to make
you proud. I say, it's in the click of my heels,

(49:34):
the bend of my hair, the palm of my hand,
the need for my care because I'm a woman, phenomenally
phenomenal woman. That's me. Okay, So that's a wrap on
today's episode. I want to thank Britt for coming on
and talking with us for a little bit, and then
I just hope you'll continue to empower women around you

(49:54):
and know that you are awesome and strong and you
can do it whatever that is. If you need an couragement,
I hope you're getting that from people in your life. Um,
but make sure you're giving it back to others. And
you can do that if you want to give them
a shirt so that they know that they are empowered
and they empower you. From our Empowered Women's line, um,

(50:15):
it says empowered women, Empower women, and there's a little
heart and Stashira Druid don't forget that's the cutest part.
Her little signature is on the inside label. And I
feel like by us making this those shirts and allowing
her to do it, that was us empowering her, which
is super cool because she loves seeing her artwork on
shirts and y'all are buying them, so it's super cool.

(50:38):
All the proceeds are going to our Empowered Women's fund
and you can check those out at Radio Amy dot
com and my My email shout out today is a
question that also has to do with shirts that we make,
and those are the Pimp and Joy ones, So I'll
get into that. The shoutout is from Allison said, Hey, Amy,
I've been binging your podcast lately and I thought I
would email you with a lingering question. I think it's

(50:58):
never been addressed on the podcast because it's kind of
a stupid question. But what does pimp in mean? And
pimp and Joy like big Pimpin? I want to buy
a shirt, but I want to completely be able to
explain it when people ask. Now, I feel like if
people are just asking you in passing, the simple answer
is to say, yeah, it's representing joy and it's about
choosing joy for yourself and spreading joy to others. And

(51:19):
all Pimp and Joy items sold go towards a good cause.
All the proceeds every time you don't keep any of
the money. So that's that's the short answer. And you can,
even if you have a little bit more time, you
can be like it all started with this girl, Amy,
her mom, Judy, she had cancer and she didn't want
to let it get her down, and she wanted to choose.
Her mission was to choose joy, and she prayed one

(51:41):
day Lord used this cancer for good. And so for me,
the whole Pimp and Joy line is a huge answer
to my mom's prayer. And she would freak out if
she was alive today, and she knew like all the money,
the you know, over a couple of million dollars that's
been able to help others, and we've come alongside groups
and individuals and just spread joy and it's all because

(52:01):
of you who shop the Pimp and Joy line. Um.
But to get in a little further, and I don't
think I would if someone comes up and ask you
about your shirt. You don't need to get into this detail.
But Pimp and Joy came from my mom's Twitter handle. Um.
She wanted to treat I well, she didn't want to.
I encouraged her to create a Twitter account to keep
listeners on the Bobby Bones Show up to date with
her cancer progress. And we were at India Anderson in

(52:23):
the waiting room and she needed a handle, so we
were typing them in Like Judy chooses Joy, joyful Judy
like everything with Judy and Joy was taken everything. So
I jokingly typed in Judy b pimp and Joy, like,
you know, pimp and representing um that basically what it
means is representing Joy and Judy p pimp and Joy

(52:43):
was available. Shocker, I know. And so that was her
handle and she would post on Twitter and her handle
still up. You can go check out her page if
you want to. Not tons of posts up there, but
I think it's cool that I still have that to
go back and look at sometimes. And then in on
the Bobby Bones Show, Bobby was like, hey, if our
listeners are out pimp and Joy, we want to know

(53:04):
about it. In an easy way for you to share
with us on social media so we can track it
and see what you're doing. Is if we create the
hashtag pimp and Joy. So you know, from her Twitter
handle Judy pimp and Joy, the hashtag pimp and Joy
was born. And then after we were seeing all the
people hashtag and do cool things, then Mary from the
Shop Forward was like, hey, we could make hats. The
Shot Forward wasn't even the Shot Forward yet, but she

(53:26):
had the idea in her head and she's like, I'll
go ahead and create create it. I can do it.
And then Pimp and Joy was her first collaboration, like
her first thing that she ever did, which is super
cool because the shot forward has grown a lot since then,
and it's really cool to know that Pimp and Joy
was the first. So Pimp and Joy right now is
supporting tornado relief. We're at over a hundred thousand dollars.
Y'all are amazing Radio Amy dot com for everything. And also,

(53:49):
no question is ever a stupid question, No email is
ever stupid. So please, if you'll have questions, send them
to me. Um. And if I'm not addressing it, it's
because I just feel like, yeah, we've said it over
and over, but I know we have new listeners. I
me know there's people that miss things. And I definitely
want you all to know the roots and the true
meaning behind Pimp and Joy because it is super special
and I love that y'all are curious about it and

(54:10):
you want to support it, and that you wear your
Pimp and Joy hats, hoodie shirts, tank tops, all the
things you wear. I'm proudly because they are doing good
in this world and they are super super special, especially
to me and my family. Okay, over and out to
see you next Tuesday for the Q and q an
a episode by you Okay Road, Little Food for You,

(54:40):
So life. Oh it's pretty, but hey, it's pretty beautiful
things beautiful. That for a little moth Kicking four with
Amy Brown

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