Episode 209: Fulfillment Through Purpose - Ignite Your Passion and Live a Meaningful Life, with Deb Sawaf

Deborah Sawaf, a Bombay-born, Italian & LA trained (FIDM) designer with a global, pro-woman stance, is empowering change through Fashion. With decades-long fashion experience to birth a new, purpose-first fashion brand and art collection, the renowned designer has created a movement The Power of Words — a brand that is anchored in its mission to break down the barriers around the stigma of mental health. The Power of Words was nominated by the Camara Nazionale della Moda Italiana and the UN for the first Social Sustainable brand in the world. Having worked with fashion legends the likes of John Galliano, Valentino, and Roberto Cavalli, and as the highly successful Founder & Creative Director of her own label, Thale Blanc, Sawaf has long sealed her legacy as a globally celebrated fashion visionary. In spite of her tremendous professional success, the work she is most proud of, is that motivated purely by altruism, She was presented the "True Altruist" award by The Angelino Magazine. Founder of 'The Happy Project' by Thale Blanc. Never one to take her privileged life for granted, Sawaf is a supporter and mentor for women around the globe, involved in women’s economic and business conferences from Washington DC to Qatar to her current home base of LA. A devoted mother of 3 and partner in life and business with her husband, Sawaf is ready to step on the gas and go, breeding change to everyone she can touch and help with her impeccable taste, talent and fast forward energy.

Remarkable Quote:

“You can't judge a book by its cover. Give people grace and recognize their unique gifts.”

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Transcript:

00:00:00
Welcome back to your next stop. This is Juliet Hahn. In this episode, I speak with Deb Sawaf. She is the founder of the Power of Words brand, which is a movement, and she's also the founder of Impact. I love this, you guys.

00:00:14
Deb has been on my YNS live with NFL thread segment and what she's doing in the mental health space, the power of words is a purpose. First, fashion and movement impact is she's going into schools and teaching about mental health and so many different things. And they just started a podcast. They just started recording it. That's going to be coming out.

00:00:36
But you have to follow what Deb is saying. There's so many words of wisdom that she gives throughout this episode, and it is really what we need to hear. We need to hear this all the time. But right now, with the way the world is, it's even a more beautiful thing. Again, power of Words brand has been in Milan.

00:00:54
They've been at the fashion show. They do things with the NBA, so many different things that their movement has shown up. And as Deb talks about the path that it takes, so you can find them all over the web, but you could go to power of Words brand on Instagram. And that's really when the next things are coming out. So that's where you want to follow.

00:01:14
Again, Deb Sawaf doing amazing things in the space for mental health. But not only that, this is a movement. This is the stories behind stories. Connect us. We talked about this all the times.

00:01:23
Words are powerful, powerful, powerful. I hope you enjoy this episode of your next stop.

00:01:32
So welcome back to your next stop. This is Juliet Hahn. You know, I say this every single time. I'm so excited to bring you someone that has followed a passion and turned it into a business, a brand of movement. So welcome, Deb Sawaf, to your next stop.

00:01:46
Thank you, Juliet. Always a pleasure to be with you and watch the amazing work you're doing and the great stories you tell. So I'm so glad to be on here and share with you what we're doing to impact and make change. Yes. And you know what this is, again, this is kind of funny, because my last couple of guests have we connected years ago.

00:02:07
We followed each other's stories. We followed how we have really grown in our businesses, in our movements, and whatever we're doing. We originally connected two years ago, I believe, at the Super Bowl. Your brand, which is now a movement, mental health. And we're going to get all into.

00:02:24
It's the power of Words brand. It's purpose first, fashion and art movement that's really centered around mental health. And what you guys are doing is amazing. People can find power brands really all over the interwebs, anywhere but on Instagram. It's power of words brand.

00:02:42
And then also, you're on LinkedIn, and what you guys are doing is beautiful. But we connected because you had some of your fashion at the fashion show, which YNS Live with NFL Thread was covering. We connected there. I remember you walked in and I said to Cynthia, ooh, I love her coat. And then we ended up talking, and I think I even said to you, I love your, quote, your coat.

00:03:04
And then we really kind of just connected and brainstormed and did some really fun things with the podcast as you were really growing. So you've been on YNS Live with NFL Thread. If you guys want to go back and listen to Deb's full story, you can go there. But I really would love for you to kind of what the movement that you're doing, the mental health, all of the stuff that you're doing with the brand, give us a little background of where it started. Well, the coat.

