We’re celebrating our FIRST International Podcast Day with the host of This Girl Podcast, Daisy Blanchard. Make Time to be Kind today to listen and learn how podcasting:
- Uses your voice to educate, inspire & connect
- Is a vehicle for positive growth & mental health
- Is a powerful community-building vehicle
- Is an easy & doable form of daily self-care
- Is the spark of kindness we need right now
… and more!
SHOW NOTES:
International Podcast Day is a global celebration of the power of podcasts and of our community of PARKers listening! Let’s turn up the volume of kindness together by sharing this episode using #wePARK #InternationalPodcastDay
Connect with Daisy on Instagram @PocketfulofDaisy
Click here to Subscribe & Listen to This Girl Podcast on iTunes / Apple Podcasts
Visit Daisy’s website at www.pocketfulofdaisy.com
Click here to Listen to Marly Q.’s Episode on This Girl Podcast
Click here to connect with PODFEST Expo’s community of podcasters on Facebook
TRANSCRIPTION:
Hi PARKer, I’m Marly Q and welcome to Episode #27 with Daisy Blanchard. Today, I’m celebrating my first International Podcast Day with the host of This Girl Podcast. This girl Daisy was enlightened to share her gift to inspire and spark connections by creating a podcast or a digital family room as she likes to call it to offer moms a self-care pause in their busy day. As a proud mom of three boys herself, Daisy’s intention was to create a “sisterhood of motherhood”, where she can share inspirational stories, lessons learned and some of her favorite things from books and quotes to recipes on a weekly basis. She’s a PARKer who loves spreading her inner sunshine and making a difference one story at a time. Let’s listen!
[01:07] Marly Q.: I’d love to welcome to the show, Daisy Blanchard, thank you so much for making the time to be kind.
[01:09] Daisy: Are you kidding me Marly? Since I met you, I mean, you were such a bright light of sunshine and to know that you have a podcast that you launched this year, right in the perfect time, it is my honor to be here today.
[01:24] Marly Q: Thank you! So, we are celebrating International Podcast Day today, which I didn’t know was like an international holiday, did you?
[01:32] Daisy: I did, from I mean, since– I didn’t know it existed until I started in the world of podcasting. And then when it did, I thought it was so exciting because I’ll be honest, my husband’s the one that introduced me to podcasting so, once you’re in it, you all of a sudden realize that– what exists, right? So, when it came out, and I was a podcaster, I actually use this day to help people know what podcasting is so, that was three years ago, right? Because I started my podcast three years ago. But nowadays, and given the pandemic that we have, and that people now needed to really look at digital platforms, and how to communicate, I have a feeling everybody knows what a podcast is. So, I’m so excited to be part of an international day that’s celebrating connection, you know? And using your voice to give a message. So, I’m so happy to be part of this world, too and the fact that you’ve joined us this year on these platforms.
[02:30] Marly Q: Yes! And you were one of the very first podcasts that I was ever a guest on, I gave a shout out earlier this year. I mean, we started Time to be Kind with Marly Q. podcast in April, a couple weeks into the health crisis and pandemic that we all experienced this year in 2020. And I was just so inspired by your podcast, This Girl Podcast and if you want to refer to the episode that I was a guest on, it’s Episode #44, I’ll include it in the show notes.
But it was just so great because I realized, you know, “Wow, I’m now part of this greater community of podcasters.”, we all might have a different topic or a different take on the way that we’re doing podcasts but like you said, the underlying reason is for connection and using your voice to create connections and to educate. And you and I had a very similar purpose with our podcast is to spark conversations, to spark some positivity in the world, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence how we even met, if you’d like to share because I love the story of how we met and how it even turned into, you know, not just a friendship but a PARKnership, right?
[03:33] Daisy: That’s absolutely right. So, I decided to become part of a group that Luly B, hashtag mama boys, which I’m so excited to be with another mom of boys and–
[03:47] Marly Q: I’ve joined the club; I’ve joined the secret society.
