Episode #71: The Ambition Show featuring Deborah Wee, Author, Playwright & Founder of Self-Worth Initiative Inc

In this episode of M.A.Y.A., our distinguished guest, Deborah Weed, discussed her commitment to empowering individuals to reclaim their self-worth and articulate their authentic selves. Mrs. Weed's life trajectory, marked by numerous transitions and considerable adversity, motivated her to delve into her core passions and discover her purpose. Leveraging her life experiences and challenges, Deborah has established a creative outlets to assist others in transforming their distress and anguish into therapeutic endeavors and the realization of self-worth. We invite you to join us for this installment of M.A.Y.A. to discover Mrs. Weed's inspiring narrative and to learn more about Mrs. Weed’s passion to help others through the Self-Worth Initiative Inc. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Shames.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
The information shared on this podcast is for informational and
educational purposes only and is not intended to be a
substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. While we
discuss topics related to mental health, well being and emotional support,
we are not providing therapy or medical services. Always seek

(01:26):
the advice of your physician, psychologist, psychiatrist, or other qualified
mental health provider with any questions you may have regarding
a mental health condition. If you are in crisis, feeling unsafe,
or need immediate support, please contact a mental health professional
or emergency services in your area. The views expressed by

(01:48):
guests and hosts are their own and do not necessarily
reflect those of any affiliated organizations or institutions.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Inspired Get Motivated with Maya a Kai and the Maya
My Ambition Your Ambition.

Speaker 4 (02:06):
Podcast something that I take pride and is trying to
be forward thinking, thinking outside the box, challenging myself and
as I challenge myself, hopefully I challenge you.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Find Maya on Twitter and Instagram at Maya Underscore a
Kai on Facebook at Maya Akai Presents.

Speaker 4 (02:19):
We're going to talk health, wealth, fitness, mental health, financial,
lots of different things that can empower you as you
seek out the ambition that you're pursuing or.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
Get everything Maya at Maya Akai dot Com.

Speaker 4 (02:44):
I'm gonna stay everyone, Welcome to episode seventy one Go
figure seventy one episodes. They're starting to really stack up
of Maya, my ambition, your ambition, and of course what
you should know by now is that we are fully
into doing the ambition. They have kind of taken over
and risk to the content that I have been sharing

(03:05):
with everyone. Normally we talk about some mental wellness focus
because you know, I like to say that the podcast
likes to focus on salient topic related to mental wellness.
But of course I like to be what I think
is fresh and forward thinking because it can be a
very heavy topic when we talk about mental wellness, and
I like to bring it in a way that we
can talk about things that math and normalize it. So
the key thing is we like to talk about pulling

(03:27):
back that veil of self doubt and sabotage that plagues
every single one of us at some point in our life.
I want to help you to identify what is your ambition,
but more importantly, to harness that motivation to help you
to yield the satisfaction and success that you desire to
have your every day life. Notice I said every day life,

(03:49):
not big thinking. I want people to be present, so
that means every day searching out. So if you are
a first time listener or you're welcome, I always say
buckle up for safety, but not because you know it's
going to be scary. But occasionally it could be an
unexpected bumpy ride. You know, I or maybe my guest
may say something that really makes you go deep and think.
Of course, that's what we're about here thinking, so that's

(04:11):
what might get bumpy. Of course, if you are earning,
if you're a listener, then of course welcome back. Always
appreciate your support. You know how we do things here.
I always encourage people, you know what how long is
whether this thirty minutes to and this is your time
you've carved out to listen to the podcast, find that
quiet space, sit down, grab your drink of choice and coffee, tea,
whatever it is. And I always say maybe grab pen

(04:34):
paper and so you can jot thoughts things that may
come to your mind. And of course I always have
amazing guests, so we definitely want to be able to
jot down how you can follow them and what they're doing.
So that's the key thing about the shows. So this
is our fourth installment of the Ambition shows. We have
had absolutely amazing guests up until this point and guess
what today is no different. So I'm gonna say is

(04:56):
this if for season you've missed or you're behind, remember
you can always find episodes of Maya and the iTunes
you can find in the Apple podcast Our radio is
on all and of course Spotify pretty much if it's
a podcast platform, you can find me. This Maya my ambition,
your ambition. Of course, I'm going to encourage everybody subscribe

(05:18):
and share my YouTube channel. Maya speaks to you. In fact,
I have finally, like you know, elevated my game with
social media that literally all my handles are now the same.
So you can find me on YouTube, Facebook, x everywhere.
That's the social media platform. It's Maya speaks to you
and you can find me. See I simplify this for everybody.
I've caught up times go figure me on, but I

(05:41):
am there. So that's how you can listen to the
previous episodes. One thing I have not shared yet I'm
not sure why I'm dragging my feet because it's ready.
I actually do have the Maya Experience app, and this
is where you can download it from the Apple Store
as well as Amazon and everything. Maya is right there
to palm on your hand and your phone so you
can listen to former episode and listen and watch. Of course,

(06:03):
one thing that I do have there is my blog,
and I'm you know, I'm very excited about my blogs.
I only do them literally once a week on Wednesdays
when I do something. So there's two blogs that you
can follow. I have. The Inspiration blog is a thought
that I want you to really marinate for the week.
That's why I don't do daily. It's just on Wednesdays
I post a new inspirational. Then something that is near

(06:23):
and dear to my heart because it definitely commands my
life is menopause at the moment, and so I created
a menopause blog which is called me O's and every
Wednesday I post content about menopause. Last week was about Wow,
imagine have menopause and you have ADHD. You probably didn't
realize that there would be a connection. There are so

(06:45):
many things that menopause actually affects in women's lives and
my blog does a really good job for like sharing
some really salient good topics with you, so make you
post and check out my Wednesday blogs. But with that
being said, as you know, I always like to talk
about the upcoming podcast we're gonna have for the Addition show,
And just like today's Get Amazing, our next guest is
equally gonna be there, So make sure you tune in

(07:07):
next Saturday two pm when pre consistent with that, so
that will be September six, and we're gonna have on
doctor Chris Harrison. And I'm gonna tell you something about
Kurston Harrison. She's amazing. She focuses on trauma. She's a
trauma psychologist and has done this amazing book that she
co authored with who is intersexed and also homeless and schizophrenic.

(07:28):
And when I tell you, the story is deep and amazing,
you don't want to miss that episode because we all
know that trauma is something can and imagine when you
add other things on top of the trauma. So make
sure you tune in next week. We're gonna have on
doctor Kirsten Harrison, trauma psychologist there and she's a founder
of soul Wise solution, but without further ado. Okay, this

(07:51):
sext guest, let me just say this. I literally I
am probably like crushing because when I had my one
on one with Deborah Weed, can I just tell you
the story just instantly, just I open to it. I said,
I don't think there's a single person who will not

(08:11):
be able to relate to her stories. And so the
thing and I always say, I give everybody a really
great intro, but is I don't know if I could
do something that would be good enough to really embody
who she is. She's an award winning when author, Her
CREATI is amazing. She's an artist, and she's known for
her inspiring four of them if only Paisley's Last Quill,

(08:33):
the Luckiest Penny, and the Center of the Universe. And
these are a thread of reteresting and inspiring stories that
you're gonna learn about today. But she's motioned just that.
She went on to then also found the self Worth
Initiative because why just be you know, creative is also
altruistic in nature. So she took her creativity and her

(08:54):
desire to help others and she created the self Worth Initiative.
We're gonna learn all about that So without further ad do,
let's bring to the end stage the absolutely amazing Deborah Weed.

