Randi Zinn, GOING BEYOND MOM
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[1:00]Zibi Owens.com. I'm here today with Randy Zinn, who's the author of Going Beyond Mom,
[1:04]how to activate your mind, body, and business after baby. She's a mindfulness and wellness
[1:08]expert and the founder of Community Beyond Mom, which offers expert interviews, lifestyle advice,
[1:13]stories, a podcast, including Going Beyond with Randy Zinn. Events and retreats for the 10,000
[1:19]creative and productive moms in his membership. Randy is an athletic ambassador and has
[1:23]partnered with many companies like SoulCycle, Physique 57, Apple Seeds, and more. She's
[1:27]regularly featured expert in the media and has appeared in the New York Times, have posted
[1:31]others, plus on Foxby of New York and more. She's a certified yoga instructor and teacher and currently
[1:37]lives in New York City with her husband and two children. Welcome, Randy. Thanks for coming on
[1:41]mom's and have time to read books. Thanks for having me Zibi. Okay, Going Beyond Mom. It's an
[1:47]empire. It's a website. It's also a book. Tell me about the book part first. How did this book
[1:53]come about and what's it about? What can moms get out of this book? Okay, so similar to yourself,
[1:58]I've always been a writer. So expressing myself through written words felt very logical. Beyond
[2:04]Mom really did start as written content on my website. And because of that, when I started really
[2:11]inquiring of myself, okay, what is that thing that I can give people? It's one thing to invite
[2:17]people to come to an event, which I've done. It's one thing to write an article on a website,
[2:23]but there's something very special about creating something that belongs in the hands of people
[2:29]and that you know can go home with them and that the things that you've written can impact them
[2:34]somehow. And frankly, from a business model, you need something to sell. And so it was a mixture
[2:40]of knowing that I needed that thing to sell and the fact that I finally felt like after years of
[2:46]working with women and mothers that I actually had some things to say. And the book was where I
[2:52]I wanted to land that wisdom. So now let's go back. You started Beyond Mom in your apartment
[2:59]in your, tell me the story. You're sitting there one day, you're writing, take me through the
[3:03]whole thing. Yeah. Well, it didn't start from, I was sitting in my apartment one day.
[3:08]Just made that up. I know you did. And if I went back in time, it might look that way. But if I
[3:14]really go into the story, it's really started earlier than that. I was a yoga teacher for
[3:20]a handful of years while I was juggling a lot of other very complicated parts of my life,
[3:24]which I have a feeling we'll get into. Yoga was my saving grace personally. And it also became
[3:31]the place where I could take a lot of the struggles in my life, take the lessons I was learning
[3:36]from them and help people. It was a very direct equation. My favorite part of teaching yoga was not
[3:43]so much about the poses, although I love the poses and they're incredibly healing. But I love
[3:48]telling stories. That was where I dug the experience of teaching. And if you're a yoga person,
[3:56]you might know that as the Dharma talk. The Dharma talk is that moment and beginning of class,
[4:01]where you take a deep breath and then your teacher gives you some kind of nugget of wisdom.
[4:06]That was my favorite part. And then connecting that to the postures felt like this incredible
[4:11]opportunity to weave whatever I was going through and give something a gift to people that could,
[4:19]in a way I might never know help them. When I look back, that was the beginning of Beyond Mom.
[4:25]This is before I had kids, but it was this place where I could kind of be one-on-one with
[4:31]another human being and be like, I get it. I'm with you. I fill your pain. I have some ideas for you.
[4:37]Let's talk about it. Let's be in community together. I was really, really hooked on that experience.
[4:44]So I got pregnant and I was still teaching through my pregnancy, but I knew pretty quickly as
[4:50]my belly got bigger and my back started hurting that I wasn't going to be schlepping around New
[4:55]York City teaching yoga the way I was. So I inquired what part of my teaching can come with me.
[5:02]And that's why I started writing, and I would say at the time blogging, because I wanted to continue
[5:08]telling the stories. I wanted to continue helping people. And I wanted that one-to-one experience.