00:03:32
The coat is where it started. We were at the NFL draft. I was with Shelly Zalas. My dearest friend Jill and I were just accompanying her on this trip. It was post COVID, and things were just starting to open up.

00:03:42
And someone reached out to me and said, oh, my God, I love your coat. And that's how we started a conversation with an organization. It was Ariane May, actually, who approached me, and she said, I love your fashion. I love the brand. I would love for you to be at the fashion event at the NBA All Star Weekend, which was actually happening in Cleveland.

00:04:02
And we were in Cleveland at the time. And I thought about it, and I was like, yes. Then she said, well, if you could give back to mental health, that would be great. Which is where we started. And I just decided mental health needed a little bit more than a one time give back.

00:04:19
20%, 40%, whatever you do wasn't going to be enough to actually even put a dent in what we need and the help we need for mental well being and how do we do it? Are therapist available to everybody? So I said, let's use fashion as a vehicle. Fashion is the most powerful vehicle. Everybody from CEOs and I think 90 year old men and women, right down to a kindergarten child saying what she wants to wear to school.

00:04:44
Everybody understands fashion. So I decided to create a movement. And it started with fashion, of course, because we use role models to express their words and express their thoughts and express their vulnerabilities. And we put those on apparel. So sometimes it's very specific and sometimes it's general.

00:05:02
So that's how the power of words brand came to be. Right. And just for a little background so the listeners can understand. Mental health touched you. You had personal experiences with family members and so it was a very personal experience for you.

00:05:16
And so not only when someone approached you, you were like, you know what? This means something to me as well. And so that is where it was. Like you did as we talked about on the side, kind of off record. So I'm not going to go into the details there, but it was something that you said.

00:05:31
You almost felt like it was a duty. And then, as you said, with your background in designing and clothes, you were like, let's see how we can do this. And what's really amazing is you jumped in not just 2ft, you jumped in with your entire body. And I really feel like now that I've known you, that's how you do everything. But those are the things that get things done.

00:05:53
Those are the kind of people that get things done with the mindset that you have, with the drive that you have, with the grit that you have. It's like I am taking my whole being. I believe in this so much that I'm just going. So I love how it really unfolded because it was someone just asking you a simple question because of something that you were wearing, as you said. And it was like, okay, let's see where this can go.

00:06:18
So take us down. Really? You brought this up? Yes. Well, just what you said.

00:06:25
So it came to me. I said yes right away to do the fashion event. I was really excited. And then I came back and said to my husband, I really think there is a reason for all of this. And I firmly believe, and I say it so much, that no two people are in the same space at a certain point in time for nothing.

00:06:43
There is a purpose behind it. And that question led me to finding my purpose. And I found my purpose and I was really lucky. And I think every human being can go through life and then eventually realize, what has your path been all these years? Why did you go down that path?

00:07:01
Why was I born in India, lived in the Middle east, moved to the United States, work out of Italy, but had my own struggles. And it all came to be. So my passion found my purpose. Yes, my purpose found me, I want to say. And we took it from there and I dove into it, because if you've lived certain experiences.

00:07:27
I figured that was the best way for me to share this and really try to help and heal people through what I've been through. How did I come out of it? I've never really had a therapist in my life, and my therapy is really the environment, people around me, my girlfriend, my best friend, who is my, I call her my morning coffee, and that is my therapy to me. And we all have that, and it's encouraging people to look for that. But we also went a step further, and we created the power of seven.

00:07:57
I love that. Oh, my gosh. And what you said there, and I know you didn't mean to say your passion found your purpose. Your purpose found your passion. But when you said that, I was like, I wanted to scream, because it really is, if you think of those words again, the power of words, the connection of stories.

00:08:15
Stories connect us. Words connect us. And if you think about those two words, how you said it, your passion found your purpose. Your purpose found your passion. They're interchangeable for a lot of people if you really come down to it.

00:08:29
And that's, I think, when those two things collide is when amazing things happen, and that's exactly what you're doing. So I would love if you can take us through again. I know we're going to get into what you're doing, but just a slight, like the steps, as you said, you did the Super bowl, then you were doing other, you had ambassadors, brand ambassadors that were really wearing the clothes. I mean, and these are gorgeous clothes. But not only that, they have the power of words on them, which is just.

