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Mentoring Through Quad Cities ATHENA Leadership Awards

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Nominations being accepted for September High Tea.

The Quad Cities ATHENA Leadership Awards not only celebrate, recognize and honor women for their leadership skills, career achievements, community service and mentorship, they also promote what leadership looks like. ATHENA recipients say this is powerful because younger or less experienced women in the workplace can identify local role models they can talk to, observe in action and learn from.

“Leaders become mentors for others and impact future growth,” said 2022 ATHENA recipient Teri Drew, executive director of NACOG’s Yavapai County Workforce Development, in a 2022 QCBN interview. “My parents and siblings were and continue to be my mentors. They taught me what to and not to do growing up, and those strong ethics pay off.”

On Sunday, Sept. 24, women from across the region will come together at Starting Point in the Prescott Gateway Mall for the 4th Annual Quad Cities ATHENA Leadership Awards High Tea, presented by Quad Cities Business News. They will hear stories of struggle and triumph, perseverance through fear and how to tap into their inner strength in times of adversity. They will also learn how women lean into their core values and their hopes for the future.

“I believe my life is a blessing and given as a blessing. Giving back is just what I believe I need to do. Mentoring others is one of my tenets and receiving the ATHENA award strengthened that,” said 2018 Flagstaff ATHENA recipient Theresa Bierer, an associate professor of practice in management in the W.A. Franke College of Business at Northern Arizona University. “In our lives, everyone is so busy, but what really makes the fabric of a community is people who step outside of themselves and put others and community first. To me, that’s what the ATHENA Award embodies.”

This year, QCBN will recognize an individual with the traditional ATHENA Leadership Award and also will present the ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award. In addition, for the first time in Northern Arizona, the Quad Cities ATHENA Leadership Awards will celebrate a business or organization that supports, develops and honors women leaders with the ATHENA Organizational Leadership Award.

Individuals, businesses and organizations are encouraged to nominate extraordinary women leaders who are making a difference in their communities and pioneering a path for others to impact the future.

“My hope for young women entering the workplace is for them to do what they love and love what they do,” added Drew.

Nominations are being accepted until Friday, Aug. 4, at prescottathena.com. QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Photos by Kay Lyons: QCBN women have been instrumental in bringing the ATHENA Leadership Awards to Prescott. Photographed here are QCBN Co-Owner Amy Bix, Editor Bonnie Stevens and Advertising Manager Ann Herrington. 

Quintessential Newsman Trained in a News Field of Dreams

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QCBN honors Ray Newton for his commitment to truth, education and reporting America’s stories.

Long before Google, Alexa, Instagram and the internet, news was gathered through miles of legwork and worn-out shoes. A journalist was only as good as the relationships he cultivated and the sixth sense he developed. Reporting and uncovering stories required a tenacious and genuine interest in people, places and things that mattered, and a relentless hunger to know one more thing and to get it right before going to press.

Ray Newton, a savvy street kid in the San Francisco Bay area in the late 1940s, developed his knack for knowing where news was about to break. At age 12, he determined that place was Seals Stadium, where Joe DiMaggio’s younger brothers carried on the family’s baseball legacy, pitcher Larry Jansen won 30 games and local favorite Lefty O’Doul was not only a good pitcher and a great hitter, but the team’s manager for 17 seasons.

“I got to know all those guys. I was covering spring baseball in the Bay Area and writing for my junior high school newspaper,” he said.

Reporting America’s Stories

Following his love for words, Newton graduated with a degree in English from Kansas State University Fort Hays and then worked as a reporter for Rush County News in La Crosse, Kansas. He followed up with a master’s degree in communication and journalism from South Dakota State in 1961. As a budding journalist, he was working as a special news correspondent for the Santa Fe New Mexican when one of the biggest stories in American history sent shockwaves across the country.

Newton was standing next to his hard-driving boss, Tony Hillerman [best-selling author of mystery novels featuring Navajo Nation Police officers], when the Associated Press filed an infamous news bulletin on Nov. 22, 1963: “President Kennedy was shot today just as his motorcade left downtown Dallas.”

“‘Do you realize who that makes the next president?’ Tony said to me, noting the tension between President Kennedy and then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.”

The next year, Newton was covering President Johnson when the U.S. and Mexico resolved a historic border dispute. The Rio Grande River had long marked the border between the two nations; however, it jumped its banks during a massive flood 100 years earlier, which caused it to take a different course further south. As a result, Texas acquired a square mile of land known as the Chamizal. On Sept. 25, 1964, Presidents Johnson and Adolfo López Mateos of Mexico met there, shook hands and ceremoniously signed the Chamizal Convention Act, which identified the land as belonging to Mexico. The two nations then shared the cost of forcing the river back to its original channel.

“That was a heck of a big deal,” said Newton, who was at the site, covering the story for the Santa Fe New Mexican, the oldest newspaper company in the West. “It was a major world news story, and it was celebratory watching LBJ formally proclaim the settlement.”

Newton not only documented history in the making but devoted decades to capturing moments of joy and sadness, shock and triumph in the American story. Through many pairs of shoes and reams of paper, his work has kept us informed and connected, including as a writer and photographer covering his beloved Flagstaff and Prescott for Quad Cities Business News and Flagstaff Business News.

At age 87, Newton continued to drop into that newsman stance when speaking to someone, leaning in with focused, inquisitive brown eyes, searching for facts and hanging on every word to get the information right. Because, to him, that matters. The relationship, the facts, the truth.

“I had a couple of jobs where they [editors] tried to alter my story. We ought to be objective tellers of fact, as best we can report it – giving accurate, honest information and hoping we give readers enough that they can make wise decisions. I’ve had some editors who want to twist it. I quit a job because of that. I will not do that.”

In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Newton worked on special assignments for AP and as a news reporter/photographer for the CBS  affiliate in Albuquerque, KGGM-TV.