Speaker 5 (09:06):
Maya, you are so amazing. I was like, yeah, let's go, yes.

Speaker 4 (09:12):
But oh I have to do. You just are just
an absolutely amazing person. The thing that for me, I'm
so excited about the ambition shows is because I have
come across people a passion that they aligned with their
purpose and use their motivation turn it into something more.
Each one of these people are leaving what I would

(09:33):
say we talk about carbon prince. I feel like every
one of these people are leaving something behind that can
help others. They're all ruistic and it all with an idea,
a goal, a dream that they had to have them
you know, absolutely the discipline to accomplished. And now everyone
is doing something that is definitely touching someone's life a
very positive way. So, without further ellis who is Deborah Weed?

Speaker 5 (09:58):
Well? I am the I'm the self Worth Initiative.

Speaker 6 (10:02):
And you know, it's so interesting because when you say
who is Devorweed? Not what did she do? Let's start there,
So who is Devorweed? She started out as a really
sensitive EmPATH, so full of love, wanted to be more
of a social worker or a creative but to prove

(10:24):
that I wasn't too sensitive. I went on to become
the director of City Bank nineteen branches, director of Development
City Bank nineteen branches, and I worked on a twenty
six million dollar pavilion for Tejon Korea for Kia Motors
with Disney and Universal.

Speaker 5 (10:42):
Consultants, and my world.

Speaker 6 (10:45):
It was like I went from artistic, sensitive, all heart
and war into the business to prove who I was
who I didn't want to be, which was sensitive because
when you're told as a kid you're so sensitive, you're
too sweet. Da da da da da, It's like, oh,
show you all wear the shoulder pads, all wear the heels,

(11:08):
and then I've got it down. But here's the thing, Maya,
And maybe this happens to some of your listeners too.

Speaker 5 (11:15):
I never smiled, never, never When I will.

Speaker 6 (11:23):
Of course, I guess sometimes if something made me smile.
But I had an attitude, a bravado about me. I
was trying to get away from who I really was
to prove my worth. I didn't understand at that time
that self worth and self esteem are two different things.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
Let me you know, and so, and that's important because
I constantly say that to people, don't confuse them. They
people think they're interchangeable or not. Self worth is the
foundation that allows you to scaffold up and health. Esteem
and even self esteem can be tricky because we have
good self worth. Self esteem can you can take it
when someone gives you a plug appreciation, you know, the alcoades,

(12:02):
but it doesn't make you feel like fulfilled, Like without that,
I could have never achieved these things. When you have
self worth, you can take those things, but realize what
you're doing isn't for the applause.

Speaker 5 (12:13):
So let me ask you this, because.

Speaker 4 (12:15):
I often hear this from women that kind of step
into that corporate world. Did you feel a need to
that you had to shed your sativity because there's that
idea that we have to be male like, which is
tough and rough, and not be warm and sensitive because
if you're gonna make it corporate America, you can't be soft.
Why they think we can't be presidents because we would
be too soft?

Speaker 5 (12:36):
Yeah? Absolutely, positively.

Speaker 6 (12:38):
I think in the corporate world, it's the thinking world, right,
It's cerebral and I was a heart based person, so
we were talking two different languages right from the get go,
Like I want to be all hard, no think, I
want to, let know, be productive.

Speaker 5 (12:55):
So there was like it was.

Speaker 6 (12:57):
I was really good, Oh my gosh, so good at
what I did, but it was a mismatch probably with
my personality or for my divine purpose, let's call it
my divine purpose. I was off track.

Speaker 4 (13:11):
So you go to corporate America, find that one. You're
good at what you do, but it sounds like, well,
you were good at what you did, but it was
not about your passion and your purpose. So it wasn't
that you weren't exceptional at your job. You just found
that it probably was emotionally, mentally and spiritually fulfilling in
some capacity for for you. Where did the shift To
get back to the essence of whoever read was when

(13:33):
did you make that decision?

Speaker 6 (13:35):
I didn't make the decision. I wish I had. I
got the two by four on this side of my head.
And so you know, sometimes I think that we get redirected,
whether we like it or not. In fact, if I
had gone that track, I probably would have been the
top of my game and I would have been able
to come here and maya look at what I've done. Wow,
that's so cool. But it probably would not have been

(13:57):
inherently me. I was miss diagnosed and I had a
health situation and was bedridden for three long years. So
what happened was I when all I knew is that

(14:17):
I was in the kind of pain talk about menopause,
talk about women female things. I felt like I was
giving labor or giving birth.

Speaker 5 (14:24):
Every single day.

Speaker 6 (14:26):
The pain was absolutely excruciating. I was I couldn't get
out of bed, and I went from the top of
my game to just like almost I felt like a nobody.
And that's where I truly started to learn that self
esteem is like when you do something, it's like, look

(14:46):
at what I did, look at how cool I am.
But self worth, you know, it kind of plummeted because
and this might also be something that your listeners really
deal with when you're misdiagnosed and I go to the
first doctor and the first doctor said, I think that
you have MS, And I said, well, is there something
that I can do about it?

Speaker 5 (15:07):
And he's like, no, it's it's.

Speaker 6 (15:09):
At the it's in your brainstem and they probably won't
figure it out until you die.

Speaker 5 (15:15):
I'm like, okay, you are right, so I can't do
anything there.

Speaker 6 (15:17):
So I go to the second doctor, and the second
doctor says, you have lou Gary's disease. And I say, okay,
I I how do you know that I have lu
Gary's because I'm in tremendous pain. And they say, well, well,
let's wait some years and then it's going to probably
show up.

Speaker 5 (15:32):
And then the next doctor said, it's all in your head.

Speaker 6 (15:37):
Now, when you have no two doctors, not nobody's saying
the same thing, guess what happens. What happens is is
that all your support, everybody that's around you, starts to
question your integrity. So if you're looking on the outside

(15:58):
for your own self and everybody's saying, well, hey, you
know you must sometime's off here. If nobody's agreeing and
you're saying you're in that kind of pain and you
look good, then you must be a liar. Now look
at my face. Look at my face. I am a
terrible liar. I can't lie to save my life. And

(16:22):
so the thought that I could be making something up.

Speaker 5 (16:25):
For attention or you know, whatever it was.

Speaker 6 (16:29):
And you know how people have COVID long COVID and
they go through this stuff where they just can't get
the answers right, and it was through that that they
finally figured out what was wrong. But what's important here
is that it was nobody was around me. I think

(16:49):
I was abandoned by even my family, who's very loving,
my husband who's a lawyer and very pragmatic and wonderful,
and all these people.

Speaker 5 (16:58):
And it was literally a penny that helped to save
my life.

Speaker 4 (17:02):
Ding ding ding ding ding. Here comes it sounds like
the first book, Yes, The Luckiest Penny, So tell us
the story see here inspiration. So hence this idea pops
up The Luckiest Penny. Tell us about it.

Speaker 6 (17:17):
Well, you know, I hear, and I don't remember exactly
where I heard it, but I heard that a penny,
a simple penny, could be worth at that time two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but now a million dollars.

Speaker 5 (17:32):
And I was like, wait a minute, Wait a minute,
wait a minute.

Speaker 6 (17:34):
If a penny, something that people wouldn't even pick up
on the ground, can be worth that much. And it
was made by mistake, and that's what made it so
valuable because they got there was fifteen pennies. Usually they
put like a steel belly inside the penny, and in

(17:55):
this instance they got their pure copper nineteen forty three
pure copper pennies. There was only fifteen of.

Speaker 5 (18:02):
Them, and that's what made them valuable.

