From Family Scandal to Impacting the World with Optimism | Episode 21

July 8, 2020
From Family Scandal to Impacting the World with Optimism with Jess Ekstrom. Live Boldly Podcast with Sara Schulting-Kranz.

What is the one thing you can do today?

Jess Ekstrom is the founder and CEO of Headbands of Hope, which to date has donated half a million headbands to children’s hospitals in 22 countries around the world, including every children’s hospital in the United States. She is the bestselling author of Chasing the Bright Side and she has been featured in major media outlets such as the Today Show, Good Morning America, The View, Vanity Fair, Seventeen magazine, Huffington Post and Forbes, and Headbands of Hope has been supported by dozens of celebrities.

Jess is also a professional speaker and the founder of Mic Drop Workshop, an online course with the mission of empowering more women to share their message as speakers. She currently is living in an Airstream, traveling America with her husband and their 70-pound poodle, Ollie. Otherwise, they call Raleigh, North Carolina home.

In this episode, Jess and I quickly go deep. We talk about family dynamics and the struggles of leaving a community. Jess reveals the challenges behind starting her business, Headbands of Hope. The resistance that she experienced in entrepreneurship is a normal part of the process. However, it’s essential to understand that business obstacles are not tied to our self-worth.

Later, Jess reveals the family scandal that made headlines around the world. Fortunately, eleven years later, Jess can find the silver-lining. Our experiences don’t define us, our stories do. As our stories develop, we can learn from them and pivot. After two financial disasters, Jess still needs to navigate her money mindset. It’s something we work on every day. Plus, we dive into optimism, changing the world, and forgiveness.

In This Episode:

  • About Jess Ekstrom [ 1:50 ]
  • Living in an Airstream [ 7:00 ]
  • Overcoming self-worth struggles [ 12:20 ]
  • Take tiny steps at a time [ 17:15 ]
  • Jess reveals her family’s scandal [ 19:50 ]
  • Navigating our money mindset [ 31:20 ]
  • About Chasing The Bright Side [ 41:00 ]
  • How to find forgiveness [ 46:50 ]
  • What REALLY matters? [ 52:05 ]

Quotes:

  • “I have a new appreciation for community. When you are constantly mobile, you have no roots anywhere.”
  • “When you’re in an Airstream, your outside is different, but the inside is always the same. You can change where you are, but who you are on the inside is the important part.”
  • “Grit and hustle don’t exist without optimism.”
  • “You have to know what you’re fighting for.”
  • “When we worry about winning the Super Bowl, we forget about getting the first down.”
  • “Our experiences aren’t what shapes us; it’s our stories.”

Links Mentioned: