Gifts For You Ep. 1 Featuring Adaora and Tom Earl

In the last few months leading up to my daughter’s birth, I began a podcast project.

I had a few intentions with this project. 

I wanted her to have a set of recordings that could serve as a time capsule of what life was like just as she was arriving.  And for her to begin life already surrounded by a community who was invested in her. 

In the end, I interviewed over 20 people for this project.

I began these recordings in the late summer of 2019.  

Little did I know what was awaiting all of us just around the corner. 

As I’ve been relistening to these recordings I have found deep meaning in each conversation, and I hope you will appreciate them too.

That is why we are starting the 2022 season of THE Celebration podcast by sharing a newly edited edition of these interviews. 

The series is entitled: Gifts For You. 

It will span 13 episodes in total. 

This week we bring you our first episode of the series; a conversation between myself and my wife Adaora. 

It was recorded 1 day before our daughter arrived into this world, and 22 days before the world changed profoundly.

I hope you enjoy it.

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.

Personal Stories From My Entrepreneurial Journey

Entrepreneurship is a spiritual journey. 

It brings to the surface every single fear, insecurity, doubt, and all of that nasty self-talk. 

Which is truly a gift, though it’s hard to see at the moment.

To succeed, it takes hard work, going through each and every emotion. 

Each new level of success invites us to go deeper within. To more fully own worthiness.To build that foundation of self, beyond external validation and outcomes. 

And at the same time, entrepreneurship invites us time and time again to really ask this question:

→ What do I truly want? 

→ And WHY?

There have been many times where I’ve finally climbed a tall mountain, only to look around and wonder, “is this really where I want to be?” 

Reflections that have led me to a life that I am truly grateful for. 

This week I’d like to get personal and share with you some of my deepest stories and their significance in my journey. 

I see it as a really special way to close out the year of this podcast. And I’m grateful that you’re here to share it. 

Let’s go on this journey together. 

🎧 Listen now: http://www.tomearl.me/ej

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.

“I Was Not What They Expected” With Dr. Kikanza Nuri-Robins

Sometimes you just don’t fit in. What should you do then?

Explore this intriguing topic with us as we chat with our very special guest, Dr. Kikanza Nuri-Robins, author of several books including Fish Out of Water.As someone who never fit into a particular group, she became a force for awareness and change.

For years, she’s been an amazing advocate for justice, equity, and inclusion, for hundreds of organizations across the country and continues to teach companies how to create a healthy corporate culture for all employees. 

When asked to describe herself in 6 words, she replied: ”I was not what they expected.”

Come by to hear our discussion where we go deeper on what it’s like to feel like someone who doesn’t belong and how we can play our part to help society become more inclusive.

🎧 Ready to listen?

Head over to: www.tomearl.me/knr.

Check out Dr. Kikanza Nuri-Robins’ books and how you can work with her here.

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.

Inspiration & Creativity On Demand

The famous villain we all call: “writer's block.”

This week we’re exploring misconceptions and biases and answering these questions:

👉 Is writer's block real?

👉Can we be expected to create “on demand”?

I’ll cut to the chase… my answers to both are YES.

I’ll admit, perhaps we can’t all just create genius-stand-the-test-of-time works of art on command each time.

But to create the extraordinary we need to go through the ordinary every day.

If we only create when we have a “flash of insight” we might be waiting a long time.

Because creativity is rarely glamorous or sexy. It’s hard work, practice, and pushing through the “mental blocks” that come up.

If creativity is required in any way in your craft then this episode is for you.

There’s even practical tips and reflections on how you can tap into your creativity on demand.

Spoiler alert: turns out every single one of us uses creativity every day.

Let’s do this. 

🎧 Listen now: www.tomearl.me/icd

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.

Compassionate Survival & Dancing Through Healing With Jayson James and Lydiana Garcia

When was the last time you danced out all your feelings?

We’re all doing a bit of “surviving” after the last few years… and we could all use a little extra love.

You MUST listen to our special episode that can only be described as POWERFUL as we went really deep with Jayson James and Lydiana Garcia about being strong and vulnerable and what it takes to keep going.

Lydiana is a therapist and healer, using her passion for dancing to support trauma survivors. She describes herself as a mom, healer, dancer, spirit, teacher, and student. 

Jayson describes themself as compassionate, warm, bright, survivor, loving, and balanced.

This is one amazing discussion you won’t want to miss.

🎧 Ready to listen?

Go to: www.tomearl.me/jl

After the episode, hang out with our guests on Instagram!

Jayson.

Lydiana.

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.

Creativity Is: Life, Always Evolving & A Relationship With Amir Abdullah & Kelly Wilkerson

“Fall in love with yourself first and then let everyone watch.” 

There are so many ways to evolve in your artistic endeavors, but our guest, Kelly Wilkerson, suggests starting within yourself.

We talked with her and Amir Abdullah about the difference between art and life. 