Speaker 6 (18:05):
So because I have done shows since I was sixteen
years old, and you know, beyond working for corporate, I
was always creative. It was like, well, if a penny
can be that worth that much, then maybe I'm worth
something because I think that and this probably happens to
so many of us, right Like if I my self

(18:27):
esteem was tied into everything I was doing, and when
I couldn't do anything, when there was impossible to do anything,
that is when I had to build self worth. And
this penny was that represent sentative. And I told God,
I said, listen, if I get out of here, if
there's any way that I can get out of here,

(18:48):
then I will go on to found this self worth initiative.
I'll turn my life around to try to make a difference,
stay much more aligned on who I really am. And
while I was in bed, created a book in a
musical and it's such a charming story that really really
teaches children what self were and their families what self

(19:09):
worth means from the eyes of a penny, And thank
you goodness I did end up with a brilliant doctor
after three long, excruciating years, and it turned out that
I had a fibroy tumor of the size of a grapefruit.
It was behind my uterus hidden. I was hemorrhaging every

(19:32):
day and my iron was between A three and a six.
And when the doctor found it, he said, I don't
even know how you're here. You should have been dead
a long time ago.

Speaker 4 (19:43):
So let's get this right. You went to the doctor
and this went from them thinking that you had ms.
Lou garrigs and then it's just a figment of your imagination.
So they're all up here, correct, and no one's thought
anything different to even explore any other options. And literally,

(20:03):
this wasn't a whole opposite organ in the body all together.

Speaker 6 (20:07):
Yes, and they should have gotten it from the get go,
because and you know you're into the menopause.

Speaker 5 (20:11):
Thing, right, you're doing that blog.

Speaker 6 (20:13):
But a lot of times men, especially you know, male
doctors really don't get the female anatomy. So I had
been you know, this is a little bit of a
trigger warning. I had been hemorrhaging, but they had said
that it was due to perimenopause, and that sometimes a
woman can you know, have a heavy period, so.

Speaker 5 (20:34):
They never looked where it was the most obvious.

Speaker 6 (20:37):
If I had gone into the doctor, you know, prior
to everything that had transpired, they had taken a simple
iron test, I would have had the answer right away
and I would have not been through that torment that
kind of but it did. You know, when I questioned
what transpired and why it transpired in retros, I think

(21:00):
I understand because to do what I'm doing and be
as passionate as I am, I had to understand. Fully,
I had to walk that walk before I could tell
anybody else how to take their power back.

Speaker 4 (21:12):
You know, I'm glad you said. I mean, it was
a warning, but you're warning to me is very important
because one of the things that you did that I
love is use multiple opinions. Unfortunately, they all had something
different and we're all wrong. That part is scary, and
I always say to people, if you don't feel seen
or heard by your providers, then don't stick them. You
need to move on to someone who's going to take

(21:33):
you serious, who's willing to dive a little deeper. I'll
be honest, this is why I have come to kind
of really become a big fan of holistic doctors because
they think they think outside the box. They don't want
to just treat the symptoms. They want to get to
the root cause, which means they will look at things
differently than often. You know tradisn mesaine. So one of
the fact that you sought out those different consults are

(21:56):
important because I would tell people not to just stop
in one place and assume that's the answer. And I
think it's important even with perimenopause menopause. You're right about
a lot of things. One a lot of male doctors.
And this is not a scathing indictment of you. Fellow
doctors should don't personally, don't understand it the same way,
don't explore it the same way. I will also caution
tell you a female doctor may do the same thing

(22:17):
to you. So when it comes to especially to women's health,
I don't care how old you are, because a lot
of times people will rule out and say, well, you're
too young for that to potentially be hormone problem, only
for someone to find out, oh, it looks like you
have really almost non exist in estrogen though you're twenty eight.
It's not supposed to happen, So you need people who
think outside the box. But then you also want maybe

(22:39):
someone who focuses specifically, like a woman's hair Passionate passion
will lead you to that person that's often willing to
dig a lot deeper than others. And I think that's
important for people to know.

Speaker 6 (22:51):
You know, I want to put an exclamation point, like
a million of them on what you just said, because
I think that, like, especially for women. Okay, let me
let me take it back a little bit. When a
man goes to a doctor, men don't like to go
to doctors, so doctors say to them, oh, if he's

(23:12):
coming in, something must really be wrong. A female, on
the other hand, we're just like so sensitive to what's
happening in our bodies. We know when something is wrong,
and then.

Speaker 5 (23:24):
A lot of times when we're.

Speaker 6 (23:26):
We go in, we're thought of it as hysterical. Why
is she getting hysterical about this issue? And it's because
we know something is wrong. So please, like Maya said,
take you know, my whole thing right now is take
your power back. Please listen to your body, Please listen

(23:47):
to yourself, and don't give up because because you know what,
like I used to ask my husband, and this time
he was very pragmatic in a lawyer, and in the
very beginning, you know, for years, those three years, we
did have issues because you know, he didn't know what
happened to his wife, right, But I would ask him,
please take me to a hospital and let's sit in

(24:09):
the parking lot just in case I die, and everybody
around me would be like, oh god, what a hypochondriac,
And no, I wasn't. I was desperate to live.

Speaker 4 (24:23):
Out of curiosity when this all came around, and it
turns out that there was truly an underlying issue that
all of the well trained medical professionals missed. For those
when you're like a step back, abandon you didn't believe you,
How did they come back around? They just kind of
do the that apology thing is kind of slide back

(24:45):
and like we're sled, You're okay? Or did anybody have
the courage to be accountable and say I'm so sorry
because I kind of rely thought you were a hypochondriactor
for a while.

Speaker 5 (24:55):
You know, Maya, that is so freaking brilliant.

Speaker 6 (24:58):
I'm so glad you asked, because I'm sure, once again,
I'm sure people go through this. My husband David. He
became my angel from then on.

Speaker 5 (25:07):
He was like my rock.

Speaker 6 (25:09):
And two other health things in the kind of crazy
realm happened and he was right there. It kind of
reversed for most of the people in my life. They
they they it's almost as if they keep on saying no,
that never happened, because then they'd have to take responsibility
to understand that they weren't there. It's so interesting and

(25:29):
fascinating to me because I had hoped that people would say, hey,
I get you, I love you.

Speaker 5 (25:35):
Wow, you are so courageous.

Speaker 6 (25:37):
When somebody has something that we can name, Like if
I could have said, not that I wanted please know,
but if some you know, if somebody can say if
I could say, hey, listen.

Speaker 5 (25:46):
I had a MS, I had this, I had that,
and if people.

Speaker 6 (25:49):
Understood it, I bet you anything that they would have
been the best of the best of the best. But
because all of the things I've ever encountered are outside.

Speaker 5 (25:58):
The normal, it's been, I've been met with.

Speaker 6 (26:04):
More of silence and not taking acknowledgment. And can I
tell you something that is so painful?

Speaker 4 (26:14):
And that's and that's the piece. So it's interesting. So
they took no accountability. So obviously you probably chose to
keep these people emotional space because it sounds like family friends.
How did you find a way to reconcil and find
peace with that? Sometimes it's hard when we feel we
have been dispected disregarded and a person doesn't step forward

(26:35):
and take accountability or apologize for how they may have
made us feel. How did you find work for that
to keep those people in your space?

Speaker 5 (26:45):
Creativity?

Speaker 6 (26:46):
I didn't focus on them because that would have been
too painful already. You know, I came through, although I
did have. Like I said, my husband just became like
a saint and a hero. I mean he flipped, you know,
because he's pragmatic, Like when he found out that they
had made such a mistake, he became a warrior for me.

