WEBVTT
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I've learned that there are things much bigger and better out of these four walls in my office here, and that yes, I'm making a difference here, but I'm making a bigger difference outside of these four walls.
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And that's what matters to me more and more.
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That's my soul's work, definitely.
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Welcome to the Stop Performing Life podcast.
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I am Melissa Tassey, and this is the Human Connection Movement.
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Each week, my guests and I will explore what it means to stop performing, reconnect to what matters most, and intentionally create a life that feels deeply aligned with who you are.
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You did not press play by accident.
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Maybe this is the pause you've been waiting for.
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Let's begin.
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Welcome back, listeners, to the Stop Performing Life podcast.
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I have a wonderful, amazing guest with me today.
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My very dear friend and really soulmate.
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Yes.
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Yes.
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Uh, Rana Orbovich.
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Um Rana and I have known each other for quite a long time, and she is a master of leading teams and work that truly brings out the authentic self and everyone she touches.
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Um, the work she's done, not only in the organizations that she has worked in, um leaves the fingerprints on people's not only their their work, but more their souls and and how they choose to show up for not only themselves but others.
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And um, you're a deep thinker, you're a no bullshit kind of a person, and you're you've always been um in my tribe.
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So welcome, Rana Orbavich.
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Jeez, Melissa, what a great intro.
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Oh my god, Master.
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Uh, I'm sure I'm not, but thank you so much.
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Thank you for including me in your tribe.
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I'll take that all day long.
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Gosh.
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I mean, we you and I could be a tribe of just two.
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I mean, we we totally could be the best.
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Oh my gosh.
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So, Ronna, one reason why I wanted you on Stop Performing Life is not that you have inspired me over the many, many years.
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You're also my biggest cheerleader, but you've also been through some of my most transformative times.
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And a part of that is because you know, we don't walk these paths alone, number one, nor are we the only one that has walked these paths, right?
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Yeah, you have walked paths before me and and uh many others that have gotten you to where you're at now.
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When I think about you and your work, not just the work you do professionally, we're not talking about the professional stuff, right?
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Yeah, that's not what is on your tombstone at the end of the day, right?
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But I'm talking about your soul purpose work, and you've been on a journey for this work for many years, as long as I can remember.
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And when we first met, and it started, gosh, way back, maybe a little bit before.
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No, it was what it was when we were we were at that organization, probably probably 2012-2014 time frame.
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And um, I believe that's when your journey may have like really started.
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Did you want to share?
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Did you want to share?
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Like, let me not fill in your story.
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Well, um, I think yes, Tas meeting you and working in that organization and at the time, some of the experiences that I was having in that organization, um kind of led me back to, you know, when I was a little girl.
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I mean, when I was a little girl, uh for my sole purpose is I truly believe all of our sole purposes is that we're in service to each other.
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That's why we're all here on this planet called Earth.
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I truly believe it's to bring love into this world and just be better humans.
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And um, when I was a little girl though, I've always have been attracted, loved, and adored horses.
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Drove my dad crazy with wanting a horse as a little kid all the time.
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That poor man, God rest his soul.
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Every day I was wanting a horse.
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Um, and it's interesting, you know, as life goes on, things, you know, life takes you diff down different roads and paths, and we often forget about the things that brought us joy when we were children, right?
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Because then it becomes all about adulting and career and paying bills and all those things.
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And yeah, and um so I I lost focus of that for a while because I needed to focus on how am I gonna make money once I move out of my mom and dad's house, right?
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So, and then uh 25 years ago this year, I lost my mom.
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She passed away in her sleep, and it was a big surprise to everybody in my family, and that was the most significant loss that I'd ever experienced at that time, and will say that I've ever experienced, even through significant losses of my dad and my sister.
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There's something about for me, losing my mom rocked my world and cracked my foundation.
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And even 25 years later, I still grieve and I missed her in such a way.
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Um, I talk to her every single day.
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She's friend of mind for me.
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And I think that's what started my spiritual journey.
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And I started to realize that there's more to this life than work.
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Um, at the same time, though, um, you know, I was still young in my career and trying to figure things out.
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And for that, it became more about family and helping my dad and sister through and brothers through that loss.
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And then fast forward to when I met you, at that time, uh my sister uh was going through terminal cancer, and I lost my sister while working at that organization.
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And I think at that moment in time, that's really where I got far enough in my career where I started to understand, you know, life is much more than your career.
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Like I was hyper-focused somewhere along the way between my mom passing and then to my sister.
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I had lost myself.
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I lost focus and just work.
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I wanted to be an executive, I wanted to help others at the same time.
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I love human resources just because in every organization I've ever worked in, it's given me an opportunity to see the entire business model, just not one aspect of it.
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Like someone might get working in an operations function or a finance function sometimes.
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You know, finance one could argue is very large in scope as well.
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But HR has always given me permission to sit at the table with leaders in their teams and understand their business.
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And it's also helped me understand A to Z when it comes to a customer.
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You know, uh working in retail for all those years.
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I just loved going to our designer's office in New York and watching him write um style on a piece of paper and just craft this amazing sweater and then get to learn how it all works through the process of showing up in a store.
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It just fascinated me and understanding the people and the talent that it takes to get something like that to actually show up in a store really intrigued me.
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And I just loved working in HR because it gave me the freedom to learn and work at a different level than being in a singular function, if that makes sense.
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Absolutely, it does.
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So, Rana, you were talking about um the loss of your sister.
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Yes.
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When um, and also when you were when you lost your sister, uh, how you were in a in a role in human resources, how you loved being in human resources.
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And what came up for me is that you're always in a learner mode, um, and you've always been a learner mode.
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Like definitely, you definitely embody the one thing that I truly believe, and and I say it over again when I'm coaching leaders, is as a leader, you don't have to have all the answers, you just have to put good people around you and ask the question.
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Yes, be curious, right?
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Something to be said for that.
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I had a a leader once say to me, Rana, it's always good to be green and growing.
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I want to be the alternative, and I've never forgotten that.
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It is so good.
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So good.
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And what do you you always say personal development is what do I say?
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Kisses and cupcakes or yes, personal development is not kisses and cupcakes.
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For sure.
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Why is that hurts?
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It's uncomfortable, it's pushing yourself to these uncomfortable places, and oftentimes for me, there's tears involved.
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Always, and for whatever reason, I just love torturing myself.
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I think I'm like always that person that wants sure.
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I'll give it a try.
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Sure, why not?
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I'll try that.
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And you know, even in times where I knew I'm not the subject matter expert in that, but I'll figure out a way.
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We'll we can figure it out together, right?
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You always do, you always do it.
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Totally, yes.
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So there's one thing that um I spoke about this before and and on my podcast, one of them, and and and this is a little off topic, but we'll get back to stop performing life here.
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But I want you to disp dispel disbelief around the HR function because a lot of people have the I don't trust HR, they're there for the company, this, that, and the other.
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However, you know, I mean, all that other bullshit, you know.
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I mean, we've heard it since God was a boy, and and those are a lot of people's experiences, right?
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So we cannot not honor those and acknowledge that.
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However, yes, the way you lead is not that way, right?
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You you lead no god no, but you lead in a way that is transparent to a fault.
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Yes.
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One thing that I appreciate about you is that if somebody had the courage to ask you, yes, losing my job tomorrow.
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That's exactly right.
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I have to look myself in the mirror every morning when I get up.
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So if somebody has the courage to come in here and ask me the difficult qu difficult questions of something that, you know, am I am I gonna lose my job?
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Or, you know, am I how am I seen in this organization?
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Or anything of that nature, I owe it to them.
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I care about people and I care about how they grow.
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And I want to get people to where they want to go and be who they want to be, regardless if they're in the organization that I work for or not.
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Like whatever it is that I can do to help and be in service of, that's what I'm going to do.
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But it definitely is a real thing.
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It's kind of fun whenever people ask me, so what do you do?
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And I say HR.
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I always get the oh God, really?
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Yeah.
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And it makes me chuckle.
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And it also makes me sad because look, they've they experienced something that obviously didn't go well for them.
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And for that, I feel sad for them.
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And I think that's why I work the in the ways that I do is to try and debunk that as much as I can for any organization, or just for me, personally and professionally.
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Because again, I'm the person looking back in the mirror at myself, and if I can't do that, then I've got big problems.
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So high integrity, a lot of transparency, sometimes to a fault, gulp rate.
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Yeah, you know.
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Um, I had a leader once tell me I can be feedback rich.