Training Generations of Journalists

Newton’s unwavering code of truth and integrity was his calling card, principles he instilled in generations of journalism students at Northern Arizona University.

Newton joined NAU in 1973, as an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism. By 1985, he was a full professor and the dean of the College of Creative and Communication Arts.

“I was so pleased to be a part of that team in Creative Arts and seeing that journalism program grow. At one time, that was the biggest journalism program in Arizona, and we were selecting good students. We had excellent faculty and gave them opportunities to do what they could do best. I trusted that and loved what we did.”

Under Newton’s leadership, the college established a chapter for the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Society of Professional Journalists. It also began the practice of bringing student interns into working newsrooms.

“That made the program so visible, but also gave students the opportunity to find out in advance what the real world is like, not what a textbook tells you. To have Bill Close [legendary Arizona anchorman known for his high standards] say to you, ‘My God, you’re making some of the best students.’ That made us so pleased with what we were doing.”

During this time, Newton served on boards of many professional journalism and broadcasting associations and consulted for newspapers, government agencies and educational organizations. He wrote for Reader’s Digest and became the publication’s director of writers’ workshops across the West and on cruise ships. As such, he assembled editors from top national publications such as Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Field and Stream and others, to offer writers insight as to what they look for in stories. “Writers streamed in from all over the region,” he said.

Recognizing Excellence

Newton worked as an associate to NAU President Gene Hughes for six years and calls him his “best boss ever.”

“A good boss is not afraid to try new things. A good boss trusts people to make things happen. A good boss will tell you straight out when something you write is pretty bad. You have to appreciate that!”

President Hughes sent Newton to Oahu, Hawaii, to study the Polynesian Cultural Center there. His vision, says Newton, was to create a Native American Cultural Center, which NAU has today.

In 1994, Newton became the director of research for the NAU School of Hotel and Restaurant Management.

Throughout his career, he was recognized with dozens of honors, awards and recognitions including “Outstanding Educators of America” and “Who’s Who Among Authors and Journalists.” Recently, he received the Prescott chapter Phi Kappa Phi honor society emeritus member award from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where he serves on the Board of Visitors. In addition, FBN  and QCBN are honoring Ray Newton and his commitment to teaching, advocacy for education and dedication to the truth with the Best of Business Ray Newton Excellence in Education Award.

“Ray is not only a critical part of the team and so well-respected and known throughout Northern Arizona, he is a stellar example of what it means to be a person of integrity in all he does. He has impacted thousands of lives and we feel so blessed to work with Ray and to have his journalistic talent grace our publications. But, more importantly, to have his friendship through the years,” said QCBN and FBN Founder Troy Bix. “Ray’s energy and dogged determination are unmatched. When he shows up, there is no denying the excitement he brings to a room or event.”

People Matter Most

What makes Newton most proud, he says, are the many students he has taught, mentored, cheered on through their careers and known as lifelong friends. What matters to him most are people.

“Like so many of my professors at NAU, I looked up to Ray and was thrilled when I learned that he was following my career after graduation and when he shared his pride and ongoing support,” said NAU Associate Vice President for Communications Kimberly Ott. “My admiration for Ray continued to grow when I realized that he is also a tremendous leader. I watched him work with the Flagstaff City Council and city staff to enhance the hospitality industry for NAU and Flagstaff. He continues to support the university he loves and show his ongoing selfless devotion to all the students he mentors.”

“Ray Newton inspired me in several ways: first, as a young university student, and then later during his encore career,” said NAU Teaching Professor of Management Theresa Bierer. “After retirement from academia, Ray continued to embrace all that life has to offer, with an energy and spirit that touches many of us.”

“I met Ray after he ‘retired,’ which meant that he was just as engaged in the community and seemingly 10 times as busy as he was before he retired! Yet, he always found a way to make time for people and listen to them intently,” said GoalBusters Consulting Partner Alice Ferris. “You felt like you were the only person in the room when you spoke with Ray. He was incredibly encouraging of me, and I will always remember that.”

Newton lists Dr. Gene Hughes as one of the five most influential people in his life. “He was a great example of solid, honest leadership.”

Ralph Carlisle “Smitty” Smith also makes the list. He was the Newtons’ neighbor in New Mexico, an MIT-educated nuclear engineer who worked alongside J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory who was responsible for the research and design of the atomic bomb. “I’ll never forget Smitty telling us about the morning they set off the big bomb called “Trinity,” in the New Mexican desert near Socorro [5 a.m., July 16, 1945]. The sun was coming up and everything brightened beyond belief.”

Newton calls his adoptive father, Lou Newton, his hero and credits Lou and Evelyn, his stepmother, for getting him off the streets as a young teenager and being “very” forgiving. “They gave me an opportunity to make something of my life and I took advantage of it. They sent me to high school in La Crosse, Kansas, where I lettered in football, basketball and track.” Newton later coached high school students in those sports.

He also puts his family on the list. “They are so important to me: three children, Lynn, Sheri and Bill [Bill is deceased], four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. They are so supportive, just nice, good people. I am just amazed at how close we are and how much we love and depend on each other.”

And above all, Patty, his wife of 66 years. “We’ve done so much traveling. We’ve enjoyed so much. We have had so many wonderful opportunities. Early on we didn’t have money. I worked in a donut shop and Patty was a dishwasher and accompanist making 60 cents an hour. Her patience and her pure sense of humanity are so admirable.”

With these words, Ray and Patty smile at each other with the kind of knowing that comes from deep love, appreciation and peace earned across nearly 70 years. As the two enjoy Culver’s cheeseburgers and fries in the quiet of this sunny Prescott afternoon, Ray accepts that he will not be wearing out any more soles chasing down stories. However, the legacy of this quintessential newsman will be carried on in other news fields of dreams by those he taught and those who strive to fill those well-respected and well-worn shoes. QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Earlier this year, Ray was diagnosed with inoperable bone cancer. Ray died at his home Monday night, April 10. He was 87 years old. Cards and letters can be sent to Patty Newton, 941 Lupine Lane, Prescott, AZ 86305.

Emmy-award winning journalist and editor Bonnie Stevens credits Ray Newton and his Magazine Writing class for helping her land her first job out of NAU as a writer for news anchors Bill Close and Mary Jo West at the CBS affiliate KOOL-TV in Phoenix.

Media Insider Teaches How to Be Your Best in an Interview

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With practice and coaching, she believes we can all improve our Media Darling potential.

With all the technology and audience reach available to us literally at our fingertips, we all have the opportunity to truly star in our own lives, be visible on any number of social media platforms, create our own podcasts and even shine through Zoom calls. Leadership experts tells us this kind of exposure could increase our marketability, boost sales, promote ideas and magnify our influence. The problem is, most of us haven’t taken the time to learn how to be polished on camera, how to use a microphone effectively and how to be our best, most interesting, capable and enthusiastic spokesperson for ourselves.

Media trainer, publicist, industry insider and former broadcaster Joanne McCall coaches high profile authors, professors, business leaders and speakers, and now readers, through her new book, “Media Darling: Shine Through Every Interview.”

She defines a Media Darling as someone who makes interviews seem effortless, creates great content for their own media channels, and delivers a great interview while also making the interviewee look good, among other key characteristics.

With practice and coaching, she believes we can all improve our Media Darling potential. “The first key element of the Media Darling would be: Attitude. Attitude really is everything,” she says. “It’s how you approach an interview; it’s how you approach a producer or whoever you might be working with and it’s also the attitude you take when surprises happen and things go wrong. Everyone wants to work with people who are easy to work with. And when you have a great attitude, handle difficulties with grace and with ease, it’s just going to go better. People will like you more, you’ll like them more.”

Some of what a Media Darling is not, she says, includes: acting like a prima donna, being late to interviews or caving under pressure. However, to master the ability to shine through an interview, presentation and the process, McCall says no one is born with these skills.

“If you are watching an interview and you see someone who makes it look really easy, you can bet they’ve been trained or they have a lot of experience – and often, it’s both. It’s similar to watching a fantastic dancer up on stage and thinking, ‘I could do that,’ because they make it look easy. And then you try, and it would not be so good. It takes some practice. All too often, I see people go out and say, ‘Oh yeah, I can do an interview,’ and they just wing it. And, it’s this disaster.”

In her book, she talks about knowing and practicing key messages and how to create “hooks and sound bites” that grab attention. “It’s a busy, noisy world out there. How are you going to break through all that noise? How are you going to stand out? How will you be unique? You must be able to answer that as well as the question on every media person’s mind: ‘Why you? Why now?’”

For challenging questions, nervousness and training out distracting quirks and habits, McCall recommends practicing mock interviews alone or with others.

She offers tips for podcasters and other program hosts as well. One, she says, “Get to the point of the interview right away, don’t waste the audience’s time.” Another is, “Don’t compete with your guests. Sometimes there’s competition as to who has the best answers. When you’re going to have guests on, you really want to shine the spotlight on them.”

The book, “Media Darling,” also addresses “the inner game of media.” McCall says the outer game involves coming up with ideas for interviews, pitching the media and the actual interview itself. The “inner game” she says is what you are doing before you even go out there. “It’s what you are telling yourself.”

As a coach, McCall uses her skills as a licensed Business Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and as a licensed Advanced Hypnotic Practitioner to address clients’ inner game.

“Are you saying things to yourself like, ‘I’m not good enough, I’m not smart enough, I’m not educated enough, I’m not young enough, I’m not old enough, I’m not experienced enough?’ People have all kinds of things going on inside. If you say you want to do something such as, ‘I want to get out there and do a podcast,’ and you’re not doing anything to actively do it, that tells you there’s something going on in the inner game. There’s something in the way. It could be you’re scared. If you go in and can figure that out, then moving into the outer game is so much easier.” QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

McCall can be reached through her website, JoanneMcCall.com. Her book, “Media Darling: How to Shine Through Every Interview,” is a step-by-step guide and is available on Amazon.

For more, watch McCall’s interview on Zonie Living, “Gain Visibility, Become a Media Darling, Hear Tips from Publicist Joanne McCall, at StarWorldWideNetworks.com/shows/bonnie-stevens.

Mental Toughness is a Dance of Rituals, Rhythm and Rest

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“The hallmark of a competitor is their intensity, relaxation and calmness,” said Frampton.

Tennis Pro Mark Frampton says when you’re a beginner, 90% of your focus is on the physical aspects of the game. But after your body has grasped the mechanics, most of your success shifts to the mind. “For top players, the game is 85% mental,” he said.

Frampton, director of racquets at the north Scottsdale Terravita community, breaks it down like this: In any game, any match, any set, the time spent actually playing the game is only about 25%. Thus, he created his Mental Toughness Workshop to train players for the other 75%.

Winners, he says, are determined by how well they handle adversity. In fact, they thrive on it. “The difference between the Top 10 tennis players and everybody else is that they are more mentally tough.”

And this, he says, can be applied to other areas as well. So, if mental toughness is a key determiner of a positive outcome and thriving on adversity is part of the formula, Frampton poses this question to his workshop participants: “How do we learn to love the battle?”

The answer is in our brains, including the superpowers of rituals, rhythm and rest.

Rituals

We all have them, and whether we know it or not, they are important for setting us up for the day, preparing us for a big moment and even settling us down for sleep. This became painfully clear recently when I headed for the kitchen to make coffee. My morning routine involves the perfect latte with just the right amount of steamed vanilla-flavored cream crowned with exquisitely fluffed foam. But in the Zen-like moment of my deeply ingrained ritual, the electricity turned off. I can still hear the click followed by silence after pressing the button on my Nespresso. In that moment, all the subtle humming of machines that make my world right stopped at 5:51 a.m. I was momentarily stunned. Without my morning ritual, I was stuck. I could not think of what to do next.