Speaker 5 (27:05):
So I had him.

Speaker 6 (27:06):
You know. It's almost like it's so interesting. It's almost
like a collected one person after another, one by one.
They didn't come in droves, but it was creativity.

Speaker 5 (27:15):
It was the divine. It was looking to no.

Speaker 6 (27:19):
Other human being because no other human being could hold
what I had experienced.

Speaker 4 (27:25):
So creativity, which makes sense. I know a lot of
people are struggle will use creativity to be the energy
to direct them someplace else and to kind of, you know,
take that negative energy and make it in something that's productive.
How do we get to the next book? What story
does that tell?

Speaker 5 (27:42):
Oh, jeezs are you ready?

Speaker 4 (27:44):
I'm ready.

Speaker 6 (27:45):
My story is almost kind of one of those out
come on It can't be like that, but it really
is true. So I'm doing the self Worth Initiative. We're
doing shows in New York, We're doing shows in Miami
for kids families.

Speaker 5 (27:58):
It's going so well. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 6 (28:01):
It made me so happy that the kids were really
understanding self worth.

Speaker 5 (28:05):
My husband retired.

Speaker 6 (28:06):
He was the executive's assistant for the Public Defender's Office.

Speaker 5 (28:10):
He had been there forty years.

Speaker 6 (28:12):
And it was like we were traveling around the country.
And when I had the thing with the tumor, I
went to a chiropractor and the chiropractor did one of
these things, you know, like that with a neck and
at C two, at C two, I have what they
call a dissection, which means that the blood vessel kind
of goes like this. It's like, you know, my bonus

(28:32):
prize goes like this and this, and then when I
turn my head, I get a little well, I get
very diusy and my doctor said he could kill me
at any point, you know, but I'm still here, So
I'm still here. But we we we were on trails
in Sedona. We were traveling all over the country, and
I was like, I got to check this out and
make sure, you know, it's okay, because I know if

(28:53):
I do certain things, I don't drive. I know, if
I do certain things, I could go out. I went
to get contract contract, you know, for an MRA, and
they there's a heavy metal called gadolinium. Gadolinium is kind
of I don't it's not like mercury, but it's radioactive
and it's a heavy metal, very very toxic. They missed

(29:14):
my vein and they put it in my arm. My
arms swoll up like this, and once again we walk
out of the hospital not knowing that they just gave
me an amazing dose of this is you know, heavy metal,
and that brought me down again where I almost died,
but this time very interestingly enough, I had an acupuncturist

(29:38):
who was you know, because the alternative I was going
to the you know, just and I could hardly walk,
I could hardly do anything, and the pain was off
the charts and I couldn't sleep, and they were taking
the pin He was taking the pins and putting me
and he said, you know, whatever, this isn't gonna work.

Speaker 5 (29:53):
I'm like, oh god, well, come on, I want to
make it.

Speaker 6 (29:57):
And he's like, yeah, it's not gonna work it, but
what will work for you is improv.

Speaker 5 (30:04):
I'm like, wait, excuse me.

Speaker 6 (30:06):
You mean I'm paying you and you're telling me to improv.

Speaker 5 (30:11):
And he had asked a.

Speaker 6 (30:12):
Lot of questions about who I was when you first
asked the first question, and I realized, oh my gosh,
if it's who I was, uh, you know, let me
go and try it. And I laughed Maya and I
could hardly walk, but I laughed and I laughed because
even though I produced so many shows to be like

(30:33):
making a fool of myself and watching other people do it,
it just was so brilliant. And it was then that
I started my journey with Paisley.

Speaker 4 (30:43):
Wow. So then it comes Paisley, which is an amazing story.
So you come, come on. I've been I've been waiting
to talk about this. I am such a fan, So
this is this is a story Like to me, I
feel like this is like that embodied of self worth
piece so much so tell tell my listeners about Paisley.

Speaker 6 (31:03):
Well, obviously, I, as you can tell with my own
history and my own story, I kept on giving away
my power. I kept on wanting people to love me.
I was desperate to be loved as a matter of fact.
And so I needed a character, a protagonist who really
gave the idea of what it's like to give their
power away. And so I'm just like, you know, I'm

(31:25):
in that zone.

Speaker 5 (31:26):
And then what downloads in me is ah a porcupine.

Speaker 6 (31:31):
And the reason for a porcupine is because porcupines are
supposed to put their quills to you know, they're back
to the world, their quills up and so and that's
what protects them. But I had to have that counterbalance
of like something that she was going to do that
would not protect her, where she would give away her power.
And the fashion industry came into my mind and it

(31:54):
was like, this is so brilliant, because you know, with clothes,
we hide, we hide our vulnerabilities, we hide who we are.
So in her world, Paisley goes to be She dreams
of being an animal fashion designer, animal fashion world, in
the fashion forest, she must give away her quills to Zavanna.

(32:18):
Zavanna is a cotory over the top diva who demands
that porcupines use their quills so that she can use
them as pins to repin her visions, not anybody else's.
So in this story, little by little, Paisley's giving away
her quills and she's almost like a porcupine pleaser. She's

(32:39):
giving away quills to help all the other animals feel
good about themselves until she's down to the last quill,
and it's what she does with the last quill that
makes the difference.

Speaker 4 (32:54):
Gotta love the story. You described this in a way
that I think when you see it, people go, oh,
I can see this. You said, it's like a cross
between Wicked, what was the other one.

Speaker 6 (33:05):
And the Lion King if you put if you put
them in a blender, that would be like it's in
the magical realism realm. And so like when I when
I see Wicked and I listen to the music and
they sing defying gravity, and I'm like, whooo, you.

Speaker 5 (33:20):
Know, I feel it.

Speaker 6 (33:21):
And when you're singing songs, you're subconsciously programming the brain
and the mind to take on the lyrics that you're singing.
And because they you know, because all the animals that
I have are so well defined and they each have
their laying, they have personality.

Speaker 5 (33:42):
You know, we're really going to feel.

Speaker 6 (33:45):
Exactly like what does the top model who's a little
bit sassy feel like when she has to wear something prissy?
And what does an elephant feel like when she's told
she has to be thin?

Speaker 5 (33:56):
You know?

Speaker 6 (33:56):
And what is a bear who is a little bit
clumsy but wants to be a top model? And what
is it like for let's see the fourth one zebra too.

Speaker 5 (34:08):
I think, no, there's not the zebra. The zebra is
like one of the models, but she's not one of
the top main characters.

Speaker 6 (34:15):
Well she's not one of the main characters. But together
with their storylines, it's very very rich in what especially
women go through. And as a matter of fact, somebody
did say something I thought was cool. It's like, is
that like a feminine lion king? Yeah, you know what,
that's like a feminine lion king. Right.

Speaker 4 (34:36):
It's also like if you put all that in the
blender and take it out important to the gloss was amazing,
like drink. The topping is a Devil Wears product.

Speaker 5 (34:45):
Yeah, yeah, and everybody.

Speaker 6 (34:46):
It's so funny because Devil Product is coming out and
I'm like, hey, you guys, I wrote this in twenty nineteen.

Speaker 5 (34:54):
I mean, I didn't write it fast and then you
know so, but it's like the timing of this. When
you think of the metcal all of the all of
the clothes.

Speaker 6 (35:05):
That are in this musical, I mean, there's can be
so much eye candy is all from nature. So we're
talking that the spiderwebs are the lace, and the flowers
are the embellishment, and the jeweled beatles are the jewels.

