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Xenia Ioannidis Full Video: Now I've done a lot of babysitting in my life. And story time was magical time. And I disciplined the kids based on, you know, do you want story time? Yes. This is the schedule. You have to be in bed by a certain time. That means story time has to be at this hour, bed, you know, all the stuff that comes before bed has to be finished by X amount of time. Otherwise we lose story time. And there was never a time when we didn't have story time. You know, if there was no story time, it was punishment. I mean, even on the days that something was planned and they wouldn't have the normal routine, we try to do it earlier or expand the time the next day. Welcome to the Power Up Universe Podcast, where we talk about different ways to help our kids build confidence and resilience so they can feel unstoppable in their lives. I'm your host, Scott Feld. Let's get right to the Power Talk. Welcome to the Power Up Universe Podcast with your host, Scott Feld. I have a children's author, guest today. Really excited to talk to her. And now I'm going to attempt to pronounce her name correctly. You can see it up on the screen there. It's Xenia Ionidas. How'd I do? Very good. You did very well. So great to meet you. Thank you for being on the show here today. We want to know a little bit about you, how you became a children's author, and then of course you're going to talk to us about what you write about. It's so cool. So Take it away. Welcome to the show. Thank you, Scott. Thank you very much for inviting me. It's a pleasure to be here. It's a pleasure to talk to somebody who understands, right? You're a children's book author as well. So that's exciting for me. I this is my third po first podcast with a co you know, an author like you writing to children. Yes. I'm honored of Yes. So I wanna say hello to all you listeners. Hello there, people. And I'm very excited to be here. So great to have you. So let's hear a little bit about you, a little background. We know that you are in Florida. Yes. And we and we know that you write children's books and we're gonna learn what that you have one book that's out plus a coloring book, and then you have not one, not two, not three, eleven more books ready to be published, which is incredible. You also shared with me that there's a song that goes with each one. So we're gonna get to hear a little bit of that music and song. So how did you get into this? Who are you? Okay, so to give you a brief synopsis of my career, I've just about done everything in terms of work. Okay. I studied hotel and food management at Boston University, so I spent a lot of time doing that. And then I didn't think that I was touching my creative vein. And I went and studied graphic design. And I was a very successful graphic designer, art director, cr you know, creative director. And I did a lot of interesting things like design mobile application and point of sale applications, user interface design and user experience design.
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Like way before there was a name for it. Like I did it and I didn't know what I was doing. Hmm, but you did it. I did it. I did it and I did it, you know, with so much enthusiasm. Anyway. And then it got to be that I sort of got myself out of the market in the sense that I was doing s such advanced work for the market in Greece that there was really no work for me anymore in the sense that they were all saying, you're gonna be bored here. No, no. Because then they have to pay, right? So So that answers another question. You're from Greece. Yes, I'm Greek American. Okay, great. So and then I sort of two thousand nine I transitioned into the healing work. Now I took a seminar, I started taking s healing seminars in two thousand seven just for me. And by the time I was let go in two thousand nine when the market crashed, I was already set up and doing healing work and it was a seamless transition. And what what kind of healing work? There's all sorts. What were you doing? I was doing quantum healing. Clearing negative energy, it's all spiritual, metaphysical, clearing negative energy so people can have make better life, better choices it with their life. And it's based on the Pythagorean past life research type of thing, but it also had a lot of Jesus in it and a lot of Christianity in it. So it was a Very interesting concept. So I've been teaching that since 2009 and went all around the world to teach it. So I was that. And then COVID came and the market just went crazy. Everything I had set up just sort of disappeared. I couldn't travel anymore in the sense that my organizer in China got sick, different things happened and they sort of fell apart. Everything just fell apart. So I lived on my in you know, my savings for a couple of years and then by twenty twenty three it was obvious I couldn't stay in Greece anymore. It was just there was no way to make a living. And I decided to come back to America. Now I grew up here, so it's a thing. So I came back and I decided to come to Miami and I couldn't get a job because you know, it's a very bilingual speaking town. Right, sure. You need to speak Spanish, I didn't know that. And I came here, couldn't get a job, got stuck here basically. Because you need money to leave and I didn't have money to leave. So eventually I became homeless. I was in a homeless shelter. I mean, I wasn't up on the street street, but I was in a shelter and I was so devastated and so sh ashamed of not being able to take care of