In tennis, the mentally tough have their rituals, too – they examine their racket in between points, bounce the ball before a serve, tug on their clothes or touch their face. Rafael Nadal is famous for his rituals. He tucks his hair behind his ear, pulls on his nose, adjusts his shorts and bounces the ball – perhaps 17 times – before he serves. He says it puts him in the right frame of mind. “When I do these things, it means I am focused,” Nadal is quoted as saying in an Essentially Sports article by Varun Khanna. “It’s a way of placing myself in a match.”

Rhythm

Watching a new-to-tennis player reminds me of watching my grandson, Jackson, learn to walk. It’s awkward, sloppy and kind of funny and sweet. We’re not born with great rhythm; we have to work at it by practicing. To make this point, Frampton showed a video of a player who was out of sync with his rhythm. There seemed to be a disconnect between his arms and the rest of his body. He was jerky and his energy wasn’t centrally harnessed – it was all over the place. He appeared distracted and frustrated.

Just as dancers practice by counting their steps out loud, Frampton trains tennis players to give auditory cues, which create rhythm for breathing and action. In preparation for a ground shot, for example, he asks players to say the word “bounce” as the advancing ball hits the court, then “yessss” as the racket makes contact. The body responds by setting up for the shot with “bounce” and executing with “yessss,” which also triggers the body to exhale. It’s a dance.

Rest

I think we can all agree, it’s difficult to create a relaxed climate of calm and control, which Frampton says is the goal for optimal performance, when our hands are tightly gripping something like a tennis racket or a coffee mug. He wants his players to “dissolve the tightness.” Here’s his measure: “If a strong handshake is a 5, the ideal tennis grip is a 3.”

If you think about it, that’s probably the way you perform at your best, too. Creating a relaxed climate doesn’t mean you are not intensely focused. But it does mean you are in for the long game – you’re not going to burn yourself out, get tennis elbow or make your head hurt.

In between plays, he wants players to switch the racket to their non-dominant hand. It gives those hard-working muscles a break, a moment of rest, a mini vacation. Similarly, when we are struggling to solve a problem and scrunching up our face to force an answer, that’s a good time to relax and give our mental and physical muscles a break.

Leadership and performance experts are big on breaks – take a walk, do some pushups, play with your dog, meditate or go to sleep already. How many times have the answers come to us while we aren’t thinking about them? Similarly, walking away from the game, or the computer, for a while can make us a better performer.

“The hallmark of a competitor is their intensity, relaxation and calmness,” said Frampton. Mental toughness is the game changer, which we can build through rituals, rhythm and rest, and also with some packets of Starbucks Via Instant French Roast and a propane grill for boiling water in a power outage. QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens

Bonnie Stevens is a public relations consultant. She can be reached at bonnie.stevens@gmail.com.

Healing and Changing Your Mind for a More Joyful, Successful Life

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Hypnotherapist helps clients free themselves from fears, past hurts, negative thoughts.

Nancy is a healthy middle-aged woman with a loving family, satisfying career and as she describes it, “a great life,” at least while she’s awake. But when she closes her eyes, it’s been a different story. Nancy has been chased by nightmares every night for as long as she can remember. Besides her rest being regularly hijacked by terror, her screams would awaken her family. Exhausted and looking for help, she sought hypnotherapy with clinical hypnotherapist Rosemary Powell.

I met with Rosemary. After just one session, I no longer have nightmares,” she said. “And, according to my family, my screaming in my sleep has ceased. I feel like a 100% better person.”

Not surprisingly, Powell, has become the calming night light for many sleep-deprived, nightmare-weary clients of all ages, from elementary school children to seniors. She also has helped clients lose weight, build confidence, reduce anxiousness, improve athletic performance, and reach personal and professional goals.

“An AQHA [American Quarter Horse Association] World Champion wanted to increase her focus and calm during practice and competitive events,” said Powell. “We taught her how to focus by holding onto her reins as an anchor for her focus and motivation. She anchored concentration and calm to her reins, and after yet another win, she said, ‘Hypnosis helps me focus.’”

As Powell explains, hypnosis is not about mind control but rather achieving a state of deep relaxation where we can deal with the root cause of anxiety, fear or negativity and even capture and remove those dream-stealing monsters straight out of our subconscious minds forever.

“The conscious mind is this little tiny bit of our brains and it processes only like 4,000 bits of information a second; whereas, our subconscious mind processes billions of bits of energy a second. It is 95% of our functioning mind. All of our memories, emotions, beliefs and imagination are stored in our subconscious mind.”

Powell says much of our programming takes place when we are very young, up until about age 11. Information is gathered and stored in the subconscious mind and has a powerful effect on everything we do. “We were either loved and accepted, or some difficult, challenging things happened to us. We have absorbed memories, events, things we’ve learned, and belief systems from parents, pastors, teachers, coaches, or other authority figures. All the experiences that we’ve had are in our subconscious minds and affect, influence and trigger us today.”

As a facilitator in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Rosemary uses NLP to assist clients to access and override destructive beliefs, thoughts and memories stored in the subconscious mind. “When the busy mind is relaxed, we can go back to the very first time we felt that difficult emotion. Then we can change the memory.”

One of the first steps in her guided hypnotherapy is getting the mind to relax. This sounds simple; however, early Buddhists understood the difficulty of this task. They came up with the idea of the monkey mind because it jumps around from thought to thought, like a monkey moving from tree to tree.

Powell says much of the time, our monkey minds are busy primarily with regrets, fear and dread. “We can calm our conscious mind by using relaxation breathing, and replace the fear and worry thoughts with positive affirmations. Pay attention to what you are saying because our subconscious mind is always listening.”