Speaker 5 (35:20):
I mean, it's just it's not you know.

Speaker 6 (35:22):
So it's one of those things that I want people
to walk away with this full sense production, whether it's
with the you know, the music that's going to be amazing,
or whether it's going to be the eye candy. And
the storyline of course is going to be deep. And
I did play it for my inner circle. Some of
the music I'll share with what my first step is.

(35:46):
And in the first song, they were crying. First song.

Speaker 4 (35:52):
Nice. That's the thing about musicals. If people have never
been to a musical, especially if something is like an
adaptation like say a movie, it's always going to be
visually different, because whenever you do musicals, it has to
leap off the stage to you. So it's like the colors, costumes,
the steps are always so elaborate, and I think it's
an entireferent experience that people are never really prepared for.

(36:15):
And they're like, well that was that was different but good.
You know. So people see Lion King like on the stage,
You're like, wow, that was like amazing to see that.
So this wasn't itself. I can only imagine it's coming
from the book coming to the stage. So what's the
process for all those people who might be aspiring like playres,
how do you take let's say, something from whether it's
the book or the script you've written out the play,

(36:37):
how do you bring it to life on the stage?
Like what is the process?

Speaker 6 (36:40):
Like, well, that's a great question. And you know, for me,
even when I wrote the book, it was a template.

Speaker 5 (36:46):
It was like a storyboard. For I always dreamed.

Speaker 6 (36:49):
Of doing a big, gigantic musical, but in my instance,
it's all hard. Usually for a production like this, you
need fourteen to forty million dollars, so and you can
do you know, you can do a smaller theatrical thing.
But that's not the route I'm taking. I'm taking to
it like in my life, maybe because I worked with
Disney and Universal people, maybe because I've worked.

Speaker 5 (37:12):
With the Top of the Top.

Speaker 6 (37:13):
One of the things that I've learned is if everybody's
going right, you go left. Okay, So what right means
is that if it's a normal situation, I write the screen.
You know, I write the book, you know, the actual script.
I give it to a producer or an investors, they
get behind it. Then it takes seven years to workshop
it and we'll we'll talk in seven years by Maya.

(37:37):
But in my instances, I'm not taking that route. I'm
going with five conceptual songs that I'm going to be
releasing as an album so that people can try it on, they.

Speaker 5 (37:49):
Can feel it, and I can wear it.

Speaker 6 (37:51):
They can wear it, they can wear it and they
can It's like, let's see if I can get this
train going fast enough where I'm not asking anybody for anything.
It's just naturally, like organically happening so that somebody says,
oh my gosh, that song. It so resonates with me
because all the lyrics when you have a musical, just

(38:12):
like we have our favorite songs when we're sad and
our favorite songs when we're happy, and we play them
because they really evoke the mood that we're in. Well,
this is the songs with a storyline of giving your
power away and how to reclaim it. So once I
get it out there, it will be like I said,
organic and on my website, I'm inviting singers, dancers, producers, investors, anybody,

(38:35):
you know, people who love theater, people who don't love theater,
they don't know to visit me. And there's a you know,
in the very beginning, there's a little form because I
am looking for the next ideaa Menzielle. I'm looking for
that next star that might not you know, maybe Broadway
already has all their people. I'm looking for the you know, surprise,

(38:57):
the quacker Jack, the Crackerjack.

Speaker 4 (38:59):
Girl, or so we said. Website. So which website should
they go to if they want to fill out the
forum or about It's the Paisley Fashion Forest. It's really cool.
I've been I've been putting the graphic up a aple
times because for some reason, I'm like super inerd with
this because this right here, this visual gives you an
idea of how rich it's going to be, Like, look
at the how the costume's going to have all this

(39:21):
energy and bring Obviously these animals are for someone through humans,
but look how beautiful that is. It's just going to
be to me like a really rich experience. If someone
sees this and they're like, Okay, I definitely want to
be a part of this. I want to learn more.
Where would they.

Speaker 6 (39:34):
Go Paisley's fashionforest dot com. They just go to Paisley's
Fashionforest dot com.

Speaker 5 (39:42):
You can read all about it.

Speaker 6 (39:44):
There's ways to get involved and you can really see
part of the process. But I would say for anybody
out there who maybe they don't want to step forward
with their own creativity, they're frightened sometimes, you know, especially
creative people, we get I'm so disappointed and we get
so hurt.

Speaker 5 (40:02):
So can I share a little story with you?

Speaker 4 (40:04):
Yes? Of course.

Speaker 6 (40:06):
My dad was a Yoda dad and he came up
with so many amazing things, and I love how he's
helped me in life. But one of the things he
shared with me that I think is so profound is
he said, what do you think, Deborah, is the quasi
emotion that will stop you every time.

Speaker 5 (40:26):
What do you think?

Speaker 4 (40:27):
Mayna probably fear because fear can encompass so many things.
So I'm gonna say it's a very general term, but
boy does it hold a whole lot inside of it.
But I probably not right. What did he say?

Speaker 6 (40:42):
Well, and I thought the same thing as you, and
everybody asks things fear. But my dad said, it's disappointment.
And I'm going to tell you why when you have
something that you're really excited about. So I'm so excited
about this musical and you've got the adrenaline going and
Doorphin's going, You've got in your body.

Speaker 5 (41:01):
We forget that we are a.

Speaker 6 (41:03):
Walking, talking, chemical factory, and so you've got.

Speaker 5 (41:08):
All this like sparks.

Speaker 6 (41:10):
But however, you want to see it in your own body.
And then let's say you hit a wall. You're like,
I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna show my artwork, but
you know, I don't know. Maybe I'm good, maybe I'm not.
And then somebody looks at it and says, no, sorry,
not interested, and you get disappointed. What happens is, without
you consciously knowing it, is that all the feel good

(41:32):
chemicals dissipate from your body and it feels so bad
that and there's an unconscious ooh or unconscious like I'm failing.
But because in our society it's like, yeah, you can
do this, So you pick yourself up again and you
go for it, and you've got the adrenaline and doorphins

(41:52):
and once again you're going for that big thing and
then guess what, you might hit another wall and you
get disappointed.

Speaker 5 (42:01):
Again and it feels horrible.

Speaker 6 (42:04):
And my dad said to me, he said, listen, sweetheart,
most people flatline. They get older and this happens to them,
and they're not conscious of what's transpiring. They don't understand
the chemical factor. They don't understand. All they feel is
like you said, they think it's the fear, they think

(42:25):
it's that kind of thing. But they stay like this
because why if you ask them and say, I don't
want to get hurt. But what's really happening is a
dissipation of all those feel good chemicals that had felt
so good and you don't want to lose that again,
so you know you never even have that again because
you're not troving me right, and so it's like, okay, well, dad,

(42:49):
then in that instance, what do I do or what
does anybody do for that matter, and he said that's
where the fake it till you make it comes in.
If you understand this consciously, then it's something that you
can navigate.

Speaker 5 (43:04):
If you don't.

Speaker 6 (43:05):
Understand it, you know, it's like I, even even though
I understand this so much, when I hit those walls,
it's like, oh gosh.

Speaker 5 (43:13):
It hurts.

Speaker 6 (43:15):
And I say all of this to say that every
one of us has been given a divine gift and
is scary to move forward before anybody can see it.
Our knees go. I'm like, you know, I'm like that
little swan where I'm like and then underneath my little
feet are going like this.

Speaker 5 (43:35):
Like this, you know, And that's how a lot of
us are right.

Speaker 4 (43:39):
So it's true. Yeah. One of my my favorite quotes
is by Time a citizen, and he was asked about
in his whole process of trying to invent the light bulb,
you know, how he managed to push through it because
he made a mistake in the process. And he said,
I didn't make ten thousand mistakes. He said, I found

(44:00):
ten thousand ways not to do something until I got
to the right one. And that's how you have success.
Cannot exist without failure, and people forget that not a
single person who's ever been successful with something hit it
out the gates unless you're a racehorse. Maybe win the
out the gates, but you may not win the next one.
That's just the way that it is. So it's we

(44:20):
have to understand in order for us to be successful,
you're going to fail. You step back from failure and
you say, what could I have done differently better? And
what actually might have been I control, because you know,
a lot of people are very control freakish. I think
they can control everything in their life, and they can't.
And hence you're setting yourself up for a lot of
disappointment when you try to navigate in waters that are

(44:43):
just not meant for you navigate. And the big part
of it, so your dad was spot on, disappointment will
be the thing that if people experience it too much,
that will shut them down because they don't realize it
should be the thing that makes you reflect it back
up and start again.

Speaker 6 (44:58):
A men, absolutely positively. And that's why you know, it's
sort of like also, and you made me think of something.

Speaker 5 (45:08):
A lot of.

Speaker 6 (45:08):
Times we're in our head, right, we're in our head
like trying to figure out, you know, solve the problem.
Solve the problem, solve the problem solved. If I solve
the problem, then I can move ahead. But what happens
is or I shouldn't say what happens. Finally, in my life,
let me speak for myself. I'm going heart first. I'm

(45:29):
trying to be out of my head. And it's sort
of like, yes, I'm going for Broadway, but let's say
it's just you and me. Let's say you know, tomorrow
I can't even get out of bed again, or whatever happens.

Speaker 5 (45:40):
Was the process?

Speaker 6 (45:41):
Fun am I in alignment to who I am? I mean,
like when you have the ambition, you know my ambition.
You know when you have that ambition, a lot of
times is coming from the head, and that's where we
can get tripped up. When you can come from the
at least once again, this is just for me. It's

(46:03):
a different vibe. I have been hit over the heads
so many times with all the two by fours that
I've gotten with health, I even had another one. I
think that the thinking just went gone. I mean it's there,
but it's sort of like, no, I'm gleaning in whose
life can I touch today? How can I feel inspired

(46:25):
today instead of like worrying about you know, the end game,
which I do. I mean, you know, it's sort of
like I have that vision very clear. But see when
I'm talking to somebody like you and you're like getting excited.
I have a walking, talking vision board every single day.

Speaker 5 (46:40):
How cool is that?

Speaker 4 (46:42):
You can't beat that? And you're right. A lot of people,
hence purpose they're in their heads come to me to
try to get out of their heads, is the thing.
And one of the things I always get to people
in therapy is that the hardest thing you're ever going
to have to do is put yourself first, because most
people are so accustomed of putting people first, or they
believe that somebody else is the answer. But the answer

(47:04):
is always within you. You have to be willing to
go get it and bring it out. I always tell people,
nobody is going to save you. You can have lots of
support people around you, but at the end of the day,
you have to step up either reason that you get
to where you're going. A lot of people often are
waiting for someone else to have the answer, or they
think you're gonna swoop in like in like a night

(47:26):
shining hour. You know something and save them, and they're
waiting and it's like you may wait forever or you
may be to point it and never get you want
to be life because you kept waiting for something to
happen that was not something that you manufactured, something that
was like your passion in your purpose. And it's a
hard it's a hard thing to navigate. It's easy to say,
it's hard to do. And the people who do the work,

(47:48):
I can say, I honestly respect that they hunger down,
they take the difficult stuff along with the stuff. So
I mentioned that you have for books. I have to
share this, so make sure that people go into these
things out. So there's four books. There's the Luckiest Penny
we talked about. We just talked about Easley's Left Quill.
There's also if Only, as well as the Center of
the Universe. So you can go check out all of

(48:09):
Deborah's really inspiring books and learn more about our journey.
Because Tom telling you these are a lot and that
she took her life focus and she took that and
made her passion and purpose and transformed that into these
great inspiring stories that bring a lot of people joy
and happiness and hope. It's good first, because Amazon rules
the world. They're all available on Amazon. They're looking to

(48:31):
get them so pretty much easy accessible. You can actually
get them jump into talking about if only or even
the center of the universe, kind of give us the
nuggets about those books are about.

Speaker 6 (48:42):
Yes, if only it's actually is a fairy tale for adults?

Speaker 5 (48:46):
Is it fables for adults? I mean children might like it.

Speaker 6 (48:50):
But this was where my I don't know about you,
but I was going around in life going if only
I hadn't had that tumor, if only I hadn't gotten
a catalinem, if only, if only, if only, if only,
I mean, you know that was my middle name, if only.
So it was like, okay, what am I going to
do with this? And so for this one, I wanted

(49:13):
a snowflake. And the reason I wanted this snowflake is
the protagonist, is because what happens to snowflakes?

Speaker 5 (49:23):
Oh? Do they? That's horrible?

Speaker 6 (49:26):
So while this snowflake is taking her leap of faith,
I needed faith to go along with her. I need
it like I needed the two parts of me, the
part that was drowning and the part that had the answer.
And I wanted this to be the fall you know,
the fall of the snowflake, and I wanted the ending

(49:47):
to really make a difference for people, so I I
So that's what if only is about. It's about a
snowflake who's going to take her leap of faith, and
Faith literally goes with her, and like, to give you
an example, as she's falling, she sees birds, and she's like,
why can't I fly like you?

Speaker 5 (50:08):
Why can't Why don't I have wings? And then Faith
tells her why.

Speaker 6 (50:13):
And then she's like, as she's getting closer to the earth,
she lands on a tree, like one of those beautiful
gigantic trees, and and and she's like, well, why can't
I have roots like you? Why? Why is this happening
to me? And Faith tells her why. And it's just
it's a story of faith, It's a story of love.

(50:34):
Anita Moore Jeannie, she gave me a testimonial. I don't
know if you know. She's like a New York Times
bestseller and she really everybody who's ever read it, they'll.

Speaker 5 (50:46):
Call me it's kind of funny. It's almost comical. Your
book made me cry. Oh yeah, it's so good. Oh yeah, you.

Speaker 6 (50:55):
Know, there chures of joy, but it's it's funny when
people follow you up and they say your book maybe cry.
I can't tell you how many people have said that,
and it's like to me, it's like yay, But to them,
you know, I could hear the emotion and it's so
helpful for me because I wanted to do something that

(51:16):
gave hope, that tremendously gave hope, and then you know, okay,
go ahead.

Speaker 5 (51:23):
And then the other book the center of the universe.

Speaker 6 (51:27):
That book was where I was breaking apart, absolutely positively
breaking apart, and I needed something where this one was
kind of unusual because what it basically is about is
the person who thinks that they can get everything done,
like you know, I need to paint the grass green,

(51:48):
I need to make sure the sky is blue, as
if it's on me to do everything. And it's like
it's like that whole thing in a very very dynamic
way until we eye shattered, and then what does that
mean for the big picture? So they're actually very powerful books,

(52:09):
and each one has a tremendous message that if you
go deeper, you know, it really can touch your life.

Speaker 5 (52:17):
But it's like a long novel.

Speaker 4 (52:20):
Defit here in all of these a lot of things
about self awareness, self acceptance, which obviously gets you to
that point of self worth, and with self worth comes
the growth that most people want but don't realize that
at the bottom of it all, at the rooted if
there is no self worth, there's always going to be
the constant struggle for validation because you're seeing life through

(52:42):
somebody else's eyes. And don't get me wrong, we entered
the world with that narrative. We enter the world in
our lives through other people's eyes. Call our family our parents,
because we are, you know, mere just blank slates entering
the world. It is what's then placed upon that slate
that we begin to read internalize. The question turns into
is this really the right narra this word? Or do

(53:05):
I need to I remember I went to Catholic school
and its a big deal. You got picked to wash
the boards. Don't know why we thought that was good.
I was like, why did we think it was f
washed the boards? But we thought it was fun at
the time. I don't know why. But one of the
things I always remembered, as they had been written on
so many times. Though you wash the boards, still see
some things underneath. I mean, people probably don't even see

(53:27):
black birds anymore. They're probably obsoletely, I'm sure, because whiteboards.
The whiteboards do the same thing. What've been used a lot.
You always see some of the underwriting on them. They're
never really truly clean. And I always say people just
remember when they're working on themselves. Let's just say you
clean your slate. It may not be totally clean, because
our past comes with us. It's not about abandoning your past.

(53:50):
It's about understanding it, embracing it so that you can grow.
But most people discard something and like it's as much
a part of you as who you are becoming. So
don't be so quick to throw away the past, because
it does have a place and has a purpose in
your life and your worries may think. Each one of
these have so much underlying to them. People can pull

(54:10):
a part of discover.

Speaker 6 (54:12):
Yes and if only I mean that one is one
of the most beautiful books. I mean, oh well, but Paisley,
it took me almost a year to illustrate. I had
been an award winning artist, I had never done illustrations,
but that's how passionate and I wasn't about the story.

Speaker 4 (54:27):
Wow, so okay, So being an artist and then see
illustration two different. I would even know in my mind
if you're an earnest, I would think you could illustrate.

Speaker 1 (54:34):
See.

Speaker 4 (54:35):
I'm just with that because I figured if you can draw,
I give you. I applaud you. Because I can't draw
a straight line with the ruler. I'm not joking. I'll
put it on the page. I guarantee it's still not
straight like it's supposed to be. I just I can
think up things creatively, but when it comes to maybe
putting things together, not necessarily my strength with making it

(54:55):
have like the if it's something I have to make,
the idea, the planning, yay. But if I got to
build it, it's probably gonna look like all the pictures
on my waile in my office are all cricket, and
I'm like, but I like it that way. I'm like,
cause that's me. I'm not gonna go fix them. I'm like,
you know, that's kind of me. I don't if they're
not straight, And it's okay they're slightly off, but I
think embracing that which what I've taken from even more

(55:17):
about talking to you today is being able to accept
who you are in the moment and stop worrying about
who you're not.

Speaker 5 (55:26):
That is so well put.

Speaker 6 (55:27):
But you know, it's funny when you were talking, Maya,
this is what came to me. You were saying, I
can't draw a straight line, but you can speak one.
You speak the line that goes right into people's heart.

Speaker 4 (55:39):
So I'll go with it.

Speaker 5 (55:40):
I got the line. You got the line.

Speaker 4 (55:45):
Oh again, everybody, Like I said, fu, amazing books. I'm
gonna put up again because I want people to know,
because here's there's something here for everybody. This is what
I like. I'm seeing, like, you know, two books that
could be very focused on children of the Luckiest, Penny
Haisley's Last Quill, which, by the way, I feel like
everyone woman can still dive into Paisley's Last Quill and
probably totally relates to that. And it's like, then I

(56:05):
have these two other books that are probably more mature
and if only in the center of the universe. So
it's you know, it seems like you have this ability, Debra,
to be able to write something to reach out to everyone,
and that within itself you need because often people can't
speak the language of many people speaking to children, but
being also to speak to adults can be very hard.

(56:26):
A lot of people struggle with that, and yet you,
within your comvity, you have found a way to do that.

Speaker 5 (56:32):
Thank you. I really appreciate that. Yes I have, but
I guess it was you know it. It goes back
to the beginning of what we were talking about.

Speaker 6 (56:41):
When I was a kid, I was sensitive and I
had all that stuff.

Speaker 5 (56:44):
And now I'm able to do that. I want to.

Speaker 6 (56:46):
I just want to put exclamation point on one thing
real quick, and that is I looked up what healed means.

Speaker 5 (56:52):
Healed.

Speaker 6 (56:53):
It means whole.

Speaker 5 (56:55):
It means whole. Blew my mind. I didn't know that.

Speaker 6 (56:58):
So when I took away from that is heal doesn't
mean all positive. Heal doesn't mean all happy. Heal doesn't
mean like you know self, you know, like, hey, look
at the cool thing I did. Healed means whole, which
means we must embrace every part of ourselves.

Speaker 4 (57:17):
Every and that's the key, every part of self. Riley,
you want to come on and share some stuff. I
think she gets cool and inspired. I love it.

Speaker 7 (57:26):
Oh my goodness. Hi, okay, Hi, Riley. This is my
first time asking to join or you know, share some thoughts.
I just love everything that you're talking about with your books,
and it just relates to a lot of what I
go through.

Speaker 5 (57:46):
Through my journey.

Speaker 7 (57:47):
And I'm a recovering addicts, so a lot of it
just with self discovery all over again and just letting
go of your power and and taking it back and
just letting go and letting the universe take control, but
believing in the universe to do as it needs. I

(58:11):
just think your books would be really cool for people
in that aspect of life. And I'm so upset my
last episode. People from my recovery center that I went
to they were watching and I'm like, oh, I want
them to watch this. I'm definitely going to send them
the link to watch this and hopefully they can get

(58:32):
a hold of your books too, because I just think
you have like such a good message for people like that.

Speaker 5 (58:39):
You're bringing me to almost tears, Riley.

Speaker 6 (58:42):
The fact that you came on, the fact that you
haven't done it before, the fact that you were able
to be vulnerable, the fact that when I saw you,
I was like, Oh my gosh, what a bright light
in the world, you know, And let me speak to
that for a second. For anybody who is listening for
a long time, when I was sick, people would say
to me all the time, you have a dark cloud

(59:03):
following you.

Speaker 5 (59:03):
You're you have a dark cloud.

Speaker 6 (59:04):
And I had so much shame because people couldn't see
the light even though it was there. And as soon
as I met you, Riley, your light is so freaking
bright and so beautiful. So I'm I'm touched beyond belief.
And yeah, I need you to know that.

Speaker 7 (59:22):
Thank you.

Speaker 5 (59:23):
And yes, I'm very open.

Speaker 7 (59:25):
I recover loudly so others don't suffer silently. And yeah,
but yeah, thank you so much for you.

Speaker 5 (59:37):
Absolutely, Yeah, how could I not.

Speaker 6 (59:40):
I mean, look at the you know, what you're trying
to bring into the world.

Speaker 5 (59:43):
I mean, I champion you.

Speaker 6 (59:45):
And Maya is like she's a firecracker, you know, she
was talking about you know.

Speaker 5 (59:50):
I mean, I really admire both of you.

Speaker 4 (59:52):
I really do. I agree. I love when people share
their stories. It helps people to understand they are not alone. Right,
That's that's what most people feel. They feel so alone
and in the darkness, and when they hear someone else
speak like, wow, wow, you you made.

Speaker 6 (01:00:10):
It through that.