myself. Yeah. And when I went there, they said to me, We have nobody like you in here. We have nothing to give you in terms of connections or jobs. Everything we have is for entry level stuff. There's no way we can give you a job. You have to do this on your own. So I stayed there for four and a half months. And during that time, as you can imagine, I was so distraught. Yeah. My church gifted me a prayer chaplaincy training. So I said, Okay, I've been a healer all my life. This is way easier, right? You just sit and listen to people and pray for them. You don't fix anything. You don't try to resolve the problem. You don't try you know, it's no thinking in I thought, right? I no thinking involved. Okay. You can just pray. Yeah. Anyway, so on the last day of training, the coordinator said to me to us, the the group. Now think what you could do with this training. In that moment I thought I could do a book about Christ consciousness for children. Wow. That was the first thing you thought. That was the first thing I thought. And now, mind you, as a healer, I I was teaching Christ consciousness to adults. Since two thousand seven, right? So why why kids? Why did that come to you, do you think? Don't ask the wee white. Okay. Don't ask the wee boy. I take it back. You know? It was it was in that moment that's what I thought. Now I've done a lot of babysitting in my life. Okay. And story time was magical time. And I disciplined the kids based on, you know, do you want story time? Yes. This is the schedule. You have to be in bed by a certain time. That means story time has to be at this hour. You know, all the stuff that comes before bed has to be finished by X amount of time, otherwise we lose story time. And there was never a time when we didn't have story time. You know, if there was no story time, it was punishment. I mean even on the days that something was planned and they wouldn't have the normal routine, we try to do it earlier. Or do you know what I mean? Or expand the time the next day. I know exactly what you mean. I have a ten year old. I've had story time for ten years. It's great. I love story time. So There I was in that moment. I said, I'll write a book about Christ consciousness. And then I started putting stuff in the book, right? And I wanted practical understanding. I wanted the kids to understand what it means because I was not allowed, you know, I grew up Greek Orthodox. I was not really allowed to question anything beyond what the church says, number one. And number two, no questions about faith. We believe because we believe. That's it. Stop talking. You know, nothing else. We that's the way your parents. That's who we are. Yeah. So at thirteen. Let's see the book. There it is. Okay. So crowned in faith. It's crowned in faith. Okay. And this is the inside, what it looks like. Great illustrations. Beautiful. Okay. Now you were going to give us a little passage from it so we can get an idea of what's in the book. You want to do that? Yes, please. Yes, that was a good time. So just to give you an idea, all right, so I'm gonna read Faith at Home. Okay. Good. All right. Faith at Home. When families pray together, speak and treat each other with kindness and respect, make each other feel strong and special, they become a great team and build faith as a family. And when each person does their chores, All the family members feel strong and proud to be a team member. And then you have faith in your family, even when you're not when they're
not with you, they're far or you don't feel good. Very nice. Okay. So let's talk about that a little bit. So y this book has some lessons that come from a Christ conscious kind of perspective, right? Right. And there is no other book that's children's books. about Christ consciousness. This is next one. Mm-hmm. No. Okay. Well, first. Okay, perfect. So I wanna go through because I took like this little picture of your upcoming books, right? So I wanna we know that this one is Crowned in Faith. Now you have Mm-hmm. Go ahead. Okay. So the series named Crown in Faith from the first book, which also is called Crowned in Faith. So the first book names the series. And then we have the You know, the twelve principles of Christ consciousness. So strength is a book name is God has my back. Yeah, I see that. That's cool. Wisdom, it's wise glow. Love is the caring shepherd. Power is the bolt trumpet. Imagination is clever sparks. Understanding is the understanding bridge. Will, willing paths do not hide. Order when order rules the day. Zeal, the fiery drums. Elimination, let go to let new and life, red seed of life. Okay, so these are your twelve books and they're all written? Well, I'm fine tuning like some of them are totally written, like the second book is already written. Okay. And finished, completed with pictures. The books are written, but we're still working on the pictures. Okay, the illustrations because that's a big project, yeah, the illustrations. That that's a big project for a book like this. Okay, and and this is like ninety two pages. So it's a big book. It's a big book. I saw that. And it and it's available on Amazon. Is that where you want people to get it? Yes. Yes. And soon it will be on all platforms and it will be available wholesale, worldwide, et cetera, et cetera. And we're looking into the translations as well. Yeah, right. And is there a what what formats? Is it one format, like hardcover paperback? Yeah, they have all those? Yes. All three. Okay. Got it. You know, but I have to tell you, the people that see the hardcover really don't want