She teaches the power of self-affirmations. For example, she helped one client rephrase what she had been repeating to herself. Instead of “My life is just chaotic,” her self-affirmation became, “My life is busy and challenging and I’m up to it!”

Today, she is living her life’s purpose as a Board Certified Hypnotherapist, Certified Medical Support Hypnotherapist and facilitator in Neuro-Linguistic Programming with advanced training in trauma recovery, pediatrics, geriatrics, pain control, past life regression therapy, weight loss and smoking cessation. As a certified medical support hypnotherapist, she treats hypertension, irritable bowel syndrome, overactive bladder, anxiousness and depression, and many other conditions. In addition, Powell brings more than 40 years of experience as a Registered Nurse to her practice. She also was a hospice nurse for 30 years. This fall, she moved her Phoenix-area office, Joyful Life Hypnotherapy, to Tehachapi, California, where she provides sessions for many of her clients over Zoom, as well as in person.

One of the tools she uses is regression into past lives. She says these sessions help people understand where some of their false and limiting beliefs, destructive thoughts and old habits or patterns come from. In the case of Gloria from Fountain Hills, she guided her into the future.

Gloria is a terminally ill cancer patient who came to Powell because she is afraid of dying and also is in a lot of pain. “With the power of our subconscious mind, we can reduce and, at times, eliminate pain,” said Powell. “When guided into trance, Gloria learned and could see that as she died and crossed over, her death was going to be a pleasant, joyous experience. She was no longer afraid of dying.”

“She treated me with hypnosis and I feel wonderful,” said Gloria. “I want to be her best friend. That’s how wonderful she is.”

Powell says she loves doing hypnotherapy because of how profoundly it helps people and how rapidly it helps clear negative thoughts and experiences. “I am living my life purpose, which is to bring joy and to help other people improve their lives.” QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

To find out more, visit JoyfulLifeHypnotherapy.com or call Rosemary Powell at 661-238-9154.

For a guided meditation and to hear more from Powell, watch Zonie Living at StarWorldWideNetworks.com/shows/bonnie-stevens.

Courtesy Photo: Hypnotherapist Rosemary Powell helps people live their best lives by getting self-defeating thoughts out of the way. 

Earth Angels Protecting, Healing, Saving Abused and Neglected Children

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Operation Baby Lift heroes and Hollywood starlets continue to be champions for children.

Beneath the beautifully stylish exterior of interior designer and entrepreneur Jill Babb, founder of Changes, is a fierce warrior for children. For nearly two decades, she, her husband, Bill, founder of Babb Financial Group, and a small army of volunteers have hosted some of the Northland’s most lavish galas, called on celebrities and signed up business leaders to amplify the voices of children suffering around the world and in our neighborhoods. This month, Jill, a national board member for Childhelp, along with its founders, actresses Sara O’Meara and Yvonne Fedderson, are preparing for the non-profit’s largest fundraising event in Arizona.

The Babbs were made aware of the horrific realities many children face when they met their Flagstaff neighbors O’Meara and Fedderson. “When I first found out about Childhelp, it just broke my heart,” said Jill. “When you talk to the ladies one on one, you hear stories that go way beyond what you can read about in details and everything. And, I thought, ‘I have to do something because I had such a wonderful childhood. I have to give back.’”

O’Meara and Fedderson’s Story

O’Meara and Fedderson met on the television set of “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” where they were working in the 1950s. “Yvonne and I kept running into each other and then ended up rooming together in an apartment and also we were Sunday school teachers at the same church,” said O’Meara. “And then we were chosen to go on this trip that changed our lives forever.”

The two were chosen out of hundreds of applicants to entertain U.S. troops through the USO (United Service Organizations) and were sent overseas to Southeast Asia. “The soldiers were wonderful. They were so respectful and so nice,” said O’Meara. “The general who met with us after we were chosen said, ‘Now girls, I want you to know the reason we’ve chosen you is not because you’re such great actresses or because you’re so beautiful, but it’s because you’re the girl-next-door type. We want them [the soldiers] to know what American girls are really like, waiting for them to get back home.”

Eleven Orphans

Finding themselves holed up for days in their Tokyo hotel room during a typhoon in 1959, the women decided to venture into town. “We were not supposed to go out, but Yvonne and I were so bored, so we decided to sneak out through the basement steps.”

The young women came across 11 children, ages 2 to 10, huddled together. “They were hugging under a fallen awning and their knuckles were cracked and bleeding from the cold. They didn’t have shoes and they tried to get under our big coats because we had great big camel hair coats. We tried to ask them where they belonged,” said O’Meara.

“Where’s your mamasan, where’s your papasan? That’s about as much as we could say,” said Fedderson. “And, they kept saying, ‘No mamsans, no papasans.’ And we thought, ‘Why are they here? Something must have happened to their parents.’”

“So we snuck up back to our hotel room through those basement steps and gave them a hot bath and fed them,” continued O’Meara. “A colonel was assigned to us to travel to Korea, Okanagan and Japan and we told him we had these children in our room. And he had a fit.”

The colonel gave the women a list of orphanages, but the facilities were already overcrowded because the typhoon had left many children without parents. “They had to make room for those children and they turned out half-American/half-Japanese children, which these ended up being,” said O’Meara. “We didn’t know they were known as ‘throwaways’ that nobody wanted. These were children without a country. They did not have a birth certificate.”

The women snuck them back to their hotel and started their pursuit for a home for them again the next day. “Because we learned they were half-American/half-Japanese, it gave us the fortitude to reapproach the colonel and say, ‘We still have these children. These are our children. We’re not going to turn them out. You have to help us in some way.”

The colonel sent them to the director of Tokyo Gospel Missions, who was also half- American/half-Japanese. “He said, ‘Nobody has ever stopped to take care of these children, but I’m going to give you the name of a woman that will take them in, that has a hut.’”