00:08:56
It's really fun. Mean, I, Cynthia and I were like, what is that? Wait, we want that. And then we realized, again, this was all about your movement. So take us through a little bit of the timeline and then bring us to where you are now, because that's what we wanted to share because I know we've gone through some of your story, but again, just for the listeners that are just joining in, it will kind of put some context to it.

00:09:21
One thing leads to another, I believe. I decided I was going to do this. I wasn't thinking about how, because that would have happened anyway. I've been in fashion for so long, and I can create and be expressive, but it was really bringing in role models that wanted to talk about their vulnerabilities, which is, this is about storytelling, but through fashion. And that's what it ended up being.

00:09:46
And anything you do, you have your ups and downs, and that is what makes it even more beautiful. That's what makes you stronger. That's what makes you resilient. And in May, we did this in February of 22. It's about 18 months now, 20 months.

00:10:00
And in May, I got a call to say the Italian Fashion chamber wanted to nominate us. And I thought, oh, no, I don't want another nomination. You keep getting nominated and you go through the process, and it's these emotions, high and low, and then you want to be among the first three, among the first ten, and then you get forgotten about. So I stopped taking nominations, and I turned it down. And my girlfriend said to me, Deb, you have to take this call.

00:10:26
Just take the call. And I did. And it ended up being one of the directors on the camera de la Moda, who said, we really believe in what you're doing. And we were nominated for the first social sustainable brand in the world by the Camera de la Moda and the United nations for the event for the Fashion Week in September 22. That really made me believe someone believed in me.

00:10:48
All you want to do is get that little push. And then one thing led to another, and people approached me. We did the Indian International Film Festival. It's called IFA in Abu Dhabi, where we had the DJ Khalid of India perform. And 40 of his dancers were wearing the power of words.

00:11:07
That was such a powerful moment for me, but I wasn't really ready for that. In hindsight, it was amazing. But we could have done so much more there. So every step you take, you learn more about it. And after that, we did canned Lyons with Gary Vee.

00:11:24
Amazing. And there again, it was really the power of Gary Vee's words. What does he talk about? Gary Vee is all about, you know, I was so happy that actually Andrea Sullivan came to us and know we've seen you. We saw you at the female quotient because that's been my vehicle as well.

00:11:47
There's someone that has to carry you and lift you. And I've grown on the shoulders of my friends and people that believe in me, and that's why I'm here today. There's so many things we've done. Then I went again with the female quotient to the G 20. And that was very inspiring to be able to present impact, which is the program I had just launched.

00:12:09
We had just finished. I wrote up the entire program. It's really simple and impactful, and I was able to present that at the G 20, and that took us. That was another step in the right direction. Yeah.

00:12:23
So I would love for you to someone right now that's listening to this and say, okay, I believe in mental health. I struggle with it, and I want to make a difference. Is there a way that they can get involved and help kind of share the words of the power of words? Like, what would they do to help with your movement, help talking about it? Well, first, follow us on Instagram.

00:12:49
It's really important. The messages we put out are empowering, that we have the fashion element, and then we have impact. Impact is the power of Seven. And let me tell you a little bit about that. I believe seven is a magical number.

00:13:04
Everyone relates to it. It features in every religion, in every culture. Seven days of the week, seven colors of the rainbow. Buddha took seven steps. The Indians walk around the wedding fire making seven vows.

00:13:16
So it appears in every religion. And I decided I was going to take that concept and tie it to the emotions your body holds, which are the seven chakras, which is spirituality. It's not religious because you're choked for words. You feel compassion in your heart. You have butterflies in your stomach, you have a knot in the pit of your stomach.

00:13:36
All of these come from something. So I created seven bands with seven colors that tie to the chakras and the seven words that tie to that. And what I like to say is, especially for kids, adults do it as well, but especially teaching kids to focus. Pick your intention for the day, whether it's, do you want to be a warrior today? Are you going to be resilient today?

00:14:01
Today I'm talking about empathy and compassion, and, oh, I'm feeling it, or I want to put it out, however it might relate to you. Pick one of those seven words, or all of them or two of them, and focus on it, because we decide and we manifest something for the day, and then we go out and life is crazy. You have a million things that come up, calls that change your direction. I feel like this brings you back. But what this does, it touches the five elements of EQ, which is self motivation, self awareness, more than anything else.

00:14:37
Being aware of what you want to do today, keeping your focus, bringing you back to what your intention is, and also expressing yourself, but most importantly, being aware of the emotions of others around you. You and me, we don't know each other, and we just decide to follow the band therapy. And I say this needs to be done in communities or in teams, which is why I love working with sports teams, because we walk into Starbucks, and normally I would go there, stand in line, and do my thing, but I might notice you wearing yellow for optimism. We will at least have eye contact, and this is with a complete stranger. So within your teams and within your communities, you're actually paying attention to people's emotions without connecting with them.

00:15:25
And maybe I hope that this will be able to take you to the next step, to be able to speak out and start discussing it. Once you get comfortable, you feel free and you feel a little enabled to be able to discuss your emotions. No, I love that. And you know what? And I haven't even caught you up.

00:15:43
This is one of the things Deb and I've been trying to catch up before we did this, but I haven't even caught you up. I had started a podcast with a former NHL Hockey Stanley cup winner, and he's severely.

00:16:00
So I know you've seen it, but. So we started, it was called word blindness. Dyslexia exposed. And the one thing that we talk about so much about is the connection and the understanding and knowing you're not alone. And that spreads throughout everything.

00:16:16
So everything that you just said, it spreads. And that's where we can make this world a better place. Because at all times, we always say, and right now, we really could use it, but we really could. In this world, we could have a little bit more compassion, we could have a little bit more self awareness. We could have a little bit more, hey, that person seems like they're struggling.

00:16:35
Let me just put my hand and sometimes not touch, but let me just, again, as you said, make the eye contact because you're wearing something that you're like, okay, I understand what they understand, and it is so important to have that understanding. So I absolutely love what you're doing, and I think it's brilliant. And I love how your movement has really grown. I mean, it started as a brand, but then just kept growing and growing. And it's way more than a brand.

00:17:05
It encompasses so much. And that's why a movement is so perfect, because of all the other things that you're doing that came out of this. And as you said, it is one of those things that when you stay kind of connecting, right? Connecting with others, others believe in you, you get to talk to them, and it's like, okay, you know what? I'm the vehicle for this movement, but I love having people say, have you ever thought about this?

00:17:31
What about this? I know someone that you can connect with here. And that's what's so important is not being so self centered and thinking, but thinking how you can help others, that maybe have vehicles that you can help promote you can help tell someone. You can share, like what I always say on this podcast, share because you don't know who needs to hear this. You don't know who needs to hear this episode.

00:17:53
You don't know who's struggling. You don't know what someone's going through behind the closed doors. And so sharing stories. Stories connect us. Words.

00:18:01
Words are powerful. So, Deb, I get chills every time I talk to you because I just absolutely love what you're doing. Thank you. And thank you for the opportunity to share that.

00:18:13
It's so important, the expression and giving people a very subtle way of expressing themselves. And just to give you, we have an ambassador who's 14, and he's six foot one, and he plays basketball. And I don't think I had a chance to share the story with you. And he was one of our very first was about six months ago, one of our very first pilots for the. We call it the bands that bond you for the band therapy.

00:18:37
And he said to me, he called me late in the evening at the end of his day because I usually talk to him after he's done his homework for the first seven days. And he said to me, I wore warrior and empathy today. And I said, that's great. What did you have going on? He said, I had an exam and I had a basketball game.

00:18:56
He said, I'm six foot one. I'm the tallest kid on the team, and I play basketball. So I said, great, talk to me about empathy, because there was something else going on that I didn't know about that he might want to share. And he said, literally, before I went on to the basketball court, I held on to my bands. And he said, because I'm the tallest kid on the team, but I'm not the best basketball player.

00:19:21
And the team had such high expectations of me. I just wanted them to know that I was being a warrior because I was going to give it my best, but to have empathy for me if I didn't get where I needed to be. I love that again. And I love that you shared that because that is, again, when people judge books by its cover, right? So my middle son plays basketball, and there is.

00:19:45
He's not the tallest, but he comes with this scrap, right? And he's got a three. Sometimes he surprises people because people are like, oh, wow, you're actually better than we thought. There's other kids on the team that look like they would be basketball players. And the coaches are so hard, the parents are so hard on them, and they're just maybe not as athletic.

00:20:05
And it is one of those things that you can't judge a book by its cover. And so I love that that little one had such insight at 14 years old to say that. I mean, 14 to be six one. People expect you, right? You're so tall, you're a basketball player.

00:20:19
And sometimes it's like, well, that's what I'm doing. But maybe it's not my gift, maybe it's not my purpose, maybe it's not my passion in life. But he's giving it his all right now and trying. And that's part of mental well being. It's the pressure that we get, like you said, from the coaches, from the parents, from other kids'parents, because you didn't do know.

00:20:39
I watched David Beckham's documentary just looking at what he went through. Bullets in an mean, why don't people understanD? To what I do with teams, you need to understand who the player is. He's not just the athlete. He's a human being behind that.

00:20:54
He has emotions. So let's give these athletes an opportunity to express who they are, talk about their struggles, talk about their vulnerabilities. And when they're on the field, I mean, go out and play if you think you can do better, is what I say, but encourage them to do better rather than put them down and threaten them. It's so true. And I mean, you know, with the segments that I do with Cynthia and now working with Brent on this podcast, they put their pants on the same way we do.

00:21:31
And people, it's really unfortunate, in my opinion. I will say that what society does to these athletes, they're humans and they're doing something that is meant to be their path. But give them some grace. If they know Churn out to do. I mean, they have to get like, mean the stories that Brent has said he had to get so hard on the outside because of all the stuff that would come at him if he didn't have a good game or this and that.

00:22:03
And that's a lot. And then all of a sudden, you're out of the league and it's like you're just yesterday's news. And that's like, again, think about where you put this person. And it doesn't matter how mentally stable they are. And we talk about this all the time, right?

00:22:20
I mean, it doesn't matter how mentally stable you are at that moment when you end, whether it's high school, college, professional and professional being, thinking about how many more years you played, when you end it's going to be hard and you're going to go through stuff. And if you don't have that support or you don't have the next kind of thing, what am I going to do? And if a player gets injured, they're not prepared for that. And so I love that you're doing that within teams because again, I think it's so important for them to also have the awareness of, you know what. Yeah, each other.

00:22:56
Exactly. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry. No, not at all. Go.

00:23:01
Yeah. And the audience as well, because people don't stop to think about what has it taken him or her to get there, right? What have they had to sacrifice? They've had to sacrifice going out and playing and lunches and dinners and weekends with friends, but they were practicing. So let's talk about that.

00:23:24
Let's have that conversation. Like, what does it take me to be there? And how much of a commitment have I made sitting on a couch throwing comments at you? Exactly. So I love that you started that.

00:23:37
And when did you start the bant impact? Well, it's taken us about eight or nine months to develop the entire program. And that's the biggest joy that I get because I want to see this evolve and see it going into different stages. It took us about eight months.

00:23:58
We actually launched in September. The first time I really had the program complete was when I was at the G 20 with FQ. And we've been rolling since then. So we have impact, but then we also have expression through art. So you take the same words and the same colors and you paint your emotion on a screen, but they're stages.

00:24:22
So you go through the expression of emotion in, like a half an hour conversation that we do as either a panel talk or a speaker talking about the power of their words. You get to express your words and you take that mindset and that emotion that you have to focus on that day and go put it on a screen. And then we take the art and we create it into whatever we need to. So we've got a few amazing steps to this. You do.

00:24:46
Oh, my gosh. And I just love again, how, and I know in your mind, nothing ever goes to the speed that we want. But thinking two years ago when I initially met you and you were in the early stages, I mean, you were in the very early stages to think about what you have created in those two years. And so I would love for you to also talk it to the entrepreneur that has this passion that is doing something, that's creating something. And I always say you're going straight, you're following that path.

00:25:20
Sometimes you go right and you don't go any further and you have to go back straight. Sometimes you go left and the same thing. Can you take us through a little bit of that and then let's move on? Because I know that there's other amazing things happening as well. What I want to talk about is what I tell entrepreneurs is really don't look at what you're doing.

00:25:39
You have a great project now, but where are you going to be in five years? What are you going to be in ten years? Is this something that's going to evolve? If you just want to do something amazing and sell it and move on, that's great. But everything you have in life has to live.

00:25:54
Your legacy has got to carry on. So don't stop at, I'm doing this, I'm making this cup, and that's it. You can have a whole dinner set from the idea for this cup, right, and evolve from that and go into furniture. So I always say, look, long term with players. On the other hand, I don't talk about playing this game and being able to go to the Olympics or being able to go to the Super Bowl.