to go to paperback. Yeah, no, that's I mean the hardcovers are always so much nicer. Yes. Yeah. And they are sturdy because kids, you know, they get a lot of use. Yeah. Yeah. They throw around, good. This seems like I could be wrong, but this seems like a good book as an audio book as well. Have you considered that? You know, as a first time author. Mm-hmm. You have to understand, right? I've written all my life about anything you can possibly imagine. Mm-hmm. I've done people's websites, I've done PR stuff for them, written brochures, you know, because when you're creative director, you do everything for them. Yeah. And I've written all kinds of things and translated all kinds of things, but never and I wrote articles of course for my healing work and I've written articles for political stuff that I was involved in, the activism stuff that I was involved. But never a book. So when I first started and I thought, I'm gonna write one book about Christ consciousness and the more I kept thinking about it and putting stuff in it, you know, this is the book. So now it's twelve books. Yeah. Amazing. And to make it to make it interactive, I created the the coloring book. Yeah. Because kids love to color. But they also love to, you know, they ask a lot of questions. So It has like if you read the book, it has questions within the book. Give it give us a question or two. Okay, so hold on. Okay. Put you on the spot. You weren't No, no, no. because okay. Why does trusting friends mean faith? Okay. Why does trusting nature mean faith? Why does trusting Jesus mean faith? But these are things that are in the book. So if they read the book, they can answer the questions. But there are also some other things that are not in the book and it teaches them how to calm themselves and it teaches them all kinds of things. So are the answers to these questions like there is an answer or are these designed to spark a conversation? Or both probably Well if they read the book, it's easy to answer the questions. But some questions there is no particular answer in it. Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know They need to really think about it. In other words, I sort of ask what would they do? And then they have to sort of develop it on their own. Yeah. So it's it's mostly questions that they can find in the book, but also it's something that they can work on their own. And the thing is it does help the parent because, you know, the you have a lot of questions, right? Yeah. Kids read, they have a lot of questions and you need to answer. And especially fathers. They have they don't even know where to start and there's a lot of divorced people or single parents who have to you know, they really want to teach their children but they find it hard to and this could be used in a formal c classroom setting or bedtime at home and of course the songs can be listened to at any time. So it it translates well into the environment of children. So who's who's picking this up? Are there churches or re or organizations that teach about Christ? Are they picking this up and using it? That's the idea. In my opinion, schools would be challenging because schools kind of often separate, you know, religion. Right. 'Cause right. So what's who who are you, you know, targeting and who's who's coming who's coming on board? Well, here's the story. This is where I'm at now. In other words, I've created the books, the music, and the thing. And now I'm going into the marketing of it. Now, you know, my website, RealChangeAcademy.com, is gonna be up in two weeks. It's called white what is it called? Say it again. RealChangeAcademy dot com. Cool. So that's gonna be up and running in two weeks. And everything's gonna be in there. And the idea is that now I'm putting it out wholesale and you know creating that so the book is made available first and all that that goes with that. And then it's like I'm
starting to pitch for podcasts and then going to market. You know, you have to have your infrastructure set up and this is where I'm at. Yeah. You know, I am starting to promote the book. Yeah. It's good. Yeah. And podcasts are a great way to do it. I'm glad that we could be part of it. I love the messaging of it. I think it's great. Like I said, I have a ten year old. I'm gonna grab a copy for him. We talk about God and universe and things all the time. And yeah, I just want him to be able to see it as well. So thanks for doing it. You promised us a song. Yes, a song for each one. So let's we're gonna hear a little bit of of one of the songs here, right? Yes. And do you wanna pick a song or do you do you want me to I want you to pick because I don't I don't know the songs. All right, so here's the story. The story about this is that The songs are different genres. I didn't stick to a particular one. So there's Caribbean theme and there's rock and then there's Broadway and then there is, you know, more like even country style. So it's It's amazing. It's a very yes, it's it's a it's a it's a Jesus party, let's put it that way. Okay, so let's let's go for crowned in faith. Yeah, trust I believe with a heart so free and drowned in faith I will choose to be pray and I shine God in view. My faith grows strong and my dreams come true. Faith things are song and in their soul. Feel the wings got helping us all with every lap, with every star, with feeling this joy. We've got inside the shell of it, and you still got a shell of Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. So let's so you you wrote the lyrics to these songs? Yes. I wrote the