The Alimond Show
Welcome to The Alimond Show --join us as we share our entrepreneurial guests' stories, uncover their secrets to success, and explore the unique paths they've taken to build thriving businesses in our community.
In each episode, our host, Aliyah Dastour, sits down with a diverse group of local business owners, from the corner cafe to the boutique shop, from tech startups to family-run enterprises. We peel back the curtain to reveal the trials, triumphs, and transformational moments that have shaped their entrepreneurial journey.
Discover the passion, perseverance, and innovative thinking that fuels these businesses, as well as the challenges they've overcome along the way. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur seeking inspiration or simply a curious listener interested in the stories behind your favorite local spots, The Alimond Show has something for everyone.
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Join us every week as we celebrate the unsung heroes of our local business community and explore the vibrant tapestry of entrepreneurship in our area. Tune in to The Alimond Show and get ready to be inspired, informed, and motivated to support and nurture the businesses that make our community thrive.
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The Alimond Show
Callie Claire - From Historic Preservation to Spiritual Healing: Transforming Lives Through Design, Coaching, and Hypnosis
What if you could unlock profound healing while redesigning your living space? Join us for an incredible conversation with Callie Claire, a woman whose life journey is as diverse as it is inspiring. From her deep admiration for General George C. Marshall and reflections on her family’s World War II legacy to her thriving career in high-end residential design and historic preservation, Callie brings a wealth of experience and insight. As a gun violence survivor, she shares her courageous story and her mission to support women in transition through coaching, hypnosis, and neuro-linguistic programming.
Ever wondered how spiritual readings and past life regression hypnotherapy can work together to heal trauma and emotional pain? Callie lays it all out for us, explaining her innovative approach to combining these powerful tools. She emphasizes the importance of building strong communities and deep connections for personal growth and shares her preference for conducting readings over the phone to enhance focus and minimize distractions. Discover the myriad services she offers, from connecting with loved ones to providing insights into health, finances, and personal growth.
In our final chapter, we uncover the art of balancing healing and happiness through a unique blend of spiritual healing, coaching, and interior design. Callie offers practical tips on creating a secure home environment, ethical considerations in her practice, and even some gardening advice. She opens up about her personal journey of faith, the resilience needed to face life's battles, and the power of supportive friendships. This episode is a heartfelt exploration of compassion, understanding, and the community's role in overcoming adversity – and a special invitation to visit the George C. Marshall House in Leesburg.
You know I'm so thrilled to be here. Well, thank you for inviting me, because Leesburg has a really special place in my heart. Right around the corner, up the road, is the General George C Marshall House, and he was Chief of Staff of the Army in World War II. He was born in Uniontown, pa, which is where my dad was born, my mom just a little bit ways away and he is an amazing man to emulate.
Speaker 1:I really admire him and his wife, and so my papi was in World War II and I had very late in life kids and when I had them, my mind was doing wheelies all the time and I needed something to occupy my mind. So I went and got my master's in World War II history Wow. And I love talking about the spirit of resilience that these people had and how duty-driven they were, because I really feel like that's how my parents are and how I was raised, and so I've done a lot in Washington over the years. I've been an independent entrepreneur, a creative entrepreneur, for 30 years, so I really feel like his example is really needed today and just huge. So I'm super happy to be here with you and in Leesburg, which is one of my favorite places. So thank you.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. It's a pleasure to have you here. I can't wait to learn more about you today. Now, as an introduction, can I have your full name, the name of your businesses and what you offer for your clients?
Speaker 1:Well, that is so complicated and it shouldn't be Okay so.
Speaker 1:I'm Callie Clare. A lot of people know me as Callie Clare. I did do televisions Voices from Beyond, psychic medium readings for many, many years, and I love doing it. However, other people know me by my former name, my maiden name, which is CaliDoritza, and because I had a leading award-winning interior design firm doing high-end residential design. I still do that with historic preservation. And then, of course, I'm an artist, so Cali Claire is how most people know me. My married name is Cali Claire Boswell. Don't get married later in life and change your name later in life, because it just confuses everything.
Speaker 1:So Cali, Claire is my birth names and the Claire is really because I'm clairvoyant, I'm clear seeing. That's sort of a coincidence. So you know, if you think that your hairdresser knows a lot about you, imagine being an interior designer. So you're in people's homes all day long and you really get to be a very good judge of character and I think that that's really why the psychic ability popped for me later in life. I'm a childhood gun violence survivor, two-time gun violence survivor.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness, it was a long time ago. And I have really great methods that I use. In fact, I'm looking at my heirloom tomatoes over there. I garden, I do my artwork, I have wonderful friends. My girlfriend Kathy is sitting right outside the camera view. So I do a lot of.