00:26:18
Think about what am I doing for after I get married and have kids? How am I going to inspire them and go backwards? Because you've got to think about you being successful even as a parent. You're a student right now, but think about the long term vision, and I think that helps you adjust with, okay, this is going to be over some time, and I am going to be another person. I might not be a parent.

00:26:42
I might be a partner, I might be a CEO of a company. But what's your long term vision? And I think that helps you develop what you're doing in the moment into something that could explode. Yeah, I love that. Just a very curious question as all of the movement is kind of coming full fruition.

00:27:06
I mean, full fruition. Like you're there and it's like, okay, this and that. What made you with the seven? Was there a story behind it? Or was it one of those things that just kept going?

00:27:16
Like, was it a life experience? Was it something happening in the house? Because I know you have kids as well, so was there one of those things that was just like a light bulb that went off and was like, you know what? I want to take this to this next know. I think it's more my culture.

00:27:31
I was born in India, and people always say when you go to India, the beggar children in the street are happy. They're always smiling. They're starving, perhaps, and begging. But there's always a certain kind of happiness there. They're like happy kids.

00:27:51
And I realized that what spirituality teaches you is that you are where you are for a purpose, no matter where you are. And I think people look at it that way. I'm here, but this is my path. This is why the Creator put me here, and what can I do with this? So, for example, if I was speaking in Class and outside the classroom was the elevator, and I would say to the kids, okay, now get your heads out of the phone.

00:28:18
And when you get into that elevator, believe your magic. Believe you're something special. You're the only one of its kind. Your hood couture. You're the only one of its kind in the world.

00:28:28
And the energy and whatever it does to you, whatever it does to the cells in your body puts out an energy that's magnetic. And you feel that. And I always give the example of the elevator because it's a confined space, and you can feel people's energy inside of an elevator and just making eye contact. The energy you put out will be noticed at some point in time. It doesn't happen once, doesn't happen twice.

00:28:57
Keep trying it till you believe it. So I think it comes more from spirituality and thinking about the emotions that your body holds. And it's just, I think something that I've been aware of my entire life, and it was very easy for me to connect it. When you believe in something, the connection just happens. And magic is one of our words, by the way.

00:29:18
The color is purple, and magic is one of our words. I always say, I always wear magic. To me. I always want to believe that and feel that, because I want people to be positive and feel like I'm positive. No, I love that.

00:29:33
So, can you take us through all the different colors and the names? We have red for warrior. We have green for compassion. Blue is to reach out and speak out. Pink is empathy.

00:29:44
And I picked pink. It's actually a hot pink, but I picked a nude pink because that's the color of the brand. That's the only thing I've changed. I said compassion. Speak out.

00:29:56
Orange is resilience, and yellow is optimism. And magic is purple. I love that. Again, seeing where you were and just even picturing, because I can picture all of the attire that the models were wearing at the Super bowl fashion show, and again, there was something just. Again, this was like, they had straps, right?

00:30:20
And it was the straps. And I remember you had a story behind that with the just, again, the elevator. You had talked about the elevator and the straps and pulling yourself up. People listening to this, if you're listening to this and you're in a space that you're just feeling stuck, you're feeling like, what do I do? What are some steps, Deb, that they can do to kind of help their mental state?

00:30:47
What I've tried to do is, like I said, the power of words. Brand has evolved from fashion to impact, which is the magic of Seven, through expression, through art. And what we've just started is our podcast. So it's bringing role models onto our podcasts to talk about their vulnerabilities. And I believe that through them, sharing what they've been through and how they've overcome it is going to teach you a lesson.

00:31:12
But also know that we have amazing foundations. I have therapists that will be on our podcast, and you're welcome. We will announce it ahead of time to say who we have on as either a sports therapist or a teenage therapist, and come on and ask the questions, talk about what you're going through, because that is part of sharing, and that's part of dealing with it, and that's part of overcoming your inability to share. And we all coming together erase the stigma. But it's really talking about those deep, dark moments and how you've gotten out of it.

00:31:53
More important is, I think, to believe that you have therapists and you have apps that can help you, but the best therapy is those around you, and those around you can't help you if you don't share. No, and I love that you just said that, because that's so true. It's listening again. And when you're in a spot of depression, as I've talked about on my podcast, or depression or any level of depression, I've had depressive moments after kids. There's been times in my life.