O’Meara and Fedderson learned “Mama Kin,” was already caring for 10 children. “We talked her into taking our 11, promising her we would take care of all 21 children if she would take them because we had a show to do that night and we had to leave them some place,” said O’Meara.

“We didn’t know what we were going to do with them,” said Fedderson.

“Mama Kin turned out to be the most fabulous, wonderful Christian woman,” said O’Meara. “We stopped the show that night and we said, ‘Some of these children might be yours and you have to help us. And we’re going to pass the hat. And we need you to come with lumber and build on the front door and window panes and expand this little two-room hut. And they showed up en masse the next day with stolen army blankets and lumber and doors and windows.”

“They were fabulous,” added Fedderson.

Word spread and more orphans showed up at Mama Kin’s door. “We had over 100 children entrusted in our care before we ever came back home and that’s when we began International Orphans Incorporated,” said O’Meara.

“We got our friends together to help to fundraise so that we could raise the money to build more buildings for the children,” said Fedderson. When the women returned to Tokyo, they built four new orphanages.

During the ‘60s, O’Meara and Fedderson were honored by Congress for what they had done in Japan. At the same time, they were asked to go to Vietnam and work with the Third Marine Amphibious Force to build orphanages, like they had done in Japan for the half-American children. “So we did go into Vietnam. We built five orphanages, a hospital and a school,” said O’Meara.

Operation Baby Lift
But in 1975, they received what they felt was a death notice for the children. General Lewis William Walt, who worked with them and had been a frequent guest at their fundraising events in the U.S., took the women aside at one of their galas and said, ‘Ladies, don’t send any more money over. The President’s going to say any day for me to pull out our troops and the money will land in the Vietcong’s hands. And the children probably will be killed,’” said O’Meara. “We called the next day and said, ‘You have asked us to go in and save these children and now they’re all going to be slaughtered. You have to help us get airplanes in there to get these children out.’ And that was the beginning of Operation Baby Lift.”

Seats were removed from the planes to make room for boxes to carry some of the children who were just infants. The women brought thousands and thousands of children to the United States, despite the tragic crash of the very first Operation Baby Lift plane that took off from Vietnam. “Speaking so well of the Americans who opened their hearts, every single child was adopted by the time they reached our soil,” said O’Meara.

“Hundreds of volunteers were helping us take the babies from the planes,” said Fedderson. “It was so emotional. It was really, I think, the most emotional thing that we ever went through. But it was very exciting to have these children here and safe and then to be adopted.”

Operation Baby Lift ignited a movement of compassion across the U.S. The ladies were asked to speak at events. At one such event in Los Angeles, they shared the stage with the new California governor, Ronald Reagan, and his wife, Nancy. Nancy stopped the women as they were going to their seats and said, “‘You’re just the two to do it,’” recalled O’Meara. “And we said, ‘Do what?’ and she said, ‘Child abuse in this country. The laws are protecting the perpetrator, not the child. You must do something about it and you two are the ones who can because you have dealt with an unpopular war and have succeeded. You have dealt with unpopular issues and succeeded. And this is a very unpopular issue and we would like for you to begin the main thrust of letting people know what’s happening to the children right here in our country.’ And we thought she was crazy because nobody had any idea about child abuse.”

CREATING CHILDHELP
The women said they would have to do a feasibility study before taking on such a campaign, which would require funding. “Nancy looked at Ronny and she said, ‘I think they can get that money, don’t you, Ronny?’ And she winked. And the next day she had a check delivered from them for us to start a feasibility study. We had a lot of research to do before we went to Washington, D.C. to help change the laws, which, we were successful.”

That effort became Childhelp and the Reagans continued to support the non-profit organization from that point on.

O’Meara and Fedderson created a television special, “A Time for Love,” which raised awareness and more funds and demonstrated ways to rehabilitate abused children. They built the first residential treatment facility for abused children in California 45 years ago.

Today, Childhelp has A Children’s Village U.S.A. in California and Virginia, and A Childhelp Children’s Center in Tennessee. O’Meara and Fedderson say the need continues as child abuse increased during the pandemic. Calls to the Childhelp hotline rose by 43%. That hotline number is 1-800-4-A-CHILD or 1-800-422-4453.

Next month, Childhelp will host a gala on Saturday, Feb. 18, to raise money to help children around the world. Information can be found at Childhelp.org.

“You cannot dispute that we all need to raise funds to help children,” said Jill Babb. “They are the future of our world and when they are damaged and hurt, they just carry that with them until we can help them.” QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

To see and hear Bonnie Stevens’ full interview with Sara O’Meara, Yvonne Fedderson and Jill Babb, go to Zonie Living at StarWorldwideNetworks.com

Courtesy Photo: Jill Babb, Sara O’Meara, Yvonne Fedderson and Bill Babb share success stories at Childhelp galas like this one in Phoenix.

Tapping into Intuition, Recognizing Miracles

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Highly intuitive people like Hathcock say miracles happen all around us.

Have you ever thanked your “lucky stars” for something going your way, or thought, “What a coincidence!” when an expert showed up with the information or equipment you needed at that moment? Perhaps you simply have remarked, “That was a miracle!”

I like to think of these instances as actual miracles, wonderful things that happen to us that we really wanted to have happen, or situations and events that turned out better than we could have imagined.

Author, children’s furniture maker and psychic detective Kiersten Hathcock says her intuition has become a roadmap for her life and, I would add, it can lead us to good things, like miracles. Aside from hard work and perseverance, I commonly hear businesspeople attributing their success to a feeling or a hunch that they acted upon.

Hathcock’s extraordinary last decade or so has been all about following her intuition. In 2011, she was living in Los Angeles with her husband, Scott, and their two children. She wanted to find a toy box that would match their mid-century modern furniture and something fun their kids would use. She couldn’t find what she was looking for, but something inside told her she could build it herself.