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I'm not taking that as a compliment.
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And she shared with me, well, it's critical feedback for you to gulp rate of people.
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What is their gulp rate?
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Pay attention to what they can hear and and the changes that they can make.
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So I've always kind of kept that close too.
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Yeah.
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Good, good, good.
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Yeah, there you go.
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Um, so you I will say something and or ask you a question.
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Let me figure out how to phrase this.
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What is your one virtue, value that you hold on to when you're about to have that really hard, difficult conversation?
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I would say, oh gosh, one might be hard to narrow down, but I think it's uh honesty, respect, and honesty.
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That would be the two values.
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It's so hard for me to narrow it down to one because those are such complicated, complicated exchanges.
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But it it's never comfortable to do.
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And I always have to call on my courage and always think about the person sitting in front of me and how I can help and support them in this journey, and how I would feel if I were them, and how would I want to hear that news if I were them?
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And what kind of support would I need if I were them?
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So really trying to put myself in their shoes and approach it in a very kind and respectful way, yeah.
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Yeah, clear as kind, right?
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That's right.
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Clear from A Brown, clear as kind.
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Yes, clear as kind.
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So you've had these really unique experiences as at work, right?
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Your professional career.
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You've learned a lot, you've developed these amazing skills, not as you know, a very highly capable leader, but also a leadership steward, a leadership coach, a leadership mentor, right?
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In your journey now outside of the professional world, has taken your love of equine.
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Totally, yes, passion around being um a cancer survivor and your leadership, and you've created something really cool and beautiful.
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Yes, I want you to share a share about that.
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How did that start?
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How did it start?
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Like, how did you start?
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You have to tell me the story, tell the listeners the story that um with your dad.
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You mentioned your dad, and he said something about he dared you, or he said he did something that you proved him wrong, and it was about a horse.
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Remember?
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So you remember the story that um with your dad about a horse.
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I remember this story, yes.
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Uh oh my gosh, I was like seven years old, my poor father.
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Like I said, I drove him crazy with wanting a horse.
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So I finally I think I drilled him down so much that he said, Look, if you can find a place to keep your horse, you can have a horse.
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And I was like, Okay, I'm gonna do this.
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And I don't think he understood exactly how determined I was to get a horse because probably about 15 miles from our house, there was a lady who I saw all the time, like driving home, and she had a pasture, and there was a horse, and her name was Mrs.
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White.
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I'll never forget.
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As a little girl, I ran to Mrs.
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White's house.
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I knocked on her front door, and when she answered the door, I said, My dad told me I can have a horse if I found a place to keep it.
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Can I keep my horse in your pasture?
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She said, Well, honey, um do you have siblings?
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And I said, Yeah, I have some brothers and a sister.
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And she said, Well, my fence needs mend.
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And if your dad and your brothers can come mend my fence, you can keep your horse here.
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And oh my god, Tassie, to this day, I still remember the joy I was experiencing.
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I ran so fast.
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Oh, so fast, and I'll never forget the look on my dad's face when I told him I found a place to keep my horse.
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It's like his whole expression, just no.
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And he knew he was about to break his little girl's heart, but I'm like so excited, and he said, honey, I can't afford a horse.
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I have six mouths to feed, I cannot afford a horse.
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I'm so sorry.
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And I was crushed, but I quickly got over it.
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I understood, yeah, and now today, doing what I'm doing, I'm like, woof, the work involved, it's a lot.
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So he's he saved me too.
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He saved me from all that.
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I had no clue the work involved, but yeah, that was so funny.
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So Rhana, you're you're um you're on a board today.
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Yes.
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What's the board that you're on?
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And how did you get to that board?
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How do you how did you discover the board?
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Jump jump all into that board.
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Oh, um, so I'm on the board of the cancer support community of central Ohio.
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And um in 2017, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and it was a stage one breast cancer.
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It was caught very early, thank God.
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I went through my radiation treatments and went to work every single day.
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As I was going through, and I'd started a new job.
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Uh three months after I was diagnosed, which was scary enough starting a new job, trying to prove yourself.
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Um, and then learning that I had breast cancer.
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So I didn't feel like I don't know where the work ethic comes in, but I didn't feel like one, I wanted to miss work.
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I was determined that I was gonna beat this cancer and that it wasn't gonna take me.
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Um I saw what it cancer has done to my father and my sister, and I'd be damned if it was gonna do that to me.
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So I got pissed at it and ended up becoming a survivor or cancer thriver, I'll say.
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And it's been almost 10 years cancer-free.
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Yay! And um after that journey with breast cancer, um, it's interesting, you know, when you go through significant losses in your life and then you experience a disease or an illness, it changes your perspective on life, quite honestly.
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So I was sitting at my table one day and um thinking about, you know, I feel like I want to make a bigger impact.
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I want to be in service of people outside of my corporation.
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And how can I go about doing that?
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And I met a young lady, I've known her actually for years, and I was sharing with her that I wanted to do something that could help women who were experiencing breast cancer find a community, feel supported, uh, people who may not have the same support system that I had going through it.
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And she had shared the cancer support community with me, and that her husband was on the board and that she would put me in contact with him.
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So after I talked to him, um, here I sit.
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I'm four going on four years being on the board for the cancer support community, and I've just loved every minute of my journey with them.
00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:31.039
It brings me such joy and fills my cup all the time that I'm making a difference in people's lives who are going through cancer.
00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:45.759
What I love about that organization is it it's there for all kinds of cancer, people that are experiencing all different kinds of cancers, and they take care of their caregivers and family, which is pretty phenomenal.
00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:46.559
Beautiful.
00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:48.799
Yes, yes.
00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:52.079
So love the work that I get to do with them.
00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:53.039
Yeah.
00:24:53.440 --> 00:25:18.799
Now you also have taken this passion of in service of others, this love of horses, and created something truly unique that is like when I think about how quickly it has grown because it's it's uh it's clearly needed, right?
00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:20.880
And fascinating.
00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:22.400
Just fascinating.
00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:26.160
Can you share a little bit about that and how did that come to be?
00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:27.599
Oh my goodness.
00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:42.559
So, you know, like I was sharing earlier as a small child how much I loved horses, and I've just always felt like in my core, I was meant to do something with horses, but I just didn't know what it was.
00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:50.400
And um, after I was on the board a couple years with cancer support, I just felt like I wanted to do something else.
00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:55.440
Um, there was something else out there that I wanted to do and I wasn't sure what.
00:25:55.599 --> 00:26:05.359
And then it all of a sudden just one morning as I was sitting with my coffee and having a moment of quiet that I love to do in the mornings, right?
00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:08.720
Get centered and grounded before you start your day.
00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:16.400
And it just hit me to start Googling like volunteer work with horses, and that's what I did.
00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:19.359
And I always saw, it's interesting.
00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:23.839
I um right where I live, Dreams on Horseback is like 10 minutes from my home.
00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:28.559
And I always saw it, and I was curious, wonder what they do.
00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:31.119
I need to stop there one day.
00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:40.880
So finally, when they popped up on my Google search, I called them and I started volunteering there at Dreams as well.
00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:44.880
And I Dreams on Horseback has my heart.
00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:47.039
Oh my gosh, I just love them so much.
00:26:47.200 --> 00:27:00.079
When I was there one day volunteering um with some traditional riding, um, I saw a veterans group and they were doing an equine class.
00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:11.599
And I was asking the owner about that, and she was sharing with me how equine therapy helps individuals who have experienced trauma.
00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:21.920
So I said to her, have you ever thought about doing something like that for cancer survivors, cancer patients, caregivers?
00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:25.839
And she said, It's funny you would say that to me.
00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:32.640
She said, I've been trying to figure this out for about five years now, and I can't quite figure out how to get that started.
00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:35.599
People are always asking me about that here.
00:27:35.920 --> 00:27:40.000
There were a couple people that work there that were going through cancer at the time.
00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:42.559
So I said to her, Well, I think I can help.
00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:48.400
I sit on this board and I think I can bring you the two organizations together.
00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:53.440
What would I have to do personally to be able to set something like this up?
00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:59.359
And she said, Well, you have to go through and get a few certifications to make this happen.
00:27:59.519 --> 00:28:08.000
So she shared with me what certifications in a matter of what task six months, I think I got four certifications.
00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:21.519
And that was, and then April of this year, we had our first cancer support program at Dreams on Horseback.
00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:26.240
And um, it's a full class of 12 people with a wait list.
00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:35.440
So it's it's had uh a lot of success and it's amazing work.