[5:14]And for anybody who knows what motherhood community feels like, the beauty of it is that one-to-one
[5:22]experience. It's that I've got this right, you know, I've got this solution for you or oh, I don't
[5:28]have a solution, but I feel you. I've been right with you. Whatever that one-to-one experience is
[5:34]that's the most powerful part of a motherhood community. So really, that's where the spirit of
[5:40]beyond mom started. Then, once I started writing and blogging and I mean, so early, early dabbling
[5:47]in social media, because I really didn't know anything at the time. And gosh, I guess this is
[5:52]like semi-pre-instagram when I really was kind of like experimenting with this. That sort of
[5:59]the nature of who I was started to come out in this voice of being a mother. Then I said, okay,
[6:05]what's next? Because I don't really want to live on a computer. I want to be with people just
[6:09]like I was in the yoga studio. So that's where the very early beyond mom event experience started.
[6:16]Which for several years, that's predominantly what I was doing. I was having everything from events
[6:22]that kind of had a networking vibe to it. Always a wellness fitness kind of vibe to it.
[6:27]Really, I just wanted to create experiences for women to come together, enjoy whatever action
[6:33]they were doing, make connections that maybe they wouldn't have made elsewhere, and always always
[6:39]to feel elevated, to feel like they left a little better than when they walked in. And I'm proud
[6:45]to say that, you know, over the years, I have done focus groups when I'm figuring out what I'm doing
[6:50]next. And I ask people like, why do you hang out with me? Because there's a lot of places you
[6:54]could be. There's a lot of places you can go. A lot of people you can hang out with. And people
[6:58]always say that whenever they've interacted with beyond mom, they know that they're meeting people
[7:04]who are kind of like them in the heart space. Like they feel inspired. They've met women who
[7:10]they've become best friends with or collaborated with. And it's not because like you give me
[7:15]something I need. It's like I see you. There's a deeper space. At basic, I'm a spiritually
[7:22]oriented human. And so everything I do comes from that place of service and connection to people.
[7:30]Wow. So if people want to be a part of your events in your community, what should they do?
[7:34]Go to beyondmom.com. Just getting that out there right away. Oh, yeah, sure. I mean, definitely
[7:38]beyondmom.com is the place to kind of sniff around and, you know, read some content,
[7:43]listen to my podcast, which we'll talk more about podcasts. You know, understand more about my book,
[7:48]see a video book trailer about it. Core social media Instagram is definitely like the place
[7:54]that I hang out a lot. And yeah, my book and my podcast are probably like the most concrete ways.
[8:01]Let's talk about the podcast. When did you decide to start the podcast? How did you decide on the
[8:05]format of it? Who did you want to talk to? How has it grown over the years? Yeah. Well, the podcast,
[8:11]you know, it was like so many of us who are entrepreneurial and their spirit are moms.
[8:17]We come up with a format to express what we have to say in a way that works in our life, hopefully.
[8:24]So the podcast actually came, um, I want to say that it was somewhat after the book, I think.
[8:34]Um, yeah, I want to say that it was. Say it. Just think it was after.
[8:38]Like time mixes up and my head. So yeah, so the book happens and the podcast idea came because
[8:47]my daughter was born. This is now almost four years ago. And I was in that familiar place that
[8:54]many of us understand, which is, okay, I'm going to be home a lot more now, but I don't want to lose
[8:59]the spirit of what I'm doing. I had been really heavy into events for probably two years before
[9:06]that. I was out a lot. That's why I know a lot of the people I know. It was just out there
[9:11]meeting people. So that was coming to a shift. And I thought, how can I be here with this baby,
[9:18]with her on my boob? And how can I continue to talk about what I want to talk about? And how
[9:25]can I continue to quote network? I'm doing quotes network, but not be out out there. And it seemed
[9:32]like a podcast was a really smart way to do that. And I totally did it very experimentally,
[9:38]and I don't regret that because I think a really big limitation for a lot of people,
[9:42]sometimes just getting started. People think it needs to all be just totally perfect and developed
[9:48]and produced to do it at all. And I definitely fit into that category and other parts of things
[9:53]I've done. But when it came to the podcast, I was like, oh wait, there's some technology on my computer.