Guess what they said… there isn’t one. 

Life is art and art is an offering to the world.

Amir reflected that creativity is a relationship with giving and receiving, a collaboration with others. He describes himself as aware, thoughtful, uncertain, amiable, an ambivert, and evolving. 

Kelly believes everything is creative, to evolve her art as she keeps showing up everyday as her full self. Because each of us, especially you, are worth showing up for. She also describes herself as: emotional, confident, spiritual, kind, empathetic and empowering. 

Ready to experience the full episode?

🎧 Watch or listen to it here -> www.tomearl.me/ak.

You can hang out with Kelly Wilkerson on Instagram.

Amir asks you to check out his website to get to know him.

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.

Facebook & Instagram Ads Reflections With Nickey Rautenberg & Tom Earl

Do you use paid ads for digital marketing? Should you?

On this week’s episode, I’m joined by a brilliant marketer, Nickey Rautenberg Norrish, as we discuss the ever controversial topic of… paid Instagram and Facebook Ads.

This topic has so many layers, it was fun unpeeling them by reflecting on best practices and past .

Most people don’t know that with a low budget ad spend, they can be getting 25x the clients vs. organic reach… and with a lot less effort. 

But so many are unsure of the unknown, have heard horror stories of ads being rejected, or just don’t know where to begin.

That’s why Nickey and I really get into the science of ads and how to use them, with tips on what you should do next to get started or optimize what you’re already doing.

I get the honor of working with Nickey through my Facebook Ads agency - THE Celebration Media, so I can say she’s truly an expert I trust!

🎧 Ready to listen? Let’s go!

You can watch or listen here: www.tomearl.me/nickey

Wanna know more? Follow Nickey on instagram.

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.

Complex Connection and Unrestrained Release With Andrea Hodos and Omar El

We’re back for another one of my favorite style episodes where we dive DEEP into gratitude with two seriously amazing guests. 

This week was full of beautiful feelings that could only be described by one of our guests, Omar El, as therapeutic.

Andrea Hodos is an artist, the creator of Moving Torah and an Associate Director at NewGround: a Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change.

She goes deep to talk about connecting to yourself as well as others and shares how she helps others to do just that.

She spends much of her time connecting people with their roots.

Omar describes himself as complex, an idealistic dreamer who is hardy and multidimensional. He shares his vision for the world and what he’s currently creating for the world at HighAtlas.Shop.

You won’t want to miss what these two lovely people share with us on this episode of Complex Connection and Unrestrained Release…

Get in touch with Andrea on her website:

Hang out with Omar on Instagram:

Ready to dive in?

🎧 Listen now: www.tomearl.me/ao

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.

Discovering Your Effortless State

“Burnout is not a badge of honor. It is true that hard work can equal better results. But this is true only to a point…

All too often, we sacrifice our time, our energy, and even our sanity, almost believing that sacrifice is essential in and of itself...

...what if, instead, we took the opposite approach? If instead of pushing ourselves to, and in some cases well past, our limit, we sought out an easier path?”

—Greg McKeown

A few week’s ago we explored McKeown’s book Essentialism and this week we jump straight into his follow up book, “Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most.” 

Personally, I love grit. 

And hard work. 

And sweat. 

That feeling when I’m in the zone, where everything just flows and all time and surroundings disappear.

Then there’s the feeling where there are a million to-dos on a very long list and I’m waking up in the middle of the night, exhausted, but still feeling the push to get up and start crossing things off that list. 

Then I read these words from Effortless: “Relaxing is a responsibility.” 

Wow.

How does that sit with you? Kind of uncomfortable right? 

I invite you to take this journey together into how we can reach that effortless state while dedicating more of our time to what truly matters to each of us. Because I’m working on it and I think we’re both going to get so much out of it.

Let’s do this. 

🎧 Listen now: www.tomearl.me/es

P.S. You can learn more about Greg McKeown’s book here:

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.

Creativity is: Kind, Weird, & A Raucous With Adaora Nwandu Earl and Cet Mohamed-Moore

Creativity can get kinda weird.

And that’s a good thing.

We talked about that and more with this week’s guests.

We got two super creative humans on this special episode where the amazing Cet Mohamed-Moore and Adaora Nwandu Earl.

We explored whether art comes from instinct and how over time you evolve into new versions of yourself.

And how to oldly show up as your full self in life and in what you create.

Catch the fun as we dive into the process of creating on a regular basis.

Since we are all creatives, one way or another, no one should miss the inspiration that came out of this session.

When asked to describe themselves in 6 words or less…

Adaora said: kind. enthusiastic. determined. ambitious. focused. Fun.

Cet said: loving, creative, loyal, weird, protective, and curious.

📲 Wanna hang out with our guests on social media? Go to Instagram for Cet and Adaora.

🎧 Ready to listen to the creative?

Hit Play.

Go to www.tomearl.me/ac

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.