00:28:35.599 --> 00:29:01.119
Uh, it's all about the horse-human connection, and I get to witness just such magical things every Saturday, really, when I'm there, but with this cancer support class, right now we do it once one Saturday um a month, and we're looking for ways to raise money so we can offer it more.
00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:07.680
But um, yeah, and I just I can't believe how it's all come to fruition.
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:18.160
I just, it amazes me how you have a dream and a vision and you don't let go of it, it'll come true.
00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:23.759
It just takes belief and some patience, yeah, and putting it out there, right?
00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:27.279
And putting it out there and having the patience.
00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:30.319
It's all about timing, yeah, all about timing.
00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:35.039
I mean, when I think back on my career, I don't know that I could have done this like 10 years ago.
00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:39.119
I wasn't in the right space to do, right?
00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:50.160
And yeah, and I think about your leadership and the journey you went through on top of what your family has gone through.
00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:56.480
Yes, experiences have of course made you who you are right now and when you're ready.
00:29:56.799 --> 00:29:58.559
You weren't ready then to your point.
00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:01.359
No, no, that's exactly right.
00:30:01.519 --> 00:30:08.079
I mean, shared stories, shared experiences connect people together.
00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:09.599
Absolutely, yeah.
00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:10.799
Absolutely.
00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:14.960
You mentioned the horse-human connection, yes.
00:30:15.440 --> 00:30:16.960
Tell me about that.
00:30:19.279 --> 00:30:23.359
Well, horses you can get as woo as you want.
00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:24.000
I know.
00:30:24.079 --> 00:30:26.319
I'm like, uh, how do I offer some of this?
00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:27.599
This is woo.
00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:32.400
You you do you are very woo, which is why we're soul sisters, yeah.
00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:36.640
Um so horses are sentient beings.
00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:40.640
One could say all animals are sentient beings.
00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:50.640
Um, the thing that makes horses different from a dog, let's say, horses are prey animals.
00:30:51.119 --> 00:31:06.799
So they are constantly scanning their environment, they're always in the present moment, and they're always scanning to understand is something different about this environment, is something here gonna hurt me, eat me, whatever.
00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:28.160
So their energy systems are on, and they can feel the slightest difference in a vibration, and they can co-regulate with the human, so they can co-regulate their heartbeat with our heartbeat.
00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:41.839
So horses can sense when someone is being incongruent and when someone is being in their authentic self, and they behave in different ways.
00:31:42.079 --> 00:31:44.400
Um, and it's always so interesting.
00:31:44.559 --> 00:32:02.720
I think this is why this work works so well with people, because they have an animal with them that is not judging them, that is simply reading them and helping them to become more self-aware.
00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:09.519
And really, in doing this work, I'm just the facilitator for both of them, right?
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:35.519
And because, and that's why it makes trauma vic horses equine therapy is so uh beneficial for people who've been through trauma because the horses can co-regulate and they can help a human, human's nervous system settle down when they're very anxious and just become more open.
00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:42.000
And that's where the emotions and all the healing that needs to come out starts to come out.
00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:59.680
Um, it it really is something beautiful to witness, and that's simply because horses are all about trust, and and you as a human, they don't automatically trust, they trust what you're showing them, right?
00:33:00.160 --> 00:33:05.200
And when you think about a dog, dog is all about unconditional love, right?
00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:27.599
Right, that's why dogs make great therapy, animals, when it comes to love and support, where a horse is all about trust and uh building that trust out in the world that we're in, and how do we as humans learn to trust our environments, learn to trust people that are around us?
00:33:27.759 --> 00:33:29.759
How do we break down those walls?
00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:33.680
It truly is just a magical thing to watch take place.
00:33:33.839 --> 00:33:38.480
And I I get to watch it happen every Saturday at Dreams on Horseback.
00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:41.519
It just truly, I'm getting goosebumps just talking about it.
00:33:41.759 --> 00:34:00.799
I've seen autistic, like non-verbal, autistic kids that um learn how to ride horses, uh, some within months start to speak and seeing their their parents cry, and I'm crying, and the kids like, what's going on?
00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:08.800
You know, I'm just saying the horse's name here, but it just it's amazing what what these animals can do for us.
00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:10.719
It's just amazing.
00:34:11.440 --> 00:34:14.800
That's why I think I'm just such an animal lover.
00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:21.199
They truly are God's creatures, and they're put on this earth to love and support us.
00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:23.440
Absolutely, absolutely.
00:34:23.679 --> 00:34:25.360
No, I'm getting chills.
00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:26.480
I know, right?
00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:32.159
And I have absolutely no fucking patience for people who abuse animals, none whatsoever.
00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:35.199
None, no, no, no, no, mm-mm.
00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:37.599
Don't even get me in that rabbit hole.
00:34:37.679 --> 00:34:41.119
That's when I'm yeah, all I have an eye for an eye.
00:34:41.840 --> 00:34:44.159
Totally fires me up.
00:34:44.400 --> 00:34:47.679
Yeah, yeah, it's just there's no reason for it.
00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:48.559
None.
00:34:49.280 --> 00:35:03.119
Um, when you came to this realization about getting, okay, this is what I want to do, and I have to get these certifications.
00:35:03.440 --> 00:35:03.760
Uh-huh.
00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:06.079
But you were telling me about that.
00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:11.280
What came up was it was the same challenge your dad gave you.
00:35:11.679 --> 00:35:13.599
Oh, it so was.
00:35:15.039 --> 00:35:16.400
This is why I love you so much.
00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:18.639
You can connect to all these things.
00:35:18.880 --> 00:35:21.039
I never even thought about that.
00:35:21.280 --> 00:35:25.440
It's the same challenge, and you're like, fuck it, I'm gonna do it.
00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:26.719
Totally, yeah.
00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:39.280
And I think about everything that even just last week we were talking, and you're like, Well, I was given this big initiative, and I like okay, I'll figure it out, I'll get it done.
00:35:39.760 --> 00:35:42.800
Yes, like yeah, that's just what you do.
00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:53.119
I mean, think about your career over and over and again, and then then you're your cancer survivor, you're like, Yeah, I'll beat this shit, it's not gonna be me, right?
00:35:53.360 --> 00:35:54.159
Totally, yeah.
00:35:54.800 --> 00:36:08.239
Constant thread that you have through your experience of just raw courageousness and fearlessness, and you're fierce, you're just fierce.
00:36:09.199 --> 00:36:11.199
Who's your superpower person?
00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:13.280
Who's your superhero?
00:36:13.920 --> 00:36:16.239
Jeez, you know who this is.
00:36:17.519 --> 00:36:20.159
I send her to you on a regular basis.
00:36:20.960 --> 00:36:23.440
You send her to me on a regular basis?
00:36:27.599 --> 00:36:30.639
A Wonder Woman, yes, for sure.
00:36:30.880 --> 00:36:32.079
Love that woman.
00:36:32.239 --> 00:36:34.320
Yes, yes, Wonder Woman.
00:36:34.559 --> 00:36:35.840
What do you love about her?
00:36:37.679 --> 00:36:40.000
Just her courage and her strength.
00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:47.280
And I love that lasso lasso's people and they tell her the truth.
00:36:48.079 --> 00:37:09.679
I love everything about that, and I think that that's probably why I love the horse works, the equine works so much is because in their own special way, they lasso people and they get them to see their truth, yeah, in such a loving, respectful, non-judgmental kind of way.
00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:12.960
It's beautiful, and it's so safe.
00:37:13.280 --> 00:37:16.239
It is so safe, yes, yes.
00:37:16.559 --> 00:37:26.960
Now, I read somewhere about a horse's energy field, it's in and it's about 10 times larger than a human's, yes, right?
00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:34.559
Yes, so they can sense you before you're even close to them, yes, 20 feet away.
00:37:34.639 --> 00:37:52.960
They can start to sense heart rates and energy levels and what you're coming in with, and it's it's such a great practice of presence, you know, because when I am at the barn, I have to be a hundred percent present.
00:37:53.280 --> 00:38:05.280
Because, first of all, safety, they're like 1500-pound beings, they're huge, and if you're not paying attention, you could get stepped on or whatever the case may be, right?
00:38:05.519 --> 00:38:19.360
So, and I found moments in the barn while I'm with one of my equine partners, and my brain starts going off, and I do something stupid, and they put me in check right away.
00:38:19.519 --> 00:38:24.000
It's like, whoa, back in the present moment, yeah.