[10:00]There's a mic, let me just start recording some things I have to say, and that's really
[10:04]how I started.
[10:05]Now, when I listened to those very early episodes, I kind of want to strike them from
[10:09]the record because they kind of, I don't want to say they suck, because it sounds very
[10:13]judgmental.
[10:14]But they're just not as good as what's happening now.
[10:17]But I started and I'm glad that I did because I started to just bring people in who,
[10:24]to me fit a beyond mom conversation, who I could kind of dig into their stories and
[10:31]their motherhood experience and their productive experience in their lives and pick their
[10:36]brains.
[10:37]With each iteration of the podcast, it's elevated like anything.
[10:41]You learn what to do, what not to do.
[10:44]You learn where it makes sense to invest, where you don't need to invest.
[10:48]I quickly realized that I needed a great mic, good headsets, and a good editor.
[10:56]Once I got the good editor, she said, okay, so you need an intro and an outro, so we
[11:02]recorded those.
[11:03]And before I knew it, it had a much more polished feeling.
[11:07]And then over time, I think what's been really cool is my voice as now I can say a thought
[11:13]leader has really elevated because in the beginning, as an example, the intro was some
[11:19]actresses voice introducing the podcast.
[11:23]Right before this current season, I really sat with it and I was like, no, it should
[11:27]be me.
[11:28]Yeah.
[11:29]It's me.
[11:30]I'm the person talking about this podcast, not an actor's voice.
[11:34]So I recorded that and it felt so right.
[11:38]And now for this next season that will launch in January, I'm ready to edit that intro
[11:43]and shift it a tiny bit because there's something I want to get more specific about.
[11:48]But that's the process and I really enjoy that process.
[11:51]So in terms of guests, let's see, I mean, I have interviewed some unbelievable people.
[11:59]And what I'm really proud of is that there's a really great mixture of well-known names,
[12:04]people who I'm like, oh my God, I can't believe interviewing this person, or I'm almost
[12:08]a little nervous and it has like a little bit of a splashed, oh, you interview that person.
[12:14]But some of the most powerful interviews have been with people that I personally know
[12:19]who have amazing stories to tell and I just want people to hear these stories.
[12:25]And those episodes I'm so proud of and interestingly, some of those have gotten more
[12:31]lessons than with the well-known people because there's just something really magical
[12:35]there.
[12:36]So I always want to keep that balance between like the well-known and the people who maybe
[12:41]don't have a famous name but are so wise.
[12:45]So you know, the other thing that's interesting and the evolution of the podcast, this brand
[12:50]very much did start in the voice of motherhood beyond mom.
[12:55]It still is there in a lot of ways, but I always felt a calling to speak to women in general.
[13:02]I wasn't sure what part of my brand would head in that direction, but it's definitely
[13:07]become the podcast.
[13:09]So that's why the name of the podcast is called Going Beyond, Not Going Beyond Mom.
[13:15]Because I'm interviewing women who are not mothers, I'm having conversations that are not
[13:19]just about motherhood, although some are.
[13:22]And that feels really right because women need these conversations, not just mothers.
[13:29]So the podcast has just been a fantastic journey and now bringing live events into it and
[13:34]live podcast recordings.
[13:36]It's really becoming an exciting space to play.
[13:39]That's awesome.
[13:40]I couldn't agree with you more.
[13:41]And I feel the same with you were saying what you're saying about more splashy guests versus
[13:46]non-splashy.
[13:47]That's why I love having like debut authors and I feel the same way I'm like, gosh, I hope
[13:51]people listen to this one because this ones are really good episode and I hope people aren't
[13:54]just clicking based on the name of the author or do I know this author because yeah, I
[13:58]feel like the most, some of the most intense conversations are total is people whose books
[14:03]I might not have found otherwise and who have these amazing stories.
[14:06]I totally am.
[14:07]100%.
[14:08]Also, the other thing I've realized, no criticism to anybody, but as you know, as a podcaster,
[14:13]you need the people who you interview to also promote the episode, like that's part of
[14:17]the deal.