[03:51] Daisy: So, I am well, we’re not trying to make it secret, and that’s why I did this podcast; there’s no secret of being a mom of boys, on the contrary, I invite you to be part of our community. And when I became a mom of three boys is when really, it sparked the idea of I was a little bit lost in the sense of, motherhood doesn’t come with a handbook; it doesn’t come with a road map. So, early on, you start creating friendships in the playground, right? And you start meeting moms and you start reading books and everything in the preschool years is great. But I felt like the best lessons I was learning was from the moms, from the lessons learned. So, as my kids were getting a little bit bigger, and I started getting the creative itch, my background has always been in communications and I’m a born you know, creative, I love creating stuff. So, I kept really busy being homeroom mom and in schools, but there was something else pushing me, pushing me so, people would ask me and I had a beautiful career at NBC at Discovery Networks, and I never thought I was going to be my career to be a mom. But to be honest, once I became a mom, there was no looking back, I knew I wanted to dedicate myself to that. But this is where the aha moment came, is when people ask me, “So, Daisy, what do you do?”, I’m like, “Well, I’m a realtor.”, because I’ve always had that, which has to do with family life. I say, “I don’t look for houses. I look for homes.”, so, I always got satisfaction in doing that. But I use that to qualify that I wasn’t just a stay at home mom, right? And then I was like, “Well, why not?”. So, I had this epiphany moment, I’m not kidding, it just came down, I’m like, “The hardest title that I’ve worked hardest for and dreamt of is to be a mom. The one that I high with highest regard, is to be a mom. And being a mom is taking care of what matters most in life, period, for me.” So, that’s when I had the moment I was like …
“I want to create a space. I want to create a digital family room where moms could come together, where we could talk.”
… and at the time I really was thinking #momofboys, like mom of boys needs to get together. Because I felt like girl moms always talk, they play dolls, they play crayons, boy moms kind of met in the field; we met in the sports arenas, or you know, there’s boys also do instruments and boys do other stuff but usually, with a team environment. It was different the interaction between girl moms and boys at the time, right? So, I was like, “I need to create something. I’m going to do a blog. I’m going to do a blog on mom of boys and I’m going to start creating a community.”. So, that’s where I was thinking like, “I’m going to create, the only thing we don’t have in common is we don’t have that girl so, I want a sisterhood of motherhood.”. I’m like, “That’s where I was at.”. But then my husband saw me like, like, “Babe, I’m going to create a blog.”, he’s like, “Sweetheart, you don’t even have time to have lunch, between the boys, between you, you know doing your real estate, with everything you’ve got going.”, and then I started with my Instagram; that was like my creative outlet at the time. He’s like, “And you’re doing your photos on Instagram and stuff.”, he’s like, “When are you going to write?”, he’s like, “What you need is a podcast.”. I’m like, “A what?”, he’s like, “A podcast.”. I was like, “What is that?”, he goes, “That’s what I listen to every day, Adam Carolla when I go on my walk.”, I’m like, “What do you mean? Who are you having a bromance with? Who’s Adam Carolla?”. He’s like, “He’s the number one podcaster.”, he’s like, “Babe, that’s what you have. You have the gift of gab, you have the gift to like, anywhere you go people want to know you. Everywhere you go, you make a connection. You’re like, “Oh my god, I know that girl.”. Like, you’re always hooking people up together.”.
So, in 2018 on Christmas, my husband created a studio and gave me my first studio as my Christmas gift. I know, he’s my producer and he believed in me. And I have to tell you, this is what I love since we’re talking about international podcasts, it is a beautiful, organic, creative outlet where people can use their voice to create community, to make people laugh, like mine is informative. I want it to be a resource, I want it to be tips, I wanted to create community. What did I know best? I knew how to be a mom. What did I have? People and literally, not girls, like women and men, I’ve actually just started to venture out with men, I really started just moms, moms talking and it evolves, and that’s the beauty about podcasting; there is no, in my opinion, right, perfect way, it evolves and I think you have to evolve through the years. So, even though I started off, maybe wanting to just talk to mom of boys, which I found interesting enough, a little challenging, because mom of boys didn’t always want to talk, by the way.