00:38:24.239 --> 00:38:35.920
So it's just such a good discipline when you're around them, and it's in such a gentle, like loving, non-judgmental kind of way.
00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:48.719
I mean, I walk out of that barn every week and I just feel so centered and grounded, and just yeah, I can take on another week in corporate America.
00:38:48.960 --> 00:38:50.079
The thought.
00:38:52.079 --> 00:38:57.440
And there it is, both totally in the nonsense of it all.
00:38:57.679 --> 00:39:18.400
Yeah, the not well, and I just think about the corporate America and the world just at large, it's just so noisy, and there's so much noise and and uncertainty, and just yeah, yeah, but but having that safe space, how beautiful.
00:39:18.639 --> 00:39:20.639
Totally, how beautiful.
00:39:20.960 --> 00:39:35.679
So, what is one of your number one, your number one moments being with, and this is about you, not anybody else, but you have a favorite horse, your little your man Ladd.
00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:37.840
Oh, I love Ladd, yes.
00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:40.639
We have a true connection, me and Ladd.
00:39:41.760 --> 00:39:45.760
When did you realize that you have a true connection with Ladd?
00:39:47.199 --> 00:39:52.719
When I started uh horseback riding lessons at Dreams on Horseback.
00:39:52.880 --> 00:40:09.039
So one of the trainers there, um, when I was sharing with her that I had this, uh I at the time I still wanted to own my own horse, but you know, now I'm told, well, you have 28 of your own horses, you don't need to actually own one.
00:40:09.280 --> 00:40:13.519
But I started, she talked me into horseback riding lessons.
00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:32.880
And I remember um the second time I got in the saddle, I was scared and nervous, and God bless lad, I was doing all the wrong things and I was confusing the hell out of him.
00:40:34.559 --> 00:40:47.039
And in one moment, he stopped and he took a deep breath, and as it was just so interesting because as he was taking a deep breath, something in me told me to take a deep breath.
00:40:47.280 --> 00:40:57.840
So we were taking this breath together, and I released it, and I felt so I'm getting goosebumps, I felt so calm and grounded.
00:40:58.159 --> 00:41:06.000
And I remember the trainer looking at me and said, Did you just learn, did you just see what happened there?
00:41:06.159 --> 00:41:07.760
And I said, What?
00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:13.119
Because I was still kind of you know up in the nervousness of it all, but trying to settle.
00:41:13.199 --> 00:41:16.400
And she said, Lad just took care of you.
00:41:16.719 --> 00:41:30.480
You were in this space of confusion, you were confusing him, and he just stopped and planted his hooves in the ground, and the two of you together took a deep breath and released it.
00:41:30.559 --> 00:41:32.960
And she's like, Rana, he's got you.
00:41:33.440 --> 00:41:42.320
And from that moment on, he has been just an amazing horse partner for me, and I just love and adore him.
00:41:42.480 --> 00:41:57.920
Every time I go to that barn, I have to go see Ladd, and we have a moment together, and I think he's, you know, I can tell what by his ears, he's always happy to see me because I always have an apple or a carrot or some sort of treat.
00:41:58.079 --> 00:42:00.239
Yes, I do bribe him too.
00:42:01.920 --> 00:42:02.960
And that's okay.
00:42:09.039 --> 00:42:10.719
Totally, absolutely.
00:42:11.119 --> 00:42:15.119
So, and you know, he acts he's a lot like a toddler.
00:42:15.199 --> 00:42:30.800
I've heard stories from folks that he has uh bucked people off and he has bitten people before, but I've never experienced that, and I don't feel as I don't feel like that would ever happen with with me.
00:42:30.960 --> 00:42:34.400
It's just it's a connection, it truly is.
00:42:34.880 --> 00:42:36.880
Connection to my heart.
00:42:37.360 --> 00:42:38.000
Yeah.
00:42:38.239 --> 00:42:57.840
And you know what's interesting, Rana, is the journey that you've been on, the learning you've been on with your your cancer support community, and not only what led you up to there, and then where you're at now, is there are no roles or titles involved in any of it.
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:02.719
No, no, there's not.
00:43:03.840 --> 00:43:07.519
No, and I kind of prefer it that way, right?
00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:16.639
Like you don't have to walk in as the executive to a corporation into your you know, the herd.
00:43:16.960 --> 00:43:30.800
Right your horses, exactly, yes, I'm a part of the herd for sure, nor do you, and you mentioned it before, you don't you have you're they know what you're bringing in before you know it.
00:43:31.119 --> 00:43:40.800
So you don't have to pretend to be somebody else or something, you're not there, you're true yourself, yes, absolutely, yep.
00:43:42.159 --> 00:43:48.320
Yeah, it's it's just an amazing, it's an amazing space to be in your life.
00:43:48.480 --> 00:44:19.440
I don't know exactly how it happens, but when it does happen, you get a sense of freedom from it all and liberation from it all, and I've learned that there are things much bigger and better out of these four walls in my office here, and that yes, I'm making a difference here, but I'm making a bigger difference outside of these four walls, and that's what matters to me more and more.
00:44:19.519 --> 00:44:22.320
That's my soul's work, definitely.
00:44:22.880 --> 00:44:25.039
Yeah, totally, totally.
00:44:25.199 --> 00:44:26.880
You took the words right out of my mouth.
00:44:26.960 --> 00:44:28.719
I just wrote down soul alignment.
00:44:29.360 --> 00:44:31.440
Oh, totally, yes, yeah.
00:44:31.679 --> 00:44:35.599
Like what you described was like, you know, you're in flow.
00:44:35.679 --> 00:44:39.760
Your soul is like, yes, you're doing the work that you were put here to do.
00:44:40.079 --> 00:44:44.880
And yeah, you get to do all this other work to prepare you for this work.
00:44:45.280 --> 00:44:46.960
Definitely, yes.
00:44:47.280 --> 00:44:47.840
Yes.
00:44:48.159 --> 00:44:55.519
Kind of going back to, you know, in young my in our younger days, you have you think about your career.
00:44:55.679 --> 00:44:56.239
How are you?
00:44:56.400 --> 00:44:58.079
How am I gonna pay the bills?
00:44:58.239 --> 00:45:00.000
How am I gonna make ends meet?
00:45:00.239 --> 00:45:05.599
And you find a career, and hopefully you find a career that can do all those things for you.
00:45:05.679 --> 00:45:11.280
So at some point in time, when I retire, I'm gonna be doing this full time.
00:45:11.920 --> 00:45:16.480
So, yes, yes, yes, I can't wait.
00:45:16.719 --> 00:45:21.920
Yes, oh my gosh, and we'll have to have you back on when that happens.
00:45:23.199 --> 00:45:26.639
Share all the things, absolutely.
00:45:26.880 --> 00:45:46.800
So, Ron, if one of our listeners wants to talk to you about your equine therapy, wants to learn more about um any programs that whether it's the cancer support community and or dreams on horsepack, how would they get that information?
00:45:47.679 --> 00:45:52.000
I would say go on LinkedIn and find my profile.
00:45:52.719 --> 00:46:05.119
My name uh is spelled Rana R-O-N-A, and my last name is Orbovich O-R D O V I C H.
00:46:06.000 --> 00:46:07.039
Excellent.
00:46:07.360 --> 00:46:11.039
Yes, excellent, and then just make a connection there, leave a note.
00:46:11.199 --> 00:46:19.599
Yep, give me a scam, leave me a message, and I'd be more than happy to reach back out to them and have a conversation.
00:46:19.840 --> 00:46:20.639
We would love that.
00:46:20.800 --> 00:46:25.519
We need many volunteers at dreams and at cancer support.
00:46:25.679 --> 00:46:29.760
So goodness, yeah, yeah, love to make the connections.
00:46:30.239 --> 00:46:31.840
Yeah, awesome.
00:46:32.079 --> 00:46:46.800
Well, we appreciate you joining us today, and thank you for sharing your journey and your beautiful stories, not only about your family and also about your equine partner.
00:46:47.440 --> 00:46:51.760
Oh, well, thank you, Tass, for giving me the honor to be on your podcast.
00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:57.360
So cool to watch you grow and flourish in your world as well, too.
00:46:57.519 --> 00:47:00.480
And I just love watching you, you're amazing.
00:47:00.800 --> 00:47:02.000
Back at you, babe.
00:47:02.159 --> 00:47:03.199
Back at you.
00:47:03.519 --> 00:47:04.320
Thank you.
00:47:04.559 --> 00:47:06.000
Yes, thank you.