[14:18]You know, we're out there trying to get our voice heard or podcasts listen to and when
[14:23]our guests share it, it just means the world because listeners who might not know about
[14:26]our podcast hear it.
[14:29]What I've noticed is that the well knowns don't always share the episode, but the people
[14:33]who maybe are slightly lesser known names share so much and then the listening happens.
[14:40]So yeah, give the underdog's a chance is the motto here.
[14:46]So if we can go into more of your painful past, if that's okay, so you're, and you write
[14:51]about this in the book.
[14:52]Yes, it's public.
[14:53]So I feel okay, asking you.
[14:55]So your father died in a plane crash when you were 25.
[14:58]Tell me about that.
[14:59]And I'm so sorry.
[15:00]I did not know until I was in your book reading it and anyway, I'm so sorry.
[15:05]Thank you.
[15:06]Tell me about what happened then and how it ended up changing your life and your mission
[15:09]and just the reset button that got hit for you.
[15:12]Yeah.
[15:13]Yeah.
[15:14]And as you, I mean, those of you who are listening, Zibi and I had a little communication before
[15:18]this and I appreciated that you shared your own story of loss at a similar age and I'm
[15:22]sorry for that and I think we both know that, you know, it is the loss that does shift
[15:30]your life.
[15:31]It's very, it becomes a very difficult thing to imagine in a very strange way when so many
[15:39]years have passed that it didn't happen, although you wish it never did.
[15:45]So my relationship to the whole thing now, 14 years later, is it's like a very interesting
[15:51]mixture of experience, I'm sure you can relate to that feeling.
[15:55]So yeah.
[15:57]So the painful past, my dad was a visionary and he was an entrepreneur and an environmentalist
[16:04]and a very, very successful business person who built everything he had from absolutely
[16:10]nothing.
[16:11]I was very proud of him.
[16:13]I was very close to him and only child and I was also very, very sheltered now.
[16:20]I know that.
[16:21]Yes, I didn't know a lot about his life, his business life.
[16:25]I knew a lot about him as a person.
[16:27]It wasn't like I was trained to become his protege at all.
[16:32]So with all of that said, I moved to New York like many of us do from I grew up in the
[16:37]Hudson Valley.
[16:38]So not too far.
[16:39]And my whole family is from New York City and Brooklyn originally, but I moved here.
[16:44]Let's say July 2001.
[16:46]It was just a few months before 9-11 and I started my job, my first job at Connie Nast
[16:53]in magazines.
[16:54]I worked at Connie Nast.
[16:55]Were you the same?
[16:56]We have the same life.
[16:57]We'll go there.
[16:58]Okay.
[16:59]By the way, Zibi's going to be on my podcast everybody.
[17:02]So I'm telling my story, she'll tell her a story.
[17:05]So yeah.
[17:06]So I moved to New York.
[17:08]I was like, I'm going to do the magazine thing.
[17:10]I was a totally artsy, creative kid, party.
[17:15]I mean, I was doing the thing.
[17:18]And I went to grad school because after 9-11, all the magazines were shutting down, the
[17:24]jobs were becoming limited.
[17:25]Of course, they paid nothing.
[17:27]It wasn't the greatest of times in that way.
[17:31]But my dad was really supportive of me, continuing my education.
[17:34]I was interested in media, which is kind of an interesting part of how it all, our story
[17:39]is kind of weave over time.
[17:42]And I was just finishing graduate school.
[17:45]Sorry, I went to new school, new school for media studies and film.
[17:50]And I had just graduated June 2005.
[17:55]And I was exploring what was next.
[17:56]It was like, okay, now it's time to get out there.
[17:59]I think I took a job and I left a job and I started freelancing and I had had an internship
[18:04]at Oxygen Network again, the focus on women and their needs were always there.
[18:11]And I was just kind of like getting my own personal wheels turning in a certain direction.
[18:18]I had just become really obsessed with yoga, but only as a practitioner, I was just taking
[18:23]class all the time.
[18:24]And then it was October 19th, 2005, it was a beautiful, sunshiny day.
[18:29]And out of the blue, I got the phone call that he had crashed his plane.
[18:34]And he was flying the plane.