00:32:25
But I will say, even with my dyslexia, ADHD, I'm fortunate I will have anxiety at certain things, but I'm fortunate that I struggle in other things, not as much as mental health. And I will be the first to say, I can understand it, but I can understand it from a small fraction. I don't understand. I have family members, yes, that have suffered from depression, but I don't understand it to the deep depths. But what everyone has always said that I've ever talked to about it is it's really hard to get up and get yourself out of there.

00:32:57
But as you said, the first thing is to connect or even listening to someone else's story could help you get yourself to where it's like, let me listen and relate. And sometimes when you listen and relate and you have that understanding with someone else, your body starts producing hormones, your body starts producing other things, and that's where it's like, okay, dopamine, these other things that can help start taking the steps to move out of that deep, deep depression. So what you said is so true, going on a. I mean, that stuff is free, right? I mean, you can go and listen, and if your first go around is like, okay, I didn't connect here, I didn't connect there.

00:33:41
Stay with it. Because sometimes, again, it's your mood, it's the place that you're in. But the more that you kind of put yourself in there and then talk about it, not everyone likes to talk about it, but what I say to a lot of times is sometimes the first step. If you don't want to talk, you don't want to share with someone. You don't have that network taking out your phone or writing it down, taking a journal, writing it down, if that's what you do.

00:34:07
I have to do voicing because that's with my dyslexiA. That's what I have to do. But I voice, or that's what I choose to do. I will voice things that are on my mind. And a lot of times when you get it off your mind, it really does help.

00:34:20
And that I know seems like I'm just saying, it's like, that's a simple thing. I'm not saying that because that's hard to be able to hear yourself say that you're in a dark spot, but that's a first step to do it. And then again, as you said, Deb listening. So take us through because I know we connected. I want to say a couple of months ago when this podcast kind of came to you and you said, okay, give me the low down.

00:34:42
Is this something I should do? And everyone that knows me knows that podcasting is my passion. I absolutely love it. And I think when you have the stuff to share, like you have to share, it's a brilliant platform for your movement. It's just going to add the depth to it because you're going to be sharing the other stories and you're going to have the words connecting, not just in all of the different parts of movement, but now also through the platform.

00:35:08
So take us through that story a little bit. How that kind of came about, that. Was actually more recent than a few months ago. I've been talking about it for a long time and I've been wanting to do it because I've got such amazing stories to share and thoughts and ideas and why I do what I do. But in addition to that is all these amazing role models that I'm surrounded by as young as nine and ten and 14 year olds that want to tell their stories.

00:35:35
So as you know, my kids are very involved with the business. And my son said to me, mom, you've been talking about this podcast. And he was visiting, he lives in San Francisco now, actually San Jose. And he said to me, let's go have dinner. And he took us to a new restaurant and he said, by the way, do you know my friend and really close friend since school, their dad just opened a studio.

00:36:00
And so I was like, oh, that's know. So I had a conversation with them. We hadn't talked since the boys moved on, but I know the boys see each other every time my son's in town. And it was actually Nicholas's suggestion to go ahead and talk to them. And I did.

00:36:18
And he said, I love what you're doing. Why don't you come and record the podcast here? And it's amazing because one thing's led to another. We found common ground with the fact that they're in sport and his son's involved with his business. And when people do good things, I think it just grows, it's contagious.

00:36:40
And whoever thought someone would come to me and say, come to my studio and record anytime we're open all day. And it was amazing. And then one of my amazing role models happens to be a partner in the studio, which was crazy because I was saying to her, I'd love to interview you. And she goes, oh, we would love to help you, my partners and I. And I was like, what do you mean your partners?

00:37:03
Oh, my God. Well, that's when, you know, when things like, again, you've been saying, even back in the day when you were like, okay, tell me about this podcasting and stuff, I love it. But again, the fact that you have that support and you don't have to worry about finding a space to record, because all those little things sometimes are what hold people up, right? You have the idea, but it's like, okay, well, how do I execute it? And that's what we were like, okay, where do you record?

00:37:32
What do you do? What do you do? Well, because sometimes it seems so easy, but it's actually not, it's not as easy as it seems. And so the fact that you'll have a set up where you can just go makes it so much easier because then you know your sound, you know all these different things that are important when you podcast. And also, I have to say, when you have a movement that is at the level that you have, you don't want to do rinky dink, right?

00:37:56
You don't want to be like, oh, yes, I'm over here and oh, the sound's not that great. You want it to match where you have what the work that you've put in. And I don't recommend that for everyone. Someone might say, I just want to start a podcast because I'm interested in it. And I'll say, you don't need all the bells and whistles, just do it to see if you like it.