00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:16.000
I've learned that there are things much bigger and better out of these four walls in my office here, and that yes, I'm making a difference here, but I'm making a bigger difference outside of these four walls.
00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:18.879
And that's what matters to me more and more.
00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:21.839
That's my soul's work, definitely.
00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:35.359
Welcome to the Stop Performing Life podcast.
00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:40.719
I am Melissa Tassey, and this is the Human Connection Movement.
00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:59.200
Each week, my guests and I will explore what it means to stop performing, reconnect to what matters most, and intentionally create a life that feels deeply aligned with who you are.
00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:03.200
You did not press play by accident.
00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:07.040
Maybe this is the pause you've been waiting for.
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Let's begin.
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Welcome back, listeners, to the Stop Performing Life podcast.
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I have a wonderful, amazing guest with me today.
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My very dear friend and really soulmate.
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Yes.
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Yes.
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Uh, Rana Orbovich.
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Um Rana and I have known each other for quite a long time, and she is a master of leading teams and work that truly brings out the authentic self and everyone she touches.
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Um, the work she's done, not only in the organizations that she has worked in, um leaves the fingerprints on people's not only their their work, but more their souls and and how they choose to show up for not only themselves but others.
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And um, you're a deep thinker, you're a no bullshit kind of a person, and you're you've always been um in my tribe.
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So welcome, Rana Orbavich.
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Jeez, Melissa, what a great intro.
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Oh my god, Master.
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Uh, I'm sure I'm not, but thank you so much.
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Thank you for including me in your tribe.
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I'll take that all day long.
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Gosh.
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I mean, we you and I could be a tribe of just two.
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I mean, we we totally could be the best.
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Oh my gosh.
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So, Ronna, one reason why I wanted you on Stop Performing Life is not that you have inspired me over the many, many years.
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You're also my biggest cheerleader, but you've also been through some of my most transformative times.
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And a part of that is because you know, we don't walk these paths alone, number one, nor are we the only one that has walked these paths, right?
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Yeah, you have walked paths before me and and uh many others that have gotten you to where you're at now.
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When I think about you and your work, not just the work you do professionally, we're not talking about the professional stuff, right?
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Yeah, that's not what is on your tombstone at the end of the day, right?
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But I'm talking about your soul purpose work, and you've been on a journey for this work for many years, as long as I can remember.
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And when we first met, and it started, gosh, way back, maybe a little bit before.
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No, it was what it was when we were we were at that organization, probably probably 2012-2014 time frame.
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And um, I believe that's when your journey may have like really started.
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Did you want to share?
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Did you want to share?
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Like, let me not fill in your story.
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Well, um, I think yes, Tas meeting you and working in that organization and at the time, some of the experiences that I was having in that organization, um kind of led me back to, you know, when I was a little girl.
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I mean, when I was a little girl, uh for my sole purpose is I truly believe all of our sole purposes is that we're in service to each other.
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That's why we're all here on this planet called Earth.
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I truly believe it's to bring love into this world and just be better humans.
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And um, when I was a little girl though, I've always have been attracted, loved, and adored horses.
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Drove my dad crazy with wanting a horse as a little kid all the time.
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That poor man, God rest his soul.
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Every day I was wanting a horse.
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Um, and it's interesting, you know, as life goes on, things, you know, life takes you diff down different roads and paths, and we often forget about the things that brought us joy when we were children, right?
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Because then it becomes all about adulting and career and paying bills and all those things.
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And yeah, and um so I I lost focus of that for a while because I needed to focus on how am I gonna make money once I move out of my mom and dad's house, right?
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So, and then uh 25 years ago this year, I lost my mom.
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She passed away in her sleep, and it was a big surprise to everybody in my family, and that was the most significant loss that I'd ever experienced at that time, and will say that I've ever experienced, even through significant losses of my dad and my sister.
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There's something about for me, losing my mom rocked my world and cracked my foundation.
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And even 25 years later, I still grieve and I missed her in such a way.
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Um, I talk to her every single day.
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She's friend of mind for me.
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And I think that's what started my spiritual journey.
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And I started to realize that there's more to this life than work.
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Um, at the same time, though, um, you know, I was still young in my career and trying to figure things out.
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And for that, it became more about family and helping my dad and sister through and brothers through that loss.
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And then fast forward to when I met you, at that time, uh my sister uh was going through terminal cancer, and I lost my sister while working at that organization.
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And I think at that moment in time, that's really where I got far enough in my career where I started to understand, you know, life is much more than your career.
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Like I was hyper-focused somewhere along the way between my mom passing and then to my sister.
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I had lost myself.
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I lost focus and just work.
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I wanted to be an executive, I wanted to help others at the same time.
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I love human resources just because in every organization I've ever worked in, it's given me an opportunity to see the entire business model, just not one aspect of it.
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Like someone might get working in an operations function or a finance function sometimes.
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You know, finance one could argue is very large in scope as well.
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But HR has always given me permission to sit at the table with leaders in their teams and understand their business.
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And it's also helped me understand A to Z when it comes to a customer.
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You know, uh working in retail for all those years.
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I just loved going to our designer's office in New York and watching him write um style on a piece of paper and just craft this amazing sweater and then get to learn how it all works through the process of showing up in a store.
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It just fascinated me and understanding the people and the talent that it takes to get something like that to actually show up in a store really intrigued me.
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And I just loved working in HR because it gave me the freedom to learn and work at a different level than being in a singular function, if that makes sense.
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Absolutely, it does.
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So, Rana, you were talking about um the loss of your sister.
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Yes.
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When um, and also when you were when you lost your sister, uh, how you were in a in a role in human resources, how you loved being in human resources.
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And what came up for me is that you're always in a learner mode, um, and you've always been a learner mode.
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Like definitely, you definitely embody the one thing that I truly believe, and and I say it over again when I'm coaching leaders, is as a leader, you don't have to have all the answers, you just have to put good people around you and ask the question.
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Yes, be curious, right?
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Something to be said for that.
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I had a a leader once say to me, Rana, it's always good to be green and growing.
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I want to be the alternative, and I've never forgotten that.
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It is so good.
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So good.
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And what do you you always say personal development is what do I say?
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Kisses and cupcakes or yes, personal development is not kisses and cupcakes.
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For sure.
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Why is that hurts?
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It's uncomfortable, it's pushing yourself to these uncomfortable places, and oftentimes for me, there's tears involved.
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Always, and for whatever reason, I just love torturing myself.
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I think I'm like always that person that wants sure.
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I'll give it a try.
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Sure, why not?
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I'll try that.
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And you know, even in times where I knew I'm not the subject matter expert in that, but I'll figure out a way.
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We'll we can figure it out together, right?
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You always do, you always do it.
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Totally, yes.
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So there's one thing that um I spoke about this before and and on my podcast, one of them, and and and this is a little off topic, but we'll get back to stop performing life here.
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But I want you to disp dispel disbelief around the HR function because a lot of people have the I don't trust HR, they're there for the company, this, that, and the other.
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However, you know, I mean, all that other bullshit, you know.
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I mean, we've heard it since God was a boy, and and those are a lot of people's experiences, right?
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So we cannot not honor those and acknowledge that.
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However, yes, the way you lead is not that way, right?
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You you lead no god no, but you lead in a way that is transparent to a fault.
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Yes.
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One thing that I appreciate about you is that if somebody had the courage to ask you, yes, losing my job tomorrow.
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That's exactly right.
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I have to look myself in the mirror every morning when I get up.
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So if somebody has the courage to come in here and ask me the difficult qu difficult questions of something that, you know, am I am I gonna lose my job?
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Or, you know, am I how am I seen in this organization?
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Or anything of that nature, I owe it to them.
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I care about people and I care about how they grow.
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And I want to get people to where they want to go and be who they want to be, regardless if they're in the organization that I work for or not.
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Like whatever it is that I can do to help and be in service of, that's what I'm going to do.
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But it definitely is a real thing.
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It's kind of fun whenever people ask me, so what do you do?
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And I say HR.
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I always get the oh God, really?
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Yeah.
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And it makes me chuckle.
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And it also makes me sad because look, they've they experienced something that obviously didn't go well for them.
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And for that, I feel sad for them.
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And I think that's why I work the in the ways that I do is to try and debunk that as much as I can for any organization, or just for me, personally and professionally.
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Because again, I'm the person looking back in the mirror at myself, and if I can't do that, then I've got big problems.
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So high integrity, a lot of transparency, sometimes to a fault, gulp rate.