At the time, Hathcock was not a carpenter. Nevertheless, she bought a circular saw anyway, watched demonstrations online and turned her garage into a woodshop. She became so good at making children’s furniture, celebrities like Matthew McConaughey and Christina Applegate ordered custom toy boxes for their kids. By following her intuition, or calling, Hathcock was unknowingly deepening her intuitive abilities. As she says, “Learning to use your intuition is like training a muscle.”

Miraculously, as she was covered in sawdust and coaxing pieces of wood into furniture for little ones, the spirits of children began visiting her. Upon investigation, she learned these were deceased children who had been murdered and often sexually abused. She would see them, hear their voices and feel their touch. Sometimes they would communicate to her through a sensation – a tug on her ponytail might mean to keep looking for a clue; pressure on her throat could indicate strangulation.

In this way, Hathcock began volunteering to help detectives solve cold cases and bring closure to families. In many cases, Hathcock’s connections would provide comfort to grieving parents with messages of assurance and love. What a miracle.

Today, while designing little tables, chairs and toy boxes for her Mod Mom Furniture company, volunteering as an intuitive medium and working with law enforcement officers to help unravel long unsolved mysteries, Hathcock also teaches young people and adults tips to help them tune into their own intuition.

Here are three:

  1. Pay attention to where your mind goes while your body is doing something that is familiar to you, like driving a car, taking a shower or sanding wood. “Think back to some of your best ideas and what you were doing when they showed up,” she said. “I’ve found that when you’re doing something with your physical body, like taking a walk in the ponderosa pine forest, it helps you get into a state of mind that is conducive to receiving intuitive guidance. Simply knowing this will help you recognize what your intuition is telling you while you’re just moving about your life.”
  2. Ask for guidance through dreams. “Your sleep state is a closer vibration to your ‘guides’ spirits or your subconscious higher self,” she said. And I’m so glad she points this out because I know that when I am wrestling with a decision or trying to solve a difficult or complicated problem, I will commonly have a very vivid and symbolic dream. When I wake up, I’ll be amused of course, but also completely astonished by the new clarity and sometimes will say out loud to the universe, “Got it. Thank you.”
  3. Become aware of your body’s intuitive signals. “When I was awakening to my intuitive skills, I felt more sensations and emotions than I initially saw or heard,” said Hathcock. “Chills were, and still are, a very strong intuitive signal for me. Mainly, they alert me to the truth.”

Highly intuitive people like Hathcock say miracles happen all around us. It’s up to us to recognize our intuitive voice and listen to the messages our brains and bodies are telling us that can lead us to them. QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

To hear Hathcock’s fascinating transformational journey and how her intuitive skills freed her from a dangerous situation and also saved the life of a New York City private detective, watch my interview with Kiersten Hathcock on “Zonie Living: Business, Adventure and Leadership” at StarWorldWideNetworks.com Her memoir, “Little Voices – How Kids in Spirit Helped a Reluctant Medium Escape and Heal from Abuse,” is available through Amazon and at stores like Target and Walmart. For more information, visit modmomfurniture.com.

Bonnie Stevens is a public relations consultant. She can be reached at bonnie.stevens@gmail.com.

Honoring our Values, Living a Life of Thanksgiving

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As Oprah says, “You are fulfilling your mission and purpose on Earth when you honor the real you. Your whole life becomes a prayer of thanksgiving.”

After spending a day in the open spaces of Babbitt Ranches with mission-driven engineers, technicians, geologists, journalists and visionaries from organizations such as NASA, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), the U.S. Geological Survey and Babbitt Ranches, I found myself energized, joyful, inspired and grateful to be in this bubble of positive intelligence focused on propelling the human race forward in cooperation and doing so with a land use ethic.

In this pop-up aerospace village of sorts that was testing equipment and communication systems in the challenging, rocky and lunar-like remote terrain, Babbitt Ranches President Billy Cordasco asked representatives in this international effort to sign a “goat bar,” a tool the ranch designed and uses to pull up the lower strand of wire fences to help pronghorn antelope crawl under and maneuver across the landscape. The exercise was a symbolic, global commitment to care for the land and its inhabitants wherever we are and to consider how we leave the environment for generations to come.

Imagine feeling so good about what you are doing, who you are working with and how you are contributing to an effort bigger than yourself that you are giddy with enthusiasm, open to the possibilities and just plain happy. I believe this is what happens when we love who we are and live our lives on purpose. And that comes from knowing who we are and visualizing what living our best life looks like.

We can all benefit by giving ourselves some quiet time to contemplate what we care about, what talents we have to give the world and how we can participate with others to achieve goals that fulfill us individually, as a group, or even as a species. What do you value? What do you obsessively care about? What are you doing when you lose time and forget about all other matters, including eating and sleeping?

In organizations, foundational principles explain why a company does what it does. An organization with impeccable clarity about what it stands for will have employees who can make decisions with great pride and confidence, knowing and understanding how their actions align with the identified core values. In much the same way, adopting your own personal values will save you from wallowing in indecision or going down a path that’s not right for you and hanging around people who don’t inspire you to be your best. Your values ground you in who you are.

Getting focused about what you, personally, and your work, professionally, stand for makes all kinds of decisions simpler, faster and cleaner, whether they are about selling a product, joining a company, forming a partnership or choosing a new friend.

Google says a mission statement is a “formal summary of the aims and values of a company, organization or individual.” My favorite mission statements are concise and leave no room for interpretation, like TED Talks: “Spread ideas.”

Core values are the fundamental beliefs of a person or organization. They are guiding principles that should be unwavering and serve as a measure against which any idea or action can be measured. They look like: integrity, commitment and perseverance. NASA lists teamwork and excellence.

When we break it all down, living out a personal or professional mission and honoring our values is really about our truth – what we stand for and why we do what we do. This sets us up for a gratifying life.