[18:36]He was flying the plane.
[18:37]He was a private pilot.
[18:40]He was totally his passion, one of his passions.
[18:42]He loved to be in the sky.
[18:45]And it was how he got around.
[18:46]And he kind of felt like he was skirting like the little people in a way.
[18:50]Like he would be like, do you know that it would take six hours to drive and just took
[18:54]us 45 minutes in the airplane?
[18:56]He also owned our local tiny general aviation airport in our hometown, which we'll talk
[19:03]about that if you want.
[19:05]I grew up as, you know, in some respects, a co-pilot like not that I flew, but I was always
[19:10]around it.
[19:11]So I was with him.
[19:13]And I think it truly was a worst nightmare, an absolute worst nightmare.
[19:20]And he was alone.
[19:21]Thank God.
[19:22]There was no one else in the plane.
[19:24]And he was just flying from Florida to North Carolina for a golf game to meet his friends.
[19:29]It was a truly unfortunate set of circumstances where an air traffic control are basically
[19:34]steered him into a pop-up thunderstorm, which in Florida happens all the time.
[19:40]So you know, in terms of that period of time of my life, I want to say that I remember
[19:47]most of it, but I would guess that I don't remember all of it because I think what happens
[19:54]is you go into a tunnel of survival.
[19:58]You know, it's like having a limb cut off.
[20:00]it's like really the most visceral, physical experience. For me, it was a mixture of sitting with
[20:08]like my own loss, my own reality of like a whole life that I thought was gonna obviously be a
[20:14]certain way and was now totally going on another path. It was the obvious loss of my dad.
[20:21]I'm we were super, super close. And, you know, I think the other thing that I think anyone who
[20:29]particularly a very close family member can relate to is that every person plays a role in a family
[20:35]unit and you remove one and it's almost like a domino effect. All of these other family dynamics
[20:43]shift and change. So, I can say that no other relationship was the same after that, even on a family
[20:51]level, friendships, everything. Business-wise, my dad's life was not prepared for him to leave it.
[21:00]He was not well organized. Let's put it that way. And so, it was a giant mess for years.
[21:07]And so, this is how when we talk about like what happens next, there was a period of several years
[21:15]that I kind of lived multiple lives all at the same time. There was the fact that my dad's life
[21:23]needed me. Again, I mean, it only child. My parents had weirdly divorced the year before.
[21:30]So, all of his world was mine. Oh my gosh. Yeah. It was really insane. I luckily at that time
[21:37]did have people that were very ingrained in his business life that were there to work with me
[21:42]and support me. But it was very painful. I'm only now just getting more verbal about these things.
[21:47]I think I was afraid to say a lot of things for a long time, but I'll just say it out loud.
[21:52]Whenever there is money or the perception of assets or money or wealth and then you add in
[22:00]death or vulnerability or anything, the ugly and the evil comes out. And so, I suffered quite
[22:06]a bit of deceit and things that I don't know if I'll ever fully move on from. And the reason
[22:13]and I say that is it's not that I don't believe in the good of people. Obviously, I do,
[22:18]but it's trauma. And when you interact with certain things as your life goes on and you feel
[22:23]those similar reactions, you know that things that happen at a certain time are still with you.
[22:29]So that's what I mean when I say that. So over that time, I was very enmeshed in his state matters
[22:40]being resolved. We had to sell off certain parts of his business. There was a lot of articulation of
[22:47]things that took a lot of time and energy. That was one track of my life. The other track of my life
[22:53]is really I think what became the story I was just telling you, which is my other job was taking
[23:00]care of myself. I needed healing work. And I started in all of my spare time figuring out how to do
[23:07]that. So that was tons of yoga. And I think that was like every healing modality you could possibly
[23:13]imagine everything from like massage and acupuncture and Reiki and energy work and therapy and
[23:19]grief counseling and yeah, all of it. And what I discovered was the path of like all the layers
[23:28]of getting into the grief and the sadness and the confusion and and then like kind of slowly but
[23:36]surely discovering the light in it. And the light of course is where you start to connect with
[23:42]other people. And I wanted suddenly to share some of that. And you know, there's like you I think
[23:52]mentioned that quote that it's when your heart is broken. First you said I had this buzzing sensation
[23:59]in my spirit telling me that the heartbreak I had been through was going to allow me to deeply
[24:03]connect with and help many, many people. And then you mentioned a quote that you had heard when
[24:08]your heart breaks open God floods in. Yeah, well, yes, those quotes say it all. And you know,
[24:15]I'll say that the first quote of like there was a buzzing there was something that told me to get
[24:20]up every day. There wasn't one day that I ever laid in bed all day in depression. Every day I got
[24:28]up to do whatever had to be done. Even if it was a quiet day and I just got to go to a yoga class
[24:36]or do something to get myself going. So I never stepped out of life. I was always in it.