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Yeah, you know.
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Um, I had a leader once tell me I can be feedback rich.
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I'm not taking that as a compliment.
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And she shared with me, well, it's critical feedback for you to gulp rate of people.
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What is their gulp rate?
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Pay attention to what they can hear and and the changes that they can make.
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So I've always kind of kept that close too.
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Yeah.
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Good, good, good.
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Yeah, there you go.
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Um, so you I will say something and or ask you a question.
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Let me figure out how to phrase this.
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What is your one virtue, value that you hold on to when you're about to have that really hard, difficult conversation?
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I would say, oh gosh, one might be hard to narrow down, but I think it's uh honesty, respect, and honesty.
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That would be the two values.
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It's so hard for me to narrow it down to one because those are such complicated, complicated exchanges.
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But it it's never comfortable to do.
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And I always have to call on my courage and always think about the person sitting in front of me and how I can help and support them in this journey, and how I would feel if I were them, and how would I want to hear that news if I were them?
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And what kind of support would I need if I were them?
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So really trying to put myself in their shoes and approach it in a very kind and respectful way, yeah.
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Yeah, clear as kind, right?
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That's right.
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Clear from A Brown, clear as kind.
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Yes, clear as kind.
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So you've had these really unique experiences as at work, right?
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Your professional career.
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You've learned a lot, you've developed these amazing skills, not as you know, a very highly capable leader, but also a leadership steward, a leadership coach, a leadership mentor, right?
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In your journey now outside of the professional world, has taken your love of equine.
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Totally, yes, passion around being um a cancer survivor and your leadership, and you've created something really cool and beautiful.
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Yes, I want you to share a share about that.
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How did that start?
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How did it start?
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Like, how did you start?
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You have to tell me the story, tell the listeners the story that um with your dad.
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You mentioned your dad, and he said something about he dared you, or he said he did something that you proved him wrong, and it was about a horse.
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Remember?
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So you remember the story that um with your dad about a horse.
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I remember this story, yes.
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Uh oh my gosh, I was like seven years old, my poor father.
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Like I said, I drove him crazy with wanting a horse.
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So I finally I think I drilled him down so much that he said, Look, if you can find a place to keep your horse, you can have a horse.
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And I was like, Okay, I'm gonna do this.
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And I don't think he understood exactly how determined I was to get a horse because probably about 15 miles from our house, there was a lady who I saw all the time, like driving home, and she had a pasture, and there was a horse, and her name was Mrs.
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White.
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I'll never forget.
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As a little girl, I ran to Mrs.
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White's house.
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I knocked on her front door, and when she answered the door, I said, My dad told me I can have a horse if I found a place to keep it.
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Can I keep my horse in your pasture?
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She said, Well, honey, um do you have siblings?
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And I said, Yeah, I have some brothers and a sister.
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And she said, Well, my fence needs mend.
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And if your dad and your brothers can come mend my fence, you can keep your horse here.
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And oh my god, Tassie, to this day, I still remember the joy I was experiencing.
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I ran so fast.
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Oh, so fast, and I'll never forget the look on my dad's face when I told him I found a place to keep my horse.
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It's like his whole expression, just no.
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And he knew he was about to break his little girl's heart, but I'm like so excited, and he said, honey, I can't afford a horse.
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I have six mouths to feed, I cannot afford a horse.
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I'm so sorry.
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And I was crushed, but I quickly got over it.
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I understood, yeah, and now today, doing what I'm doing, I'm like, woof, the work involved, it's a lot.
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So he's he saved me too.
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He saved me from all that.
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I had no clue the work involved, but yeah, that was so funny.
00:21:14.559 --> 00:21:19.359
So Rhana, you're you're um you're on a board today.
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Yes.
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What's the board that you're on?
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And how did you get to that board?
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How do you how did you discover the board?
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Jump jump all into that board.
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Oh, um, so I'm on the board of the cancer support community of central Ohio.
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And um in 2017, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and it was a stage one breast cancer.
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It was caught very early, thank God.
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I went through my radiation treatments and went to work every single day.
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As I was going through, and I'd started a new job.
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Uh three months after I was diagnosed, which was scary enough starting a new job, trying to prove yourself.
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Um, and then learning that I had breast cancer.
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So I didn't feel like I don't know where the work ethic comes in, but I didn't feel like one, I wanted to miss work.
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I was determined that I was gonna beat this cancer and that it wasn't gonna take me.
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Um I saw what it cancer has done to my father and my sister, and I'd be damned if it was gonna do that to me.
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So I got pissed at it and ended up becoming a survivor or cancer thriver, I'll say.
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And it's been almost 10 years cancer-free.
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Yay! And um after that journey with breast cancer, um, it's interesting, you know, when you go through significant losses in your life and then you experience a disease or an illness, it changes your perspective on life, quite honestly.
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So I was sitting at my table one day and um thinking about, you know, I feel like I want to make a bigger impact.
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I want to be in service of people outside of my corporation.
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And how can I go about doing that?
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And I met a young lady, I've known her actually for years, and I was sharing with her that I wanted to do something that could help women who were experiencing breast cancer find a community, feel supported, uh, people who may not have the same support system that I had going through it.
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And she had shared the cancer support community with me, and that her husband was on the board and that she would put me in contact with him.
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So after I talked to him, um, here I sit.
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I'm four going on four years being on the board for the cancer support community, and I've just loved every minute of my journey with them.
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It brings me such joy and fills my cup all the time that I'm making a difference in people's lives who are going through cancer.
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What I love about that organization is it it's there for all kinds of cancer, people that are experiencing all different kinds of cancers, and they take care of their caregivers and family, which is pretty phenomenal.
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Beautiful.
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Yes, yes.
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So love the work that I get to do with them.
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Yeah.
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Now you also have taken this passion of in service of others, this love of horses, and created something truly unique that is like when I think about how quickly it has grown because it's it's uh it's clearly needed, right?
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And fascinating.
00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:22.400
Just fascinating.
00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:26.160
Can you share a little bit about that and how did that come to be?
00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:27.599
Oh my goodness.
00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:42.559
So, you know, like I was sharing earlier as a small child how much I loved horses, and I've just always felt like in my core, I was meant to do something with horses, but I just didn't know what it was.
00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:50.400
And um, after I was on the board a couple years with cancer support, I just felt like I wanted to do something else.
00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:55.440
Um, there was something else out there that I wanted to do and I wasn't sure what.
00:25:55.599 --> 00:26:05.359
And then it all of a sudden just one morning as I was sitting with my coffee and having a moment of quiet that I love to do in the mornings, right?
00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:08.720
Get centered and grounded before you start your day.
00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:16.400
And it just hit me to start Googling like volunteer work with horses, and that's what I did.
00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:19.359
And I always saw, it's interesting.
00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:23.839
I um right where I live, Dreams on Horseback is like 10 minutes from my home.
00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:28.559
And I always saw it, and I was curious, wonder what they do.
00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:31.119
I need to stop there one day.
00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:40.880
So finally, when they popped up on my Google search, I called them and I started volunteering there at Dreams as well.
00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:44.880
And I Dreams on Horseback has my heart.
00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:47.039
Oh my gosh, I just love them so much.
00:26:47.200 --> 00:27:00.079
When I was there one day volunteering um with some traditional riding, um, I saw a veterans group and they were doing an equine class.
00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:11.599
And I was asking the owner about that, and she was sharing with me how equine therapy helps individuals who have experienced trauma.
00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:21.920
So I said to her, have you ever thought about doing something like that for cancer survivors, cancer patients, caregivers?
00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:25.839
And she said, It's funny you would say that to me.
00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:32.640
She said, I've been trying to figure this out for about five years now, and I can't quite figure out how to get that started.
00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:35.599
People are always asking me about that here.
00:27:35.920 --> 00:27:40.000
There were a couple people that work there that were going through cancer at the time.
00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:42.559
So I said to her, Well, I think I can help.
00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:48.400
I sit on this board and I think I can bring you the two organizations together.
00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:53.440
What would I have to do personally to be able to set something like this up?
00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:59.359
And she said, Well, you have to go through and get a few certifications to make this happen.
00:27:59.519 --> 00:28:08.000
So she shared with me what certifications in a matter of what task six months, I think I got four certifications.
00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:21.519
And that was, and then April of this year, we had our first cancer support program at Dreams on Horseback.
00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:26.240
And um, it's a full class of 12 people with a wait list.
00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:35.440
So it's it's had uh a lot of success and it's amazing work.