lyrics to the songs and I used AI for the music. Because AI for the music. Okay. And Yeah, because I don't know anything about music. That's amazing. AI did a good job. And then so the vocals are not actual people that you know? No. Okay. Because don't forget I created this while I was homeless. That's right. so this is the homeless version. Wow. Hopefully it will be picked up by artists, but you know what? that's you know, this is where we are and maybe we'll have yeah. So when people say to me, you could have yeah, no, I couldn't have because at the time, right, just to sign up and you know, like even twenty dollars a month was a big deal. Yeah. You know what I mean? So Yeah. Let's take one more look at this, everybody. Check it out. And is this available somewhere to purchase? Actually, the music is available on all music platforms. If you just go crowned in Faith, it will come up. And if you wanna take a listen to the songs before you make that purchase, you can go on my Crown in Faith series YouTube channel. That's the name of it, Crown in Faith series. And you can listen to all 12 songs. great. So Crowned In Faith series on YouTube. Go subscribe to that for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So check this out one more time and then go ahead and stop the share so we can get the big face of you back here. Okay. Yeah, we're we're rolling
into the last couple minutes here. So I really love to just give my guests some final words. Anything that you need, or it could be just words of encouragement. Whatever it is you would like to leave any viewers and listeners with. You ready for that? Yes, thank you very much. I have to tell you, oftentimes people when I was doing the healing work, people come to me at broken at age whatever, you know, as adults. And it's very, very hard as adults to change. It's change is possible, of course, but it takes a lot of effort. And it takes a lot of hardship usually. People sort of let themselves be forced into the change rather than be proactive about it. Nobody really likes the upheaval. So the idea is do not leave the foundational stuff about your, you know, that has to do with your children till they're grown up. A lot of times they say, Well, he'll decide, she'll decide when they're grown up. No, do it now. Because for instance, this particular book, it's about giving somebody a plan of action. of how to be a self actualized person. That's what it really boils down to all twelve books. And oftentimes people wonder about the meaning to life and how to, you know, are they meeting the goal? Are they are worthy while, you know, worthwhile individuals. And I say that go out and do something. Go out and do something valuable. Like if you care about the trees, go and plant trees. And if you care about the oceans, go and protect the oceans, you know. To create a life with meaning, you have to surrender to whatever is valuable and to you, right? Whatever it is. And you have to surrender say, I'm gonna be that person. Like I'm gonna be the person that's gonna help on this little corner here. Because that's the whole idea. The whole idea is we make a better world by doing that. And the idea is having a life of meaning requires action. Mm-hmm. I was just gonna say that's what you're talking about, you know, thinking that you want something. doesn't actually create anything, stays in that dream world. Stays in that action world. And the problem is that comfort zone, right? It's leaving it. We want the result. We want that feeling of doing something meaningful. But we get scared, fearful, doubtful. And so I think what you're saying, especially with, you know, the title of your book is have faith in in yourself, you know? Right. And and in yourself, depending on what you believe. God or higher power lives within you. Right. And and that power is there for you once you choose to move, which is beautiful and great. So awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on our show and sharing about yourself and your work. One more time. Tell people where they can find you. Is there an Instagram you want them to go to as well as your YouTube? Instagram. I don't really do much on Instagram. I should, but I don't. Yeah. Pinterest, believe it or not, Pinterest. I have seventy plus thousand followers over there. Wow, all right. What's the Pinterest name? I don't know much about Pinterest. What's the name? I think it's Xenia I O A. Okay. Got it. Okay. And then the YouTube channel. The YouTube channel. Yeah. The YouTube channel. Crowned in Faith series and then the website RealChangeAcademy dot com soon in about a couple of weeks. So and of course Amazon. Amazon is, you know, follow me on Amazon for the books. Got it. Well, she says a couple of weeks, but by the time you hear this, it that couple weeks will have passed. So so you can go and check it out by the time this airs. Yeah, absolutely. So all right. Thank you, Scott. You are wonderful. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks for being on the show. I'm gonna say goodbye to my listeners and viewers, but you don't go anywhere. I have some things to tell you, okay? Okay, thank you, thank you. All right, thank you everybody for coming and listening, watching the Power Up Universe podcast. I appreciate you, and I will see you on the next episode. Bye, everybody. Well, that certainly was powerful as always. Thanks for joining, and remember, we all together can make a difference for our kids. They're counting on us to help power up their lives. See you next time, right here in the Power Up. Universe.