So, I’m still cultivating that because I still think that’s a strength that I have and now that I’m entering teenage years, it is definitely a place where I want to collectively start ringing more moms to talk about or share learned experiences because there is no handbook. But I’ve also always wanted to educate, inspire, connect and spark conversation. I think people need to talk more, I feel a lot of people are texting, the new youth is texting, like I try to bring my boys, we’re not there yet, maybe we’re going to get into that, you know, in the next season. But I really love that with podcasting, it’s a beautiful evolution and it’s what you make of it. So, sometimes I bring a nutritionist, sometimes I show up solo if I get inspired and now with this pandemic, it’s been pushing me to really bring positivity, people are looking for that and use this as a mental health like, you need to disconnect.
I always wanted to create a pause for moms, a pause for self-care, I’m like, “You’re in the car…”, I feel moms always try to be productive, right? We always want to be productive. So, if you’re waiting in the carpool lane, or you’re outside in your car, tune in for 20-30 minutes, just like yours, yours is like this inspiration that comes in, where you know what? You just are stuck in your day and you want to know what you can do or you need to hear about how you could be kind, how you can give back, we know where to turn to; we turn to you, you know? It’s time to be kind anytime, you know. So, I feel so lucky and I’ll tell you, some of my happiest days is when I am either interviewing or broadcasting because I do feel that I’m making a difference, one little story at a time.
[10:40] Marly Q: You absolutely are and that’s why I really thought of you to invite you to come on my podcast because I see that passion for it, I feel that spark of energy with it. And when you reached out to me to have me be a guest on your podcast, I was like, “Me? Like, I don’t know anything about podcasting. I just started did this thing like last week.”, I think you brought me in, like one week into my podcast. I’m like, “Please, I didn’t even– don’t promote it yet; I don’t know if it’s any good.” I had all these doubts, and really, just a couple of months in, I’m loving it and it’s more like, “Why did it take so long to start this?”, right? As a planner, you want it all to be perfect, and you want to plan it all out and what I realized is, first of all, that I’m surrounded by amazing people, that every single person that I have reached out to is a resounding, “Yes, I’ll make the Time to be Kind and be on your podcast.”, I’ve shared so many stories, all of them are organic conversations, nothing is planned or, you know, very fixed outcome that we’re trying to get and the stories and the inspiration and the advice have really all been so enriching to me and that’s gotten me even more committed to my purpose, which was to spark kindness and ignite it worldwide through people and storytelling.
And I just see you doing that with yours focused in on moms who, I really also agree with you, need the inspiration, need the community and need advice and education and instruction on how to make Time to be Kind because …
…As busy as we are, the Time to be Kind is always now and there’s always time for some self-care.
And maybe we just need to redefine what that time for self-care looks like because like you said, you can be in the car and instead of having your mind being in the future of like, “What do I need to cook for dinner? What do I need to do? Or what happened earlier today?”, or ruminating in your mind about things and stressing yourself out you’re like, “You know what? I can go to This Girl Podcast because Daisy always sparks inspiration. You know what? I can make some Time to be Kind listen to one of Marly Q’s episodes.”. I try to make them all under 30 minutes in the interest and recognizing the value of our time is short.
So, I just love this new world that I tapped into my own courage to step into and I just really appreciate people like you that are living it, doing it and inspiring other people to also use their voice to spread a positive message and to lift and inspire other people and connect and build community, which is what I’ve always been about, just through live events; it’s always been through the live event vehicle. And I’m just realizing that this virtual vehicle is just as powerful, if not even more powerful and I’m just so grateful to be a part of the podcast community now as well.
