Adversity Rising, LLC

I offer a variety of options including hour-long talks and addresses, a variety of different workshops that can range from 2 hours to a full day, and different delivery options including more didactic, lecture style to intensive workshops. My goal is to work with you to meet your needs and maximize your time and resources.

How am I different/Why Work With Me?
I think the important point to make is that I am not going to be the right fit for every audience or scenario - nobody is. But it is more important to me that you get your needs met rather than sell myself to you. If I am not the right fit, I am committed to helping you find other resources as well. My goal in every talk I give is to take my audience on a journey and while each of us may be starting from different points, we can all move forward together, uncovering new facets of ourselves, awareness of others and a developing sense of humility and curiosity through which we view the world. With the infusion of self-disclosure, research and skills as a developing therapist, I guide the audience through an educational and motivational event developed in a format to leave people with tangible next steps towards living a more authentic life or creating a more supportive and effective environment.

What does a 'job' or project look like when working with me?
I believe that the most important thing I can do before coming in for speaking, consultations and conflict resolution/coaching is to learn about my audience. Sure, I can speak on fear and busyness but what does that mean or look like to the population I am speaking with? As such, I only take jobs or apply for jobs in which I feel as though I have a clear picture of the audience and feel striongly I understand how to share resources, skills and topics that fit with their needs and wants. In some cases, this might mean surveying a team if I am coming in for a small business workshop or perhaps reviewing feedback from a previous conference or connecting with former speakers. At that time, I then work to get everything needed for a successful day/event to the coordinators as soon as possible as this helps alleviate tension and distress on their end. I oftentimes create a handout and slides to bring in though handouts are sometimes not a good fit if I know, based on the audience I may lose them in them. The focus of all materials is to make conversation and vulnerability/introspection easier and so any materials created fit with an objective on creating the best opportunity to grow for the audience. I usually also create materials to send out post event so that things I mention in the talk/workshop or other resources can be shared but dont feel overwhelming at the onset of our work.

I am always early to events and like to be there to welcome people into the room and create a space that feels comfortable and relaxing yet engaging. I am also always very open to shifting the emphasis to more discussion based topics or adding in pieces as needed if it feels it best suits the needs of the group so I always tell folks that they can let me know what is and is not helpful or important as the goal is to maximize their experience and worst case scenario, we dont get through all of the slides.

Reviews have told me that I am engaging, funny and raw, creating a sense of vulnerability in myself on stage that allows others to feel vulnerable and comfortable siftin through the chaos in their own lives. I am passionate and dedicated to the work but am also not going to claim I am the only or best expert or that ones experience in the audience is not equally meaningful to share or discuss as well.

AAfter events, I make sure to follow up and see if anything outstanding is there to be addressed and in some instances we have come up with plans to capitalize on the energy in the room by adding more services or simply helping leaders figurwe out ways they can now keep the work going internally.

About Me:
Growing up, I had a lot of trauma in my life. At age 11, my mother relapsed after a 12 year period of sobriety and fell back into the hands of an insidious cocaine addiction that ended up leading us down a 12 year path filled with jail, prison, rehab, treatment, etc. In that time, my mother was also diagnosed with Bipolar I Disorder and worked hard to carve a path towards recovery from both her addiction and mental illness - facing so many obstacles throughout her journey. Throughout that period, I was bounced to various homes and stayed with family who, as I got older, realized cast a toxic shadow over my upbringing that really stifled my mental and emotional wellness and development. I faced a lot of verbal and psychological abuse and had a hard time not getting lost in the web of negativity that so deeply held each of my family members. During that time, I was forced to talk to priests, therapists, doctors, school counselors - you name it, I probably saw them - where everyone kept telling me how I felt or what I “should” be feeling/doing. I began to lose myself and got confused on what was everyone else’s ideas/thoughts/feelings and what were my own. But then I found art. Art became my saving grace and helped me climb out of some very deep holes, especially as I got older. Eventually, I developed my own addiction - an eating disorder - that in many ways was a form of protection against all of the pieces in my life I felt I lost control over. But in that, art gave me hope. Creating was something where, even when people would try, I never accepted a “should” or “supposed to” about how or what to create. I had a fantastic teacher, Mrs. Smith, who encouraged me to be me, even when my pieces got dark or when I completely ignored the directions for her assignment. Creating became my diary, my therapy, my confidant, my protector. When I was drawing, I didn’t hear the call of my eating disorder plaguing me every second. When I was painting, I didn’t lose myself in the toxic environment circling around me. When I was creating, I was truly me. And that one thing was what gave me enough hope and courage to work through all of my trauma and I wholeheartedly believe is a big reason, if not the biggest reason, I am alive and able to say that I beat my eating disorder and have survived and recovered from my various traumas. And so I carry with me, in everything I do, the purpose for why I started and continue create or do anything - to give hope. But now, it is not only for me, but hope for others where and when they need it. You never know how one piece of art or one speech or one blog post can change someone’s life and without hope, we will eventually lose to the demons plaguing our world. Each of us has the possibility to bring light into the world that can empower us and each other and I feel it is my personal responsibility to make sure I never stop leading with light in my life.

Mission:
My mission comes down to both living and empowering others to live an authentic and intentional life that supports creative freedom, self-awareness, and celebration of the beauty we each have within us… I really wanted to create something that people might identify with on an everyday level. Too often, people hesitate to call themselves creators or artists, saying, “I am not a real artist.” But, we are all creative.