[24:45]And in terms of the God flooding in, I think that's it. I think that realizing that pain is universal.
[24:54]I remember suddenly being able to speak to people who were going through divorce who had cancer
[25:02]who were going through the loss of a friendship and then the transition into motherhood,
[25:09]which has a lot of loss. And suddenly I was able to sit in that space with people and relate
[25:15]and talk and just reflect. And I don't think I was always a compassionate person, but I don't
[25:24]think that comfort in the discomfort is something I would have ever been able to do.
[25:31]without that loss. The other thing too is that again being a very sheltered young woman,
[25:41]very much cared for by my dad emotionally and tangibly, I think that I wouldn't have really
[25:47]been able to blossom in the same way if you were here. Not that he wouldn't have wanted me to,
[25:54]not that he wouldn't have encouraged me to, but something happens when you're forced to,
[26:01]that is more magnificent. And I think that that is definitely part of my story.
[26:08]Wow. Thank you. That was so beautiful. You should, I mean, wow, you're amazing.
[26:13]You know, and you take a lot of your story in the book and give it back. It's like a gift,
[26:18]you know, you talk about like weathering, personal tsunamis because oh, Randy, I'm sorry.
[26:23]I cry all the time. No, no, your stories. I mean, it's just beautiful that you're sharing it with
[26:29]everybody and I'm sorry it happened to you. Look how strong and amazing you are. Look at all the
[26:34]stuff you've created for all these people. It's amazing. Thank you. I'm very comfortable crying by
[26:39]the way for anyone listening. It's good. It's healthy. I cry all the time. Let it out. Oh,
[26:44]let's just cry it out. By the way, I'm so sad that I during like a younger place in my life when
[26:51]you were out there teaching you of the classes in the city. And I was in the city like crying my
[26:55]own. She was wandering around that I never intersected you probably because I didn't really do
[27:00]yoga. But anyway, wish that I had because that would have like, you know, I can see how you
[27:05]helped so many people during this. It's just humanity, you know. Yeah. Well, now I don't want to like,
[27:10]we're like almost at a time. I feel like I could sit here and I mean, I say this often, but it
[27:13]really mean, I feel like I could sit here with you the rest of today and like rehash our stories,
[27:18]it's all good. Do you, should we talk a little bit more about the book itself? Yeah, because we
[27:24]talked about my story. I know. The book is great. The book starts with the whole thing about the
[27:31]body. Yeah. I read on the elliptical machine. I felt very self. It goes into not just mom
[27:37]dumb, but also the business part and the entrepreneurial part of being a mom, which I love
[27:41]is part of this book. And I think it's a real differentiating factor from other books about,
[27:45]you know, being a mom, but it's all about like harnessing that entrepreneurial spirit,
[27:50]what you want to do with your life, giving back. It's like a roadmap to the whole thing,
[27:54]interspersed with your own amazing stories and tips and quotes and I don't know. I think it's great.