[13:25] Daisy: I know, I am too. I feel like every month, I’ve now thrown myself more into the podcast world and connecting with other podcasters, and just like any industry, the more you network or the more you get to know people, you make connections and it takes you somewhere else, which brings us to this point, right? So, it is still a little bit of a passion project, I’m kind of transitioning to see if it turns into more of a business, it’s going to benefit someone, right? If the sponsors that are looking for my audience, this is a fit for them, but it was when I met Luly B. So, Luly B is a mom of boys and she had her sons, and it was instant, talk about someone who sparks everywhere she goes, right? It was instantaneous. I was like, “You get it.”. We were like minded; she was so entrepreneurial. I was like, “What do you do?”, and she told me what she did, and she invited me to her conference, her big SPARK conference. So, I went to her conference, empowering women to follow their passions and it was just when I was starting my podcast, and I’m like, “I guess I should continue to do this, I really don’t know who’s listening.”, and she just fueled, right? She was that wind that feeds the fire. And she invited me to, what she has on Fridays, that she has Cafecito’s. So, she has A Cafecito with Luly. So, I went to her Cafecito and sure enough, there’s this woman who’s just, she glows everywhere she goes, and I went to her and I was like, “Who are you? And what do you do?”, she’s like, “Hi, I’m Marly Q.”, and I was like, “What do you do here with Luly?”, and she was telling me, “Well, no, I have PARK.”, and I’m like, “What’s PARK?”, and she showed me this sticker and it was like this whole movement about kindness. And early on, I was like, “Well, I need to meet you.”, and she had a TED talk and I was so taken aback, you know that Luly had these beautiful women making a difference. And then, sure enough, a year later, she continues to grow, and she became a yoga teacher, she became a mom, and she launched a podcast. I mean, you are definitely proof of an amazing woman who is following her purpose and her passion, which I compliment you. But I also wanted to do the shout out because that’s what we do here, right, is to our friend, Luly B, who started this connection, and I believe she’s also been on your podcast.
[15:46] Marly Q: Just last week! She was our guest just last week, so, it’s perfect!
[15:49] Daisy: Those who are listening today and haven’t, catch up on that, one talk about another amazing woman who inspires and motivates everything she does. I’m part of her Boost Program right now and she’s totally boosted my business and my podcasts and me as an individual because her group really empowers women, period, and helps them bring joy in their life. So, I’ve been working on me this year. In fact, you even had Caroline de Posada, I started her course because one of my goals this year was to look and feel my best. I was going into the big 50, J Lo inspired me, I’m like, “If that’s what 50 looks like, I’m all over it.”. So, I had to like, move my body and eat better, like I want to look and feel my best. So, when one of our dear friends launched this new program to live up to for 28 days, you know, “Here’s your challenge. You’re going to do your C.O.R.E..”, talk about acronyms, right? There’s another amazing podcast that you have and as I say, this is stuff that I love to inspire and share with moms is, my journey as a mom and share the great people that we have in our lives.
[16:58] Marly Q: Yeah, I absolutely love it. Caroline was one of my very first guests early on, I’ll reference the episode in the show notes as well. And I met her through Luly B at her home one day. Our story was just so great, because I actually met her dad years ago at an event speaking and then met her a couple years later, right when he passed away and I connected with her instantly through Luly, which big shout outs to our girl because sitting around at her table, five years ago or so is when I first even said the words, “I want to start a podcast, I want to start speaking at a greater level.”. I was just so scared at the time and I was so short on time and I just didn’t know how I was going to do it and Luly looks at me, and I shared the story in last week’s episode but so that you know, and those listening can go back and reference it, she called me out, like, “How dare you not share your voice? How dare you not make the Time to be Kind to yourself and others and magnify you know, your message in a bigger way? How dare you not?”. And I was just like, right? The big gulp, it took me a couple years to work up, honestly, the courage. I started doing Snapchat videos and Instagram videos just to kind of get out of my own way with sharing my voice live that way and here we are, all these years later. So, I’m just so grateful. I really see my podcast as a way to also thank, to also just express my gratitude for all the amazing, incredible people that surround me, that lift me up, that encouraged me to keep going. Sometimes when you’re on your mission, it can feel like you’re kind of going at it alone, sometimes as an entrepreneur, many people feel and especially this year, with so much kind of self-isolation, you need your community, you need your tribe, for me, it’s my Kind Qrew that surrounds me, that just keeps me focused and motivated and inspired to keep being the spark of kindness and see the value in sharing your voice and sharing your stories and building community and surrounding yourself with kind minded people that just keeps sparking back inspiration and motivation
“be the change that you wish to see in the world”, which I know we both love that quote by Mahatma Gandhi.
[19:02] Daisy: I do. And another one that I love is Mother Teresa and it’s one that I live by, even when I like started this podcast, I always think of her because it was the one that, I always kind of paraphrase it, but I love the one that, “No one should ever leave me not being happier.”, and that’s literally like, I have it written in my screensaver and every time I get on the mic, I kind of like, before I read it to myself, and that’s what I do in my podcast is, I just want to share a little of my inner sunshine. And even during these times, I’ve doubted going out there because I was like, “I know there’s a lot of darkness and I know there’s a lot of pain.”, and sometimes I wanted to maybe just take a break from it because I was like, “Okay, here I am bringing you sunshine, bringing you happiness, and life is tough right now.”. But I’ll tell you, like the two times, like two weeks that I maybe took off just didn’t feel, maybe the right word, Marly is courage. I didn’t have the courage to come up there and show up the way I usually do, one, because maybe I wasn’t feeling it. So, I like to show up authentic, that’s one of the things that I do in my podcast is, I tell you how it is. I say it how it feels, and I felt I couldn’t come on and be 100% cheerful but what I probably needed to do that day was show up saying, “It’s okay not to be okay.”, and it took me a couple times to realize it because I did show up once saying, “It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to be sad. We’re all crying, don’t cry alone.”, you know? So, that’s what we try to do in this podcast, and then I’ll tell you, the few times that I didn’t show up, I was called out. I was called out because a lot of people said, “Daisy, what you have innately and your God given gift to be positive and to have that beautiful inner light, you need to shine it on people who can’t find it right now.”.
[21:04] Marly Q: And that need it.
[21:05] Daisy: And that need it, you know? And you have that same power and that same gift. So, sometimes when I’ve doubted myself and I felt that I didn’t need to, it’s where you have to hear the Luly in our background saying, “How dare I not show up?”, you know?
[21:21] Marly Q: That’s exactly what I was going to share right now because I experienced the same, and especially with my podcast being so new, I’m like, “Man right now, do I want to come out?”, and like my scheduled episodes were you know, hugging the world, and the importance of smiles and all this positivity. And I’m like, “Man, right now, people are going to be like, “Shut up. I don’t want to hear your little spark of kindness, I don’t want to hear your little positive voice.”, when people are so stressed and people are so fearful and there’s so much uncertainty and so much tragedy and pain and protests and all of this that we’ve been experiencing in 2020, how? There I go with that word, that phrase, whenever I hear myself, you know, practicing awareness,
I hear myself saying like, “How dare you?”, I hear our friend Luly B saying, “How dare you not?”. Because if my mission is to be the spark of kindness, how dare I not have the courage? And it does take courage to be kind, it takes courage to have that awareness that you’re scared to share your voice and that you’re scared to show up and maybe offend someone that’s not feeling cheerful right now and doesn’t want to hear some positivity. How dare I not show up anyway, and tap into my purpose and say…
“Hey, we’re experiencing some really dark and difficult times right now and my hope, with my life’s mission and with this podcast is just to be a little spark in your day, in this moment, in these 30 minutes that we’re together, I hope that I can inspire you to be kind to yourself, to each other and to the world because what the world needs now more than ever, is kindness, is unity, is positivity, is hope, is healing by making time to be kind.”
… it’s really my greatest conviction and what I’m trying to accomplish on a greater scale through this podcast. So, I definitely heard our dear mutual friend Luly B saying, “How dare you not show up?”, and I showed up. And you know what? People thanked me for being like a little spark of light in these crazy times that we’ve been living and I’m like, “Oh, good, you know, I’m so happy.”. But I did experience that as well and it does take great courage and I want to honor you for your courage to have started your podcast two years ago, for you to continue building it, continue growing community for moms, and inviting me into your beautiful community as well and giving me the opportunity to share a bit of my story and promote my own podcast. So, this is not just a way of me saying thank you to you and spotlighting you, because you spent all your time interviewing others, but my way of being able to give you the spotlight for a little bit too because you super deserve it and I hope that all of our PARKers listening make the time to be kind and follow This Girl Podcast; I’ll include all the links in the show notes, and that they really take the time to connect with you because their life will be enriched as a result for sure.