When we know who we are and are doing what fits for us, uses our individual gifts and contributes to something greater than ourselves, we will know we are living our purpose by how we feel about ourselves and our lives.

As Oprah says, “You are fulfilling your mission and purpose on Earth when you honor the real you. Your whole life becomes a prayer of thanksgiving.” QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Bonnie Stevens is a public relations consultant. She can be reached at bonnie.stevens@gmail.com.

Miracles are Misunderstood

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Thomas says, “There’s a ripple effect when you exercise your gifts,” he writes.

Long ago I remember hearing that dreams are simply wishes if there’s no action behind them. But miracles are something else. “Miracles are the products of intention,” says motivational speaker Eric Thomas. They are within reach and they happen all the time. But we can’t just wish and hope and dream. We have to get serious with our intention and put real human effort behind them.

In his book, “You Owe You,” he says we can attract our own miracles and he talks about putting ourselves in miracle territory.

For example, If you want to work for a specific company, you start doing research, you get to know the organization and the background of the people there. What do they do and how did they land their jobs? You study the job openings and job requirements. You improve your miracle chances by acquiring the skills you need or earning the degree that qualifies you. Your miracle may require you to relocate to a different city, or join new organizations or make friends already in the industry. You want to put yourself on a collision course with your miracle.

And yes, sometimes miracles happen without doing the work. “People win lotteries all the time,” you might say. “Princes fall in love with commoners,” and “Relatives that no one’s ever heard of leave you money.” Sure, this can happen. Thank you, Aunt Nancy! But as the Arizona Lottery reminds us, “You can’t win if you don’t play.” So, becoming qualified to be a player in the game of life requires work and it also puts us in miracle territory.

Thomas says, “There’s a ripple effect when you exercise your gifts,” he writes. “The ripples get bigger and bigger until they become waves. These waves and even the ripples are miracles.”

If you want to get in the way of miracles, here are some of his suggestions:

 

  1. Put yourself in places where a miracle could happen, like where the people hang out that you want to work with.

 

  1. Identify the opportunities you would like to receive and make a list of what it would take to get there.

 

  1. Start building your path toward your next miracle. Visualize each step and even what it looks like and feels like, until you are in miracle range to seize the opportunity. QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Bonnie Stevens is a public relations consultant. She can be reached at bonnie.stevens@gmail.com.

Are You an Entrepreneur?

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If you are wondering if you are an entrepreneur, here is my list of Top Ten Entrepreneurial Characteristics.

After interviewing and studying a great number of business owners, I’ve learned that some people are born business leaders – they seem to have an innate drive and focus – like my brother, Charlie, who started a shoeshine business when he was 10.

Some, probably most, evolve into the role or arrive at a place in life where the timing is right to flex their entrepreneurial muscles. If you are wondering if you are an entrepreneur, here is my list of Top Ten Entrepreneurial Characteristics. Entrepreneurs are:

Comfortable with Risk, Comfortable with Discomfort Entrepreneurs have to be able to be OK with not knowing what the future may bring and especially OK with knowing the beginning of the journey likely will be uncomfortable, often demanding long days and not much financial reward. They understand money may have to go out and may not come in for a while. They are playing the long game.

Confident Entrepreneurs are not necessarily cocky, but they are confident in their knowledge, experience, ability and problem-solving skills. They are the ones who can stay calm in a storm; in fact, they likely look at every challenge like a puzzle yet to be solved.

Optimistic Even though they are aware of risks and challenges, entrepreneurs believe everything will work out the way it should, even if there are surprises along the way. They believe challenges can be flipped to become benefits, so that even the darkest and most apocalyptic cloud will have a silver lining.

Hang Out with Inspirational Thinkers Entrepreneurs love to be filled up by those who are excited about the possibilities and engaged in life. They cheer on others who are striving to be better, accomplishing more, changing lives and leading by example. They notice and are grateful for those who encourage them and make it a point to encourage others.

Resourceful Entrepreneurs are constantly thinking, but don’t get discouraged, about what will happen if: if the materials don’t arrive, if key individuals don’t get on board, if the weather doesn’t cooperate, if the loan doesn’t go through. They are nimble in this regard and can formulate a plan B, C or D in a hurry. In fact, they probably already have.

Prepared to Invest in Themselves Entrepreneurs do what it takes. They may take out a loan, find an investor, sell something, sleep less, earn a degree, hire a coach, move to another city, change their diet, quit bad habits or make space in their lives for something new. Whatever it is, they are committed to shaping themselves into the best version of themselves for their desired outcome.

Thorough I’m not talking about getting lost in every detail. That would be too overwhelming and cause entrepreneurs to lose interest. But they do think things through. In his “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” leadership expert Stephen Covey’s second habit is, “Begin with the end in mind.” Entrepreneurs need to be able to visualize the bigger picture and the goal. This helps them create the path to get where they want to go and recognize success when they arrive.

Decisive Entrepreneurs make decisions swiftly. They quickly process the opportunities and risks and take action. They don’t live in that wasteland of regret and self-doubt. They move forward. And if more information arrives that suggests there is a better direction, they make another decision.

Passionate About What They Do If at a dinner party, you find someone who can talk enthusiastically and endlessly about the wonders of PVC pipe or the advantages of semiconductor material or how to make the perfect meringue, odds are pretty good you are talking to an entrepreneur.

Motivational If you are now inspired to repair your own plumbing, buy the latest smartphone or start cracking some eggs, you know how motivational entrepreneurs can be.

 

By the way, Charlie’s shoeshine business (see #1) led to a job at a country club, which led to interaction with successful business leaders who inspired him (see #4) by living a life of golf, nice shoes and expensive meals. He became a chef (see #6) so he could create those good meals and run his own catering business (see #7). Thus, he cracked a great many eggs (see #10) on his journey to becoming a successful entrepreneur. QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Bonnie Stevens is a public relations consultant. She can be reached at bonnie.stevens@gmail.com.