[28:01]Thank you. So that's the book going beyond mom, how to activate your mind, body, and business
[28:06]after baby. It starts from right away after birth after childbirth. It talks about sex. It talks
[28:12]really everything you'd ever want to know. And it's a guidebook again that I wish I had had when I
[28:18]had just had my kids. But again, it's not just for moms in a way because it's really like, how do
[28:22]you get your life? It's really what it is. Like, how do you make sense of the world and get through
[28:27]life? And, you know, yeah, I think the other really strong principle that I want to impart upon
[28:34]people who read the book is that all parts of ourselves are interconnected. And what I think has
[28:42]really derailed many women in particular and definitely mothers is this idea that we're supposed to
[28:51]pull out through our lives and our motherhood experience and put different pieces of who we are
[28:57]on the shelf for a period of time, whether that's our physical body, our spiritual self,
[29:03]our emotional well-being and kind of focus on all of these external needs. Or let's call it one
[29:11]category of our needs. Like, oh, I have a business idea. So I'm going to go drive that idea. Then what
[29:17]I felt really called to do with the book is to take the reader through a step-by-step process
[29:24]of defining these different layers of who we are. And it's very yogic in concept, which I think I
[29:31]talk about here in the book, but that if any layer of who we are, mind, body, spirit is neglected,
[29:42]the whole picture is off-kilter. And I think if we really slow down and ask ourselves the question,
[29:49]am I? And there's a difference between whole as in W-H-O-L-E and perfect. I am not talking about perfection.
[29:58]I'm talking about wholeness and wholeness.
[30:00]Well, this means that in a given period of our lives
[30:03]we're somehow paying attention to all that we are.
[30:08]Not every second, not every day, not even every week,
[30:11]but that I'm understanding what the needs of my body are is.
[30:15]I'm understanding what the needs of my spirit is.
[30:18]I'm working with it.
[30:19]That leads to a sense of wholeness
[30:22]because nothing is being out and out neglected.
[30:26]And so the book's real purpose
[30:29]is to bring you back into a sense of wholeness
[30:32]and that all of you has attention to some degree
[30:36]because you are a whole person.
[30:38]And for any woman that thinks that you can be a present mother
[30:43]and you can be a productive person
[30:45]in whatever endeavor you're putting out into the world
[30:48]and not give attention to the very basics
[30:53]of what makes you a human being.
[30:56]Well, it's just not real.
[30:59]It's just not true.
[31:00]So yeah, this book felt very much like a gift
[31:04]because I felt back to my painful story.
[31:08]That story taught me that truth, you know, as the last does.
[31:12]So also the other thing I want to say
[31:14]is that this book is not for people who just had a baby.
[31:18]The after baby part was an addition by my published art.
[31:21]Like they felt really strongly
[31:22]that it should say that after baby,
[31:25]just to be very clear on who it was targeting specifically
[31:28]but actually this book is for any woman
[31:31]and definitely a mother of any phase
[31:34]because motherhood is, as I always say,
[31:36]postpartum is forever.
[31:38]And it's true.
[31:39]You're always journeying motherhood.
[31:42]That could be the next book.
[31:44]You could postpartum notes forever.
[31:46]That's a good title.
[31:47]OK.
[31:48]Yeah, I like that.
[31:49]I'll write it down right now.
[31:51]So what's coming next for you?
[31:53]I'm sure you have a zillion things in your mind
[31:55]that you want to pursue next.
[31:56]Well, I'm really focusing on the next season
[31:59]of my podcast, the Going Beyond podcast.
[32:01]I have got some fantastic interviews lined up
[32:03]with some real amazing thought leaders.
[32:06]And I'm super excited because on February 13th, 2020,
[32:12]hosting the next live podcast recording
[32:15]that was so successful in October.
[32:17]And this time, we're focusing on stress
[32:21]and stress as a conditioning in our society
[32:25]and then bringing on the people who are truly
[32:29]the masters and the experts about how we can shift away
[32:34]from almost like what we assume is normal
[32:37]and really start forging a path that is happier and more free.
[32:41]And we kind of like hear these buzzwords, you know,
[32:43]and a lot of things we might pay attention to,
[32:44]but how are people really doing it?
[32:47]So I'm really excited to bring that conversation to light
[32:49]and that's going to be hosted at a flat iron here in Manhattan
[32:54]February 13th in the evening.
[32:57]And all event information will be on the Beyond mom website.
[33:00]But for any of you who love podcasts, love topics like this
[33:04]and want to be around really smart and insightful women,
[33:07]this is the event to come to.