[24:01] Daisy: Thank you so much, Marly. Why did it take you so long to do this when you knew you wanted to do it? The timing is perfect, you have to believe there’s divine timing. I mean, the world needs this message right now more than ever so, I believe in that. I always kind of say there’s a divine inspiration in my mic, and I kind of go with the flow, it’s unscripted and sometimes I just give my guests and outline to keep us going but I love when divine inspiration hits, because it’s kind of like, what our guests need to hear at the time and right now, I love that you’re seeing such beauty and kindness in the world, I do. And the fact that you’re showing up every week, every Wednesday, is an attestment to this amazing platform, shout out to all the moms that are just getting to know what podcasts are, and for those that are even curious to start it, I will let you know from my perspective since we’re kind of celebrating International Podcast Day, it’s not as intimidating as you think, there’s people who started this in their closets in their room, people that are doing it in their car, like you see, maybe nowadays a lot of the podcasts are also now moving into video like, vlogging and video because, again, the world has been somewhat shut out so, the beauty of the video is now you got to see someone and I’m a people person, so I definitely miss that a lot, like the human touch is something I miss dearly.
But for those that are considering, like, “Should I do one? Should I not? I don’t have the equipment. I don’t know what to buy.”, and you might see Marly and us with like some headphones and a microphone and it might look professional to you, it’s really simple to start.
I’d be more than happy to share, on the show notes, the basic equipment that I use, that my husband set up for me, my husband loves to do kind of the podcast, nowadays there’s producers that you could pay for and they do it; this industry has evolved.
I think there is definitely space, for everyone I know, it seems like everybody has a podcast these days, but not everybody has the same message. And on the contrary, for instance, I had Marly on mine, she had me on hers, we’re getting different audiences and we’re expanding the messages. We have different platforms, from here, you could come to my website, my Instagram, which is @pocketfulofdaisy. The reason I did “Pocketful of Daisy” is because I have so many pockets so, I have my mom blogger pocket, I have my real estate pocket, I have my podcast, which is called This Girl. So, I encourage you all, if you’re thinking about it, definitely DM me, come visit me @pocketfulofdaisy or leave me a message on This Girl Podcast, just like Marly, we’re both on every platform, from iHeartRadio, Spotify, iTunes is one of the most populated platforms. There’s Stitcher, there’s on our own websites so, you could definitely find us everywhere and anywhere you want.
And moms, both myself and Marly are in that arena to find that little space for you, give yourself, it’s almost like a 20 minute of meditation if you want to call it, it’s enrichment for your soul.
So, mommies, I invite you to check me out and follow me on @pocketfulofdaisy, that’s my Instagram, I always post my inspiration of the day, my Friday favorites, on Wednesdays, I do my podcast. So, along with Marly, I’m here to find your pause, give you that self-care pause that all our moms and women deserve and need it more than ever. So, thank you, Marly for inviting me, it was such a pleasure to be here and share a little bit of my kindness with your PARKers.
[27:46] Marly Q: Oh, it was so felt Daisy, you’re such a spark of sunshine. Thank you for making the time to be kind with me and all of our PARKers listening.
[27:55] Outro: I hope you enjoyed today’s Pocketful of Daisy episode and I invite you to listen to This Girl Podcast, for her weekly spark of inspiration too. You can find Daisy’s direct links over at marlyq.com/27. And hey, if you’re a podcaster or interested in starting a podcast, we invite you to connect with Podfest Expo, a community of powerful people who are passionate about sharing their voice and message with the world. This year’s Podfest Expo made the Guinness World Records title for the largest attendance for a virtual podcasting conference. You can find the link to join their Facebook page to connect and learn more over at marlyq.com/27.
[28:37] Thank you for listening. If you’re inspired to make a little more time to be kind, please subscribe, leave a kind review and share with a friend who would appreciate this podcast too. Thank you for being the spark of kindness. See you next time. [28:49]