00:38:14
Because sometimes people think they like it and they see, oh, it looks shiny, it looks amazing. And then they start doing it and they're like, wait, beat this. And if you had put all the money into the equipment, it's kind of like, oh, that's a weight. So where you are, it's awesome that you could find someone to match you at that, to take that kind of pressure off of yourself. So tell us when it's launching and it's obviously going to be the Power of Words podcast.

00:38:42
Yes, it might be power of words impact. We're still trying to figure that out. When I called you and said, okay, tell me, I have an opportunity to do this, should I do it first of all, and tell me how. Because if you realize as a designer, I've never really been on the forefront of anything. The brand isn't my name, it was called Taliblan.

00:39:01
I never wanted to be the face or the forefront of anything. And so now doing the podcast, having to be there, having to say the right words, words aren't my thing. And I realized I just have to take this and talk from the heart and bring that out in the people I'm talking to and just have a heart to heart, have a raw conversation and hopefully we'll be successful at it. You can tell me once you've seen the first few episodes, but we are recording right now. I've got some amazing people on and I want to have you on to talk about vulnerabilities.

00:39:38
Yes, and I got a lot of those. So I told you, anytime you tell me when and I'm happy to do it because again, the stories connect us and I've say my listeners know I say that all the time, but it really is true when you get to see a whole person, you relate with them a little bit more. You just don't see. People will compare themselves and oh, well, look what they are now. And one of the sayings, and I don't remember where it was from, but one of the sayings was, don't look at where I am because I've had a long road to where I am now and you're meeting me up here, but I was down here on my road to success.

00:40:18
And so talking about it and sharing it gives just people hope that, you know what? If you stay curious, you stay open minded, you stay on that path again. We all have a path, whether again, it's universe, God, whatever you believe in, there is a purpose for us. And if you just stay closed minded, you're not going to find it. But if you stay open minded and curious and as you said, the word podcast kept coming up, right?

00:40:45
You kept hearing it, hearing it, hearing it. There are certain terms that I would hear and hear and be like, okay, fine, I'm going to explore it. Right, I hear you. I hear you. I'm going to explore it.

00:40:54
So the fact that it kind of all coming together is remarkable and so amazing because also it's just going to give you even more places to be able to share. You're going to be able to go global, you're going to be able to help people from all different walks of life. And that's what the beauty of the power of words is. I mean, that's what your movement is and impact. It is exactly that.

00:41:20
It should be on a global platform and all the different things that you're doing. So thank you. No, thank you. Without all of you, somebody elevates you, and what you're doing here is elevating what we're trying to do. So I thank you because you're the first one that approached us and even talked about podcasts to me, I am grateful.

00:41:47
Gratitude also is such a big word and such a big deal because I was born in a little suburb of Bombay. At first I never thought I was going to be a designer designer. I always knew fashion was going to be somewhere along the lines of what I was doing. It would be a hobby. My father said it should have been a hobby.

00:42:08
And whoever thought that following that path would bring me here today? And that's how I know God has a purpose for me. And I always knew that. And it's funny that I would always ask, what's my purpose? What am I doing here?

00:42:21
Why am I here? And it makes you a restless human being when you can't find it and you're trying to do this and you're trying to do that. And we did pediatric cancer research and education for underprivileged kids with the Happy Project. But it was always about gratitude. It was always about, I'm here and I have to do something about it, which is about spirituality.

00:42:40
It's like realizing no matter where you are in life, that is your place and you can go somewhere from there. So use that as your springboard. Low or high or whatever, just use that as your springboard for your next step. Oh, my gosh, I love that. Well, Deb, thank you so much for joining your next stop.

00:42:59
And we will continue to share what you're doing because again, it is so important and it wraps in with so many know, so much that I'm doing and so much of what I believe in. So you guys know what to do, like rate, review and share. And as I said in the middle of this podcast, you don't know who needs to hear this. You do not know who right now in your life is actually going through some hard times. They're not showing it, but they need to hear this episode.

00:43:24
And when you do share it, it's going to mean more to people than you realize. So go out and share it with as many people as you can, and we will see you for another episode of your next stop. Thank you so much again, Deb. I hope you've liked this episode of your next stop. Please subscribe to my channel, share with your friends, and join in each week.