00:28:35.599 --> 00:29:01.119
Uh, it's all about the horse-human connection, and I get to witness just such magical things every Saturday, really, when I'm there, but with this cancer support class, right now we do it once one Saturday um a month, and we're looking for ways to raise money so we can offer it more.
00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:07.680
But um, yeah, and I just I can't believe how it's all come to fruition.
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:18.160
I just, it amazes me how you have a dream and a vision and you don't let go of it, it'll come true.
00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:23.759
It just takes belief and some patience, yeah, and putting it out there, right?
00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:27.279
And putting it out there and having the patience.
00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:30.319
It's all about timing, yeah, all about timing.
00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:35.039
I mean, when I think back on my career, I don't know that I could have done this like 10 years ago.
00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:39.119
I wasn't in the right space to do, right?
00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:50.160
And yeah, and I think about your leadership and the journey you went through on top of what your family has gone through.
00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:56.480
Yes, experiences have of course made you who you are right now and when you're ready.
00:29:56.799 --> 00:29:58.559
You weren't ready then to your point.
00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:01.359
No, no, that's exactly right.
00:30:01.519 --> 00:30:08.079
I mean, shared stories, shared experiences connect people together.
00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:09.599
Absolutely, yeah.
00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:10.799
Absolutely.
00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:14.960
You mentioned the horse-human connection, yes.
00:30:15.440 --> 00:30:16.960
Tell me about that.
00:30:19.279 --> 00:30:23.359
Well, horses you can get as woo as you want.
00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:24.000
I know.
00:30:24.079 --> 00:30:26.319
I'm like, uh, how do I offer some of this?
00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:27.599
This is woo.
00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:32.400
You you do you are very woo, which is why we're soul sisters, yeah.
00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:36.640
Um so horses are sentient beings.
00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:40.640
One could say all animals are sentient beings.
00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:50.640
Um, the thing that makes horses different from a dog, let's say, horses are prey animals.
00:30:51.119 --> 00:31:06.799
So they are constantly scanning their environment, they're always in the present moment, and they're always scanning to understand is something different about this environment, is something here gonna hurt me, eat me, whatever.
00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:28.160
So their energy systems are on, and they can feel the slightest difference in a vibration, and they can co-regulate with the human, so they can co-regulate their heartbeat with our heartbeat.
00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:41.839
So horses can sense when someone is being incongruent and when someone is being in their authentic self, and they behave in different ways.
00:31:42.079 --> 00:31:44.400
Um, and it's always so interesting.
00:31:44.559 --> 00:32:02.720
I think this is why this work works so well with people, because they have an animal with them that is not judging them, that is simply reading them and helping them to become more self-aware.
00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:09.519
And really, in doing this work, I'm just the facilitator for both of them, right?
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:35.519
And because, and that's why it makes trauma vic horses equine therapy is so uh beneficial for people who've been through trauma because the horses can co-regulate and they can help a human, human's nervous system settle down when they're very anxious and just become more open.
00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:42.000
And that's where the emotions and all the healing that needs to come out starts to come out.
00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:59.680
Um, it it really is something beautiful to witness, and that's simply because horses are all about trust, and and you as a human, they don't automatically trust, they trust what you're showing them, right?
00:33:00.160 --> 00:33:05.200
And when you think about a dog, dog is all about unconditional love, right?
00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:27.599
Right, that's why dogs make great therapy, animals, when it comes to love and support, where a horse is all about trust and uh building that trust out in the world that we're in, and how do we as humans learn to trust our environments, learn to trust people that are around us?
00:33:27.759 --> 00:33:29.759
How do we break down those walls?
00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:33.680
It truly is just a magical thing to watch take place.
00:33:33.839 --> 00:33:38.480
And I I get to watch it happen every Saturday at Dreams on Horseback.
00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:41.519
It just truly, I'm getting goosebumps just talking about it.
00:33:41.759 --> 00:34:00.799
I've seen autistic, like non-verbal, autistic kids that um learn how to ride horses, uh, some within months start to speak and seeing their their parents cry, and I'm crying, and the kids like, what's going on?
00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:08.800
You know, I'm just saying the horse's name here, but it just it's amazing what what these animals can do for us.
00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:10.719
It's just amazing.
00:34:11.440 --> 00:34:14.800
That's why I think I'm just such an animal lover.
00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:21.199
They truly are God's creatures, and they're put on this earth to love and support us.
00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:23.440
Absolutely, absolutely.
00:34:23.679 --> 00:34:25.360
No, I'm getting chills.
00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:26.480
I know, right?
00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:32.159
And I have absolutely no fucking patience for people who abuse animals, none whatsoever.
00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:35.199
None, no, no, no, no, mm-mm.
00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:37.599
Don't even get me in that rabbit hole.
00:34:37.679 --> 00:34:41.119
That's when I'm yeah, all I have an eye for an eye.
00:34:41.840 --> 00:34:44.159
Totally fires me up.
00:34:44.400 --> 00:34:47.679
Yeah, yeah, it's just there's no reason for it.
00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:48.559
None.
00:34:49.280 --> 00:35:03.119
Um, when you came to this realization about getting, okay, this is what I want to do, and I have to get these certifications.
00:35:03.440 --> 00:35:03.760
Uh-huh.
00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:06.079
But you were telling me about that.
00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:11.280
What came up was it was the same challenge your dad gave you.
00:35:11.679 --> 00:35:13.599
Oh, it so was.
00:35:15.039 --> 00:35:16.400
This is why I love you so much.
00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:18.639
You can connect to all these things.
00:35:18.880 --> 00:35:21.039
I never even thought about that.
00:35:21.280 --> 00:35:25.440
It's the same challenge, and you're like, fuck it, I'm gonna do it.
00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:26.719
Totally, yeah.
00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:39.280
And I think about everything that even just last week we were talking, and you're like, Well, I was given this big initiative, and I like okay, I'll figure it out, I'll get it done.
00:35:39.760 --> 00:35:42.800
Yes, like yeah, that's just what you do.
00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:53.119
I mean, think about your career over and over and again, and then then you're your cancer survivor, you're like, Yeah, I'll beat this shit, it's not gonna be me, right?
00:35:53.360 --> 00:35:54.159
Totally, yeah.
00:35:54.800 --> 00:36:08.239
Constant thread that you have through your experience of just raw courageousness and fearlessness, and you're fierce, you're just fierce.
00:36:09.199 --> 00:36:11.199
Who's your superpower person?
00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:13.280
Who's your superhero?
00:36:13.920 --> 00:36:16.239
Jeez, you know who this is.
00:36:17.519 --> 00:36:20.159
I send her to you on a regular basis.
00:36:20.960 --> 00:36:23.440
You send her to me on a regular basis?
00:36:27.599 --> 00:36:30.639
A Wonder Woman, yes, for sure.
00:36:30.880 --> 00:36:32.079
Love that woman.
00:36:32.239 --> 00:36:34.320
Yes, yes, Wonder Woman.
00:36:34.559 --> 00:36:35.840
What do you love about her?
00:36:37.679 --> 00:36:40.000
Just her courage and her strength.
00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:47.280
And I love that lasso lasso's people and they tell her the truth.
00:36:48.079 --> 00:37:09.679
I love everything about that, and I think that that's probably why I love the horse works, the equine works so much is because in their own special way, they lasso people and they get them to see their truth, yeah, in such a loving, respectful, non-judgmental kind of way.
00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:12.960
It's beautiful, and it's so safe.
00:37:13.280 --> 00:37:16.239
It is so safe, yes, yes.
00:37:16.559 --> 00:37:26.960
Now, I read somewhere about a horse's energy field, it's in and it's about 10 times larger than a human's, yes, right?
00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:34.559
Yes, so they can sense you before you're even close to them, yes, 20 feet away.
00:37:34.639 --> 00:37:52.960
They can start to sense heart rates and energy levels and what you're coming in with, and it's it's such a great practice of presence, you know, because when I am at the barn, I have to be a hundred percent present.
00:37:53.280 --> 00:38:05.280
Because, first of all, safety, they're like 1500-pound beings, they're huge, and if you're not paying attention, you could get stepped on or whatever the case may be, right?
00:38:05.519 --> 00:38:19.360
So, and I found moments in the barn while I'm with one of my equine partners, and my brain starts going off, and I do something stupid, and they put me in check right away.
00:38:19.519 --> 00:38:24.000
It's like, whoa, back in the present moment, yeah.