Speaker 4 (01:00:11):
Yeah, and you can't do you just have to want,
you have to, except there's gonna be difficult times that
you may take a step back to take a step forward. Okay,
give yourself that grace. Always say self compassion is something
else that people need to learn that we often can
give other people more grace than we give ourselves. Like
you're gonna make a mistake, as long as you own it,

(01:00:32):
learn from it, move on, and it's okay because we're human.
Nothing is perfect in this world. Nothing, So absolutely, Deborah,
you have been just so amazing. I'm looking forward to
hearing the music because it's it's probably just awesome. As
this takes shape, I can't wait to see what it

(01:00:54):
turns into. So hope everybody is Definitely if they're interested,
we talked about in being participate in Paisley Musical, they
can always go to that website. But if you want
to learn. You didn't talk a whole lot about the
Self Work Initiative. Can you just talk a bit about
that really quickly, because I feel like we didn't. We
talked about the books, but we didn't talk about how
you create that and kind of what you do with
that particular project that you have.

Speaker 6 (01:01:15):
The Self Worth Initiative was essentially taking the books, turning
a lot of them into musicals and uh, sharing it
with families and friends as more of the family kids,
it's it's my whole breath of everything that I've been doing,
whereas Paisley the musicals where I'm focused now. So if
you have a child or if you you know, Uh,

(01:01:38):
there's a lot of information on there that I think
is really cool too.

Speaker 4 (01:01:43):
And of course we talked about if people wanted to
learn more about Paisley Fashion Forest, they can go to
Paisley's Fashionforest dot com and they can you know, ask questions,
probably donate. We're all always big on donating. So when
people are grassroots and this is a great story, she's
grassroots looking do it outside the box.

Speaker 5 (01:02:01):
And it's not always easy.

Speaker 4 (01:02:02):
You can have a vision and off I always say,
often finances are the thing that stops many dreams, and
you have found a way to work around that. And
I like the fact that you're saying it will not
be a dollar sign. I will not our size money
determine the value of what Paisley the Fashion for is
has to offer to the world. A lot of people

(01:02:23):
in their creativity can lose sight that that is always
about money. Matter of fact, it's never about money. If
it's a message. Get your message out there how you can.
That's what matters.

Speaker 5 (01:02:32):
That is the truth. Take my hand, let's.

Speaker 4 (01:02:34):
Go there you go. So, of course I didn't my
due diligence about social media. So if people want to,
you know, get a hold social media. I found can
find you on Instagram and Facebook at Deborah dot weed
and X if you're still a X person at Deborah
Weed one. So you know, a lot of our younger generations,

(01:02:55):
they're the social media the Riley world. You guys are
media people, right, So I'm struggling to get there, but
I know they're social so a getything from posting and
obviously reels all these things will We'll definitely bring them in.
So that's how people can follow and connect and follow
your project because I think that part's important to social

(01:03:16):
media does a lots to keep people abreast of what
we're doing in the moment, opposed to always happened to
go to website. So hopefully people will getch you via Instagram,
Facebook and exit as well.

Speaker 6 (01:03:27):
Yes, absolutely, well, Deborah, thank you for coming on the show.

Speaker 4 (01:03:32):
Without question, I definitely want to have you back as
the project's developing. If you want to share some of
the music. We could do a listening party. That's a fun.

Speaker 7 (01:03:42):
Little I want to be a part of that listening.

Speaker 4 (01:03:46):
You know, you can present said there's five songs. Improbms
about the songs, because we know musicals, it's all about
the songs. You know, obviously things like you know you
The Frozen wasn't a musical, but it definitely hits second
life in that form like taken on a New Life.
And look at how people now are going to movie
theaters to do sing alongs with things like Wicked. I mean,
so we do know that music is a big part

(01:04:08):
of what brings people together. So I would definitely love
to bring you back and hear the music and share
it with people to kind of keep building the support
and making people more aware. I'd be honored, Yes, look
forward to that all right, well, and obviously to the
next time we have you on. Thank you for carving
out a moment of your time. I know you've had
a lot on your plate, so I feel very blessed

(01:04:29):
that you actually took time to be here because I
know this is probably not the easiest moment for you.
So let me say I appreciate you. Appreciate you one
hundred and fifty percent for being here right now.

Speaker 5 (01:04:39):
Oh thank you. It was an honor. Seriously, I loved
you from the get gos.

Speaker 6 (01:04:44):
So this has been fun.

Speaker 4 (01:04:46):
Good stuff. All right, everybody, Well that's it for this episode.
As I said, remember that our guest next week is
going to be doctor Kirsten Harrison, trauma psychologist, and she's
also an author. She co authored a book with an
a name Shauna, who is intersex, who is also homeless
and schizophrenic. And this journey in this story is so

(01:05:09):
powerful that you're definitely gonna want to hear it again.
Ami guests coming on the Ambition shows, which is I
guess you can say a little extension of Maya, my ambition,
your ambition. I'm probably bringing examples of ambition to you
posted to just talk about it, So make sure you
tune in. That will be next week that she will
be here talking about that as well. Looking forward to that.

(01:05:30):
So remember if you miss the episode of Maya Never Fear,
you can always always find it. Remember what I said,
everything is online, so you can always go to Maya
dash speaks dot com and of course everything's there, but
I'm podcast Central, so you can find me on iTunes,
a podcasts, iHeartRadio, Amazon All Spotify, if it's a podcast platform,

(01:05:55):
I'm probably there to search Maya my ambition, your ambition,
and you can get there. Of course, get so to
me as well, guys, I did it. Everything is uniform.
Maya speaks to you. It's all you have to put
in and boom, I'm there. So you can always find
past episodes on YouTube, because that's my to you. What
I haven't promoted, but I think I better get it.

(01:06:17):
I'll make sure it's ready next week. I do have an app,
it's the Maya Experience, and you can find it in
Amazon right now as well as you can find it
in the app. I'm you know, it's interesting, Like you know,
Google is being really difficult at the moment. They're being
real special so they're making you do a little bit
more work to get it there. But at least if
you have an Android phone, you can you know from
az on on my Apple folks, well, you know you

(01:06:37):
can find it in the iTunes podcast area there too,
So make sure you get the app because it's Maya
on the go in your hands. It's really really simple.
It's the easiest way to do everything. Of course, The
website is there too, so make sure you schell out
the inspiration box. They're good the Menopause blog as well
as Daily Inspiration. One thing, because I want to give
you a thought. I want you to really process it,

(01:06:58):
digest it. I don't need it to be in everyday
all time I'm giving you something new, I want you
to give you something deep, toss and to truly think about.
So make sure you check out the block. So, everybody,
until next time. I say this, and someone said that
was a really really interesting thing that you remember. Your
present becomes your past and your future is no more.

(01:07:19):
So may it the most of every day, everybody. That's
not my worst. That's some Pearl Jam the way. It's
a lyric from a Pearl Jam song. But be well,
stay safe and be amazing, even if you don't believe
that you are. You absolutely are amazing. Next week, everybody,
I will see you Saturday at two pm. It's going

(01:07:41):
to be another amazing guest for the Ambition Show.

Speaker 6 (01:07:45):
Enjoy the weekend.

Speaker 4 (01:07:46):
Oh it's a holiday as well, so hopefully you have
a long weekend. Enjoy your time off show, whether you're
on the go.

Speaker 3 (01:07:53):
Or listening on your cell phone. Tablet or laptop. You
can find the show and the iTunes, Google and iHeart
radio platforms.

Speaker 6 (01:08:01):
So due respect, I believe this is going to be
our finest hour.

Speaker 3 (01:08:04):
Just search my ambition, your ambition, and get ready to
be inspired and motivated to harness your ambition.