What Led Me to Speaking?
I have always been an effective communicator. One of the things I value most in this world is the ability to connect with others and I firmly believe the only way to do that is to invest in the development of a communication style that is warm and nonjudgmental and yet clear and direct - a hard balance to strike. Throughout my personal and professional experiences, I have taken the opportunity to develop this skill in any way possible and am comfortable knowing I may not always get it right, nor will I be the one able to connect with everyone. However, the more people we have working to create that sense of connection and helping people feel heard and valued in this world, the more opportunity for growth, love and increased self-esteem we all have. I truly believe this is a calling for me and I am beyond excited my dreams have taken hold in my reality. We all have greatness destined inside of us and I am excited about the opportunity to help you uncover and celebrate yours!

One of the most important things for me as I moved into the public speaking realm is to talk only on topics I am personally working on/through as well so I am going on a journey with my listeners. I believe without understanding what you are asking people to do and being able to share your own struggles in your pursuits, people will not truly feel connected to you or your work nor feel it possible they can make a change. Public speaking is really an art form in itself. It is taking ideas and concepts freely accessible to people from other sources - the internet, books, podcasts - and repackaging them in a way that might allow people to truly internalize them and feel empowered to make a change. I am not saying anything new, I am just tactfully putting the information together in a way I feel can be most effectively worked through. My talks so far have included 2 of the facets of my life I have worked the most at to evolve - the busyness trap and the ways in which I interact with fear. In our culture, busy is touted as a form of social capital, the more busy you are, the more valuable you become. But tied to that is an expectation that you have mastered, conquered, even abolished all fear because to show vulnerability is a sign of weakness. My goal in my first few talks is to provide information to attendees on where these concepts derived, how they have served us and then, through a workshop style discussion/reflection, begin to think about how these concepts are serving each of them. All of my talks close with a series of action steps and ideas on how to move forward should people feel ready or interested in changing the way they are living their life as it pertains to these different topics. However, it is a clear component of all of my talks that choice and personal readiness is at the heart of all change and if people are not ready to change, that is perfectly okay. However, they can now feel empowered to make the decision rather than be swept into the whirlwind of societal interaction without consciousness on their actions/behaviors.

The Role of Fear In My Life:
Fear was in the driver’s seat of my life for many years. I was too afraid to have someone not like me. Too afraid to make a mistake. Too afraid to admit I wasn’t happy. Ultimately too afraid to be me. I spent so much time chasing dreams that weren’t mine and prizes I didn’t want to the point I completely lost sight of who I was in what I thought everyone else wanted me to be. When I found recovery from my eating disorder, I started to really work on how I could begin to uncover my authentic self and get to know the ways in which fear was showing up for me throughout the course of my daily life. And throughout the discovery process, I learned that for me, fear masked itself as the ever allusive and alluring perfectionism. I would work so hard to be perfect in all of these meaningless tasks like getting straight A’s, being the perfect partner, chasing the perfect body, being the overachiever in jobs I didn't even like, that brought me no true joy. But my warped sense of self and thinking believed I had to be “perfect” in order to be worthy. And I soon learned, in this case, perfect was a synonym for safe. Perfect was a synonym for existing. And so, I started to work through what it was that truly ignited a spark in me, what risks I wanted to take, what ideas brought me joy and began to work towards going for them in different ways. Most days, I see myself taking little risks that allow me to keep fighting for growth rather than stagnation and I fight with every fiber of my being to avoid ever using or even thinking of the word or concept of perfect. I try to revel in the mess and find glory in the imperfections for that allows me to keep eroding new paths rather than walk the pre-paved one.

Where has Success Derived From?
The biggest thing that has allowed me to do anything is the ability to get louder than the tape that plays over and over in all of our heads - the negative self-talk and doubt - and put myself out there. Showing your work or getting exposure is not too difficult once you are willing to really reach out to people, connect with others and take on different opportunities! But you also have to take a look at both how you define success and how you respond to rejection. When I first started out, I thought I should be selling pieces in every show or getting dozens of people at my speaking engagements or events, feeling like I failed when that didn’t happen. I assumed I needed dozens, even hundreds, of people liking every Facebook post or Instagram pic. I felt like not getting a grant or having someone say no meant I wasn’t doing great things. But over time, and through some great mentoring and self-discovery, I checked back in about why I wanted to do these things in the first place and asked myself what success would really look like to me if I could decide without any pressure from the media, comparison to other creators, or false beliefs I may have held. And in that, I got very clear about two things - who my dream clients were and just how much rejection and failure I was willing to take in order to achieve not only what I dreamt of but what I believe I was put on this Earth to do. In terms of clients, I see them as being the people ready to engage in their lives more fully; the people willing to step out of their comfort zones and be real and raw; the customer who connects with an art piece that changes them on a cellular level. I don’t actually care that much about superficial likes and support - I want to deeply connect with people and that means I have a more limited clientele. And that is okay! I don’t like every artists work I see but that doesn’t take away from their talent or success in any way - it is just not for me.

Ans in terms of the rejection and failure, I remember listening to an Elizabeth Gilbert interview a while back where she talked about her passion for writing and the difference between people who like something but aren’t willing to go all in and the people who are so driven to do something that they are willing to “eat the shit sandwiches” for it. The point being, are you willing to take all of the rejection and criticism (both from yourself and others) and keep fighting to pursue your dreams? And I love what I am doing so much that I am willing to eat all of the shit sandwiches just to know there is the opportunity to impact someone in such a deep way you can help ignite a spark in them to live the life they want.

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