[33:08]Amazing, how do I get to my calendar?
[33:10]Okay, do you have any advice to aspiring authors?
[33:16]I do.
[33:17]Can I give a creative piece of advice
[33:19]and then a logistic piece of advice?
[33:21]No.
[33:21]There you can start guys.
[33:24]Yes, of course you can.
[33:26]Okay, okay.
[33:27]The creative part is to once, you know,
[33:29]once you feel the music kind of like knocking at your door,
[33:32]not to disregard any idea, you know, any thought.
[33:36]It can feel especially like if you happen to be someone
[33:39]like myself and Zibi or juggling kids,
[33:41]you have ideas, whatever, that you don't have time,
[33:43]but it's amazing what can be going on in your brain
[33:46]while you're doing all the things.
[33:48]So have your, either your tangible journal
[33:51]or your notes open on your phone all the time
[33:54]and jot your ideas, your ideas down
[33:56]because you will forget them.
[33:57]And I won't, I don't want you to.
[33:59]So collect your thoughts at all times.
[34:02]They're all relevant,
[34:03]especially when the creativity muses are starting to come to you.
[34:06]If that's the first one.
[34:08]The second one, as I've learned about publishing a book
[34:11]and putting it out there,
[34:13]it's not just about the book anymore.
[34:16]We live in a world that is very much a platform-driven world.
[34:21]So when you're thinking about what it takes
[34:24]to come up with a topic for a book,
[34:27]whether it's fiction or nonfiction,
[34:29]what it is that you wanna share or what it is you wanna say,
[34:32]consider the bigger picture also.
[34:35]What else might you wanna be driving and growing
[34:38]to support the idea of putting a book out there?
[34:41]So maybe it's an Instagram handle
[34:44]that captures a certain theme or a certain book
[34:47]that would support that theme of the book.
[34:50]Maybe it's a YouTube channel.
[34:52]Maybe it's that you wanna start gathering people
[34:55]to have certain kinds of discussions in your home
[34:57]once a month that are supporting
[34:59]some of the things you're talking about in the book.
[35:01]Start thinking outside of just the book itself
[35:07]because you will be expected to have platforms
[35:11]and other ways of connecting with the topic
[35:13]of your book, fiction or nonfiction.
[35:16]So that's my little tip.
[35:17]I'm glad you gave all the tips.
[35:20]Well, Randy, thank you for sharing all this
[35:23]and for all you do to help other women
[35:25]and everything that you do in life.
[35:28]It's really amazing and inspiring.
[35:30]Thank you.
[35:31]And thank you for doing this podcast it be
[35:32]because it's not easy to be an author.
[35:35]It can be sort of like this.
[35:38]It sort of has a whole bunch of like gold stars
[35:40]associated with it, like, oh, you wrote a book.
[35:42]But actually it can feel a little bit like
[35:44]there's a bajillion authors out there
[35:46]and where do you find your place?
[35:47]So I think it's amazing that you give authors
[35:51]the chance to come and share the heart
[35:54]of why they do what they do.
[35:55]Wow, it's my pleasure.
[35:57]Look at all the benefit I get.
[35:58]I get to see your love.
[35:59]That's amazing.
[36:00]Oh my gosh.
[36:01]All right, well, thank you so much.
[36:02]Thanks, Evie.
[36:03]Thanks for listening to Momstone Have Time to Read Books,
[36:06]the award-winning podcast.
[36:08]Today's episode of Momstone Have Time to Read Books
[36:10]was sponsored by pediatrician in your pocket
[36:13]by Dr. Jennifer Tractenberg, Dr. DashGen.com
[36:17]and your code PIP20PIP20
[36:20]for 20% off of these can't miss modules
[36:24]that will make your parenting life so much easier.
[36:26]You can follow me on Instagram
[36:28]at Momstone Have Time to Read Books.
[36:30]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at TextureSound
[36:33]for the sound editing.
[36:34]And thank you to Morningmoon Productions
[36:36]for providing this fantastic intro and out trim music.
[36:39]Thanks for listening.
[36:39]You can always email me at zibiatzibiowans.com.