00:38:24.239 --> 00:38:35.920
So it's just such a good discipline when you're around them, and it's in such a gentle, like loving, non-judgmental kind of way.
00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:48.719
I mean, I walk out of that barn every week and I just feel so centered and grounded, and just yeah, I can take on another week in corporate America.
00:38:48.960 --> 00:38:50.079
The thought.
00:38:52.079 --> 00:38:57.440
And there it is, both totally in the nonsense of it all.
00:38:57.679 --> 00:39:18.400
Yeah, the not well, and I just think about the corporate America and the world just at large, it's just so noisy, and there's so much noise and and uncertainty, and just yeah, yeah, but but having that safe space, how beautiful.
00:39:18.639 --> 00:39:20.639
Totally, how beautiful.
00:39:20.960 --> 00:39:35.679
So, what is one of your number one, your number one moments being with, and this is about you, not anybody else, but you have a favorite horse, your little your man Ladd.
00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:37.840
Oh, I love Ladd, yes.
00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:40.639
We have a true connection, me and Ladd.
00:39:41.760 --> 00:39:45.760
When did you realize that you have a true connection with Ladd?
00:39:47.199 --> 00:39:52.719
When I started uh horseback riding lessons at Dreams on Horseback.
00:39:52.880 --> 00:40:09.039
So one of the trainers there, um, when I was sharing with her that I had this, uh I at the time I still wanted to own my own horse, but you know, now I'm told, well, you have 28 of your own horses, you don't need to actually own one.
00:40:09.280 --> 00:40:13.519
But I started, she talked me into horseback riding lessons.
00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:32.880
And I remember um the second time I got in the saddle, I was scared and nervous, and God bless lad, I was doing all the wrong things and I was confusing the hell out of him.
00:40:34.559 --> 00:40:47.039
And in one moment, he stopped and he took a deep breath, and as it was just so interesting because as he was taking a deep breath, something in me told me to take a deep breath.
00:40:47.280 --> 00:40:57.840
So we were taking this breath together, and I released it, and I felt so I'm getting goosebumps, I felt so calm and grounded.
00:40:58.159 --> 00:41:06.000
And I remember the trainer looking at me and said, Did you just learn, did you just see what happened there?
00:41:06.159 --> 00:41:07.760
And I said, What?
00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:13.119
Because I was still kind of you know up in the nervousness of it all, but trying to settle.
00:41:13.199 --> 00:41:16.400
And she said, Lad just took care of you.
00:41:16.719 --> 00:41:30.480
You were in this space of confusion, you were confusing him, and he just stopped and planted his hooves in the ground, and the two of you together took a deep breath and released it.
00:41:30.559 --> 00:41:32.960
And she's like, Rana, he's got you.
00:41:33.440 --> 00:41:42.320
And from that moment on, he has been just an amazing horse partner for me, and I just love and adore him.
00:41:42.480 --> 00:41:57.920
Every time I go to that barn, I have to go see Ladd, and we have a moment together, and I think he's, you know, I can tell what by his ears, he's always happy to see me because I always have an apple or a carrot or some sort of treat.
00:41:58.079 --> 00:42:00.239
Yes, I do bribe him too.
00:42:01.920 --> 00:42:02.960
And that's okay.
00:42:09.039 --> 00:42:10.719
Totally, absolutely.
00:42:11.119 --> 00:42:15.119
So, and you know, he acts he's a lot like a toddler.
00:42:15.199 --> 00:42:30.800
I've heard stories from folks that he has uh bucked people off and he has bitten people before, but I've never experienced that, and I don't feel as I don't feel like that would ever happen with with me.
00:42:30.960 --> 00:42:34.400
It's just it's a connection, it truly is.
00:42:34.880 --> 00:42:36.880
Connection to my heart.
00:42:37.360 --> 00:42:38.000
Yeah.
00:42:38.239 --> 00:42:57.840
And you know what's interesting, Rana, is the journey that you've been on, the learning you've been on with your your cancer support community, and not only what led you up to there, and then where you're at now, is there are no roles or titles involved in any of it.
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:02.719
No, no, there's not.
00:43:03.840 --> 00:43:07.519
No, and I kind of prefer it that way, right?
00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:16.639
Like you don't have to walk in as the executive to a corporation into your you know, the herd.
00:43:16.960 --> 00:43:30.800
Right your horses, exactly, yes, I'm a part of the herd for sure, nor do you, and you mentioned it before, you don't you have you're they know what you're bringing in before you know it.
00:43:31.119 --> 00:43:40.800
So you don't have to pretend to be somebody else or something, you're not there, you're true yourself, yes, absolutely, yep.
00:43:42.159 --> 00:43:48.320
Yeah, it's it's just an amazing, it's an amazing space to be in your life.
00:43:48.480 --> 00:44:19.440
I don't know exactly how it happens, but when it does happen, you get a sense of freedom from it all and liberation from it all, and I've learned that there are things much bigger and better out of these four walls in my office here, and that yes, I'm making a difference here, but I'm making a bigger difference outside of these four walls, and that's what matters to me more and more.
00:44:19.519 --> 00:44:22.320
That's my soul's work, definitely.
00:44:22.880 --> 00:44:25.039
Yeah, totally, totally.
00:44:25.199 --> 00:44:26.880
You took the words right out of my mouth.
00:44:26.960 --> 00:44:28.719
I just wrote down soul alignment.
00:44:29.360 --> 00:44:31.440
Oh, totally, yes, yeah.
00:44:31.679 --> 00:44:35.599
Like what you described was like, you know, you're in flow.
00:44:35.679 --> 00:44:39.760
Your soul is like, yes, you're doing the work that you were put here to do.
00:44:40.079 --> 00:44:44.880
And yeah, you get to do all this other work to prepare you for this work.
00:44:45.280 --> 00:44:46.960
Definitely, yes.
00:44:47.280 --> 00:44:47.840
Yes.
00:44:48.159 --> 00:44:55.519
Kind of going back to, you know, in young my in our younger days, you have you think about your career.
00:44:55.679 --> 00:44:56.239
How are you?
00:44:56.400 --> 00:44:58.079
How am I gonna pay the bills?
00:44:58.239 --> 00:45:00.000
How am I gonna make ends meet?
00:45:00.239 --> 00:45:05.599
And you find a career, and hopefully you find a career that can do all those things for you.
00:45:05.679 --> 00:45:11.280
So at some point in time, when I retire, I'm gonna be doing this full time.
00:45:11.920 --> 00:45:16.480
So, yes, yes, yes, I can't wait.
00:45:16.719 --> 00:45:21.920
Yes, oh my gosh, and we'll have to have you back on when that happens.
00:45:23.199 --> 00:45:26.639
Share all the things, absolutely.
00:45:26.880 --> 00:45:46.800
So, Ron, if one of our listeners wants to talk to you about your equine therapy, wants to learn more about um any programs that whether it's the cancer support community and or dreams on horsepack, how would they get that information?
00:45:47.679 --> 00:45:52.000
I would say go on LinkedIn and find my profile.
00:45:52.719 --> 00:46:05.119
My name uh is spelled Rana R-O-N-A, and my last name is Orbovich O-R D O V I C H.
00:46:06.000 --> 00:46:07.039
Excellent.
00:46:07.360 --> 00:46:11.039
Yes, excellent, and then just make a connection there, leave a note.
00:46:11.199 --> 00:46:19.599
Yep, give me a scam, leave me a message, and I'd be more than happy to reach back out to them and have a conversation.
00:46:19.840 --> 00:46:20.639
We would love that.
00:46:20.800 --> 00:46:25.519
We need many volunteers at dreams and at cancer support.
00:46:25.679 --> 00:46:29.760
So goodness, yeah, yeah, love to make the connections.
00:46:30.239 --> 00:46:31.840
Yeah, awesome.
00:46:32.079 --> 00:46:46.800
Well, we appreciate you joining us today, and thank you for sharing your journey and your beautiful stories, not only about your family and also about your equine partner.
00:46:47.440 --> 00:46:51.760
Oh, well, thank you, Tass, for giving me the honor to be on your podcast.
00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:57.360
So cool to watch you grow and flourish in your world as well, too.
00:46:57.519 --> 00:47:00.480
And I just love watching you, you're amazing.
00:47:00.800 --> 00:47:02.000
Back at you, babe.
00:47:02.159 --> 00:47:03.199
Back at you.
00:47:03.519 --> 00:47:04.320
Thank you.
00:47:04.559 --> 00:47:06.000
Yes, thank you.