Speaker 1:I have a lot of healthy habits and that's something that I help other women with, because I've done probably, I'll say, minimum 10,000 hours one-on-one with my clients and my customers for coaching. So I do hypnosis and I do neuro-linguistic programming and a lot of things just to help them heal their own personal history. Yes, so just like the World War II, you know, these women are like living through battle, but they still had to like grow their own vegetables, take care of the elderly, which is something that happened to me in the past three years. Vegetables, take care of the elderly, which is something that happened to me in the past three years, whereas caring for my mother-in-law who had a lot of sass left in her, so she had stage four cancer. That's okay, but it was really difficult. And so I help women in transition, whether they've gone through divorce, whether they're caregiving for the elderly through divorce. Whether they're caregiving for the elderly you know, the book that I wrote wasn't the book I expected to write.
Speaker 1:In fact it was President Eisenhower's granddaughter, susan, who said to me last year we were talking about, yeah, you know, I graduated the top of my class, of my cohort for World War Two from AMU and it was an amazing experience. I loved it. And so I went up to Gettysburg and I met her and you know she just said, kelly, you have a story you should tell it. And I was like, yeah, whatever, it's not that great of a story. But then I thought about it and I thought, you know, I think I should, because it's not everybody that has had the experiences that I've had. I don't take any kind of anxiety or panic attack medication, although I suffered for that for years.
Speaker 1:I am, as I said, a gun violence survivor. But you know, my parents were interesting. They just said, listen, cal, you could get hit by a drunk driver tomorrow. A crazy person could take your life. You just need to get up and keep moving forward. And I think that's a lot of how General George C Marshall was and how my pappy and my grandma and my family were.
Speaker 1:It was just sort of like this is your life. You have to honor what you have, and so, even though I'm a spiritual being, even though I'm able to do, I have a gift that a lot of people wish that they had. I think you have to be practical with your spirituality, because this is your only life as well. This is my only life as Callie Cat. This is their only life as Cat. So we have to work within the framework of reality, and I think that that's something that I do really really well. So, you know, hospice and the oncology doctors said that I was the best advocate for my mother-in-law that they'd ever seen, and so I do have a special way of being very efficient and productive in my human real life. Yes, even though I'm a compassionate, empathetic person who is able to connect authentically with people and be thoughtful, yes, and go that extra mile. So yeah.
Speaker 2:No, I love that. I love like the different, I guess, mediums of work that you do. I think that is so amazing and I think it aligns well Like because art. I feel like it's something that heals the soul. You get stuff out, you get your creative works and then you also work with people helping them get through maybe some trauma that's not so easy for them. So I think that is wonderful. I have to ask I know you brought some artwork. Do you offer that as maybe like for your clients to also get to dip their feet into?
Speaker 1:Yes, okay. So for sure, I'm recommending a lot of different, healthy ways for people to get back into their hobbies. I'm just about to film my online courses and there is going to be a special bonus piece on the artwork, so I definitely want to yeah, please share with us.
Speaker 1:Yes, Okay. So I started as a finance painter as a teenager. My mom was really sweet. She took me to a little brick house where it was the art club and I got to learn from wonderful people. So eventually, when I went to Carnegie Mellon in high school and then I went to SCAD and I got dual degrees interior design and historic preservation and I did that, I didn't go for painting because my mom said you know, Cal, we already know you're a really great painter. Go do something so that you don't have to be retrained. And so then I ended up being a great interior designer. I have kind of a funny thing I have never been sued in 30 years.
Speaker 2:Work on wood.
Speaker 1:I know like Washington DC, working with all of these really big name people, the C-suites people that you see in the news, and so they just know that I'm somebody that is duty-driven, that they can count on me, that I have a gorgeous vision, but I'm going to make it practical. In fact, kathy's a client as well. So, you know, my friends are clients and I think that's huge when you still are able to maintain those friendships afterwards and I have. So the art was something that I could do while I was sitting by Noreen's bedside. It was something I could do while I was sitting by Noreen's bedside. It was something I could do at the doctor's office, so I'll just these are.
Speaker 1:I don't even know what I brought today. Honestly, it's beautiful. They're just fun. They're just fun Abstract. I love the neon. Yeah. Abstract is a great way to get back into your artwork. It's a great way to this one's actually, for my in-laws there. They just left Arizona after 40 years.
Speaker 2:So these are all Arizona. I can see the cactuses a little bit. It's so beautiful and I love that you use very different colors. It's not just like the same, like give it a pop, like a zest in life right, thank you. It's gorgeous, thank you. Where can people find these if they're interested in looking at them? You?
Speaker 1:know what. Anybody wanting to get a piece of artwork or even something commissioned, somebody that wants to get a psychic medium reading or to do one-on-one coaching with me, I'm happy to do all of that. Wow and that's just at at CaliClaire is my handle for Instagram Okay okay, and then these are all. It's funny because you don't even know which way these go up. They're all landscapes.
Speaker 2:They can be any way, and they're still amazing.
Speaker 1:So this one's actually a seascape. This one was a seascape, I see, like the coral reef, right, yeah, a little bit. I even have subterranean seascapes, but they're up on the walls at home.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so fun things and.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love that.
Speaker 1:I love that the moon is golden, isn't that so? Fun yeah it's gorgeous.
Speaker 2:My goodness, how do you come up with these visions in your head to bring out into paper?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so I guess that's the thing I read. I think last year I read 90 books.
Speaker 2:Wow Okay.
Speaker 1:And so part of why I'm really good at interior design and why I'm really good at the artwork, but why I'm spot on, I'm what's called an evidential medium. I get names, dates, places, how people passed away, how I do. That is what I call transactive memory. So transactive memory is sort of like when the Nazis were burning all the books. Okay, they didn't just hate the Jews or the Roma or the Catholics, they also hated the gays, they also hated anybody that had an affliction, if you Basically everybody. Well, blind, deaf. And so when they were, you know, burning all of Sigmund Freud's books and all of these Jewish books, they were also burning Helen Keller's books and Pearl S Buck's books because she was writing about the Chinese, which they felt was. You know, they had opinions about that. So, anyways, helen Keller said to everybody don't worry about it, it's okay. So calm, because you've already read these books. They're part of who we are as a people, they're part of our culture. We already know this information. You can't take it back from people. So, even if they were truly lost forever, it's still a part of who we are as people. It's a part of our humanity and our compassion and our empathy. So, by reading all of these things and I have. You know, my children are sort of bewildered by how many friends I have, but by building up this wonderful, wonderful community of friends that I have for instance, I have one of the largest Girl Scout troops in the country, with the largest volunteer cadre trained cadre in the country I then hear them and I listen and I love them and I want them to do their best in the world because you're amazing, and I want you to focus on what your special gifts are and to share those with the world, because people need it. Yes, they need it Absolutely. And so through those friendships, through all of the books that I read more and more nonfiction, but fiction as well I have a picture in my mind and then I'm able to immediately go to where that person is.
Speaker 1:So I would say the best way to work with me is, if you are struggling and you have something stuck in your craw and you just can't get it out, you know you come and you do a reading. Maybe it's on the phone. I actually prefer phone readings because there's no distractions. I'm not looking and saying oh, I love how you're doing your eye makeup. Could you teach me how to do that. I'm not distracted by you, I'm just listening to spirit, I'm just, I'm just letting the images flow. Yeah, yeah, so I don't need to see you. It's kind of a distraction, right, wow, yeah, but then because I have my own images that are coming to me, then typically I use the reading as a catalyst to figure out what's really holding this person back, where are they really stuck at? And people of all shapes and sizes and forms have come to see me and they just say callie, you know what? Um, this work is equivalent to one, if not two, if not three years of traditional therapy, talk therapy.
Speaker 1:And so, you know, a lot of my referrals actually come from psychologists and psychiatrists where they say you know, this person's in a really good place, cal, you do your thing, and funny things can happen. Funny things happen, like, for instance, in November, right after the terrible events of October 7th, I had a gal come and she had already done her reading, if I'm not mistaken. And then, after the reading, we had her do her hypnosis session. And I use past life regression hypnotherapy Kathy's done all this and forgiveness therapy, right. And so this gal went under. It's not strong, okay, it's like dream meditation, yeah, and she actually saw herself as one of the victims. It was very powerful, and so I immediately just sort of brought her out and I said you know, do you, do you know where you went? And she said I think I was here. And I said you were there, and it just shows goes to show you how connected everybody is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a little crazy like she was hiding in the reeds and I could see it too, with the blue sky behind her and the breath and the palpitations of the heart and waiting to see if this person was gonna die or not. And she was like one of those concert goers hiding. So you just never know what's gonna come up. Then we went back down into it again and then she had her own, more personal experience. But it really is like a metaphor. You're talking about what hurts and you're talking about what's showing up for you, and it really is a way of understanding why you're feeling that pain and then processing it out. And it's fascinating what the human mind can come up with.
Speaker 1:You know, some people will say well, what was that? Was that real, or was that because I just wanted to talk about that thing or think about that thing? And my answer is always it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter as long as we're and I give everybody like a I call it like their emotional toolbox, and that's something that's going to be available as a freebie soon as well. But it's kind of like their healing toolbox. You know, you've got your pliers, you've got your tweezers and it's like where is that energy stuck and what? What's the color and does it have a density and does it have a texture, and then we kind of pull it out and then we put it in, you know the magic compost, and it just sort of like flies away magically so that we can get rid of all that icky.
Speaker 2:No, absolutely. Now I am curious and I'm sure some listeners will be curious what are all the methods or options that they have to work with you as, like a medium that can help them heal, because I want to know what particular services that you have. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1:You know, though, I think, that my format is pretty flexible, yet the baseline is the norm, so I do do readings. They're one hour, and that is sort of full circle. We're talking about, maybe, people that you want to connect with grandparents, parents, moms, dads and then we go into what your health is like, and, typically, with the psychic stuff, we do touch on finances, we do touch on things that they need to work on, but I'm a big believer in that. I don't want to do a full psychic reading, because I really feel like we all have our experiences catalyzing us towards healing in our own way. In other words, I don't want to tell you exactly what's going to happen, because we all have to have our hard knocks, because that's how we grow yes, and how?
Speaker 1:we learn. So I'm, I'm, I think, because I have all the bachelors, the masters and most likely there's a phd coming up pretty quickly here in holocaust studies, genocide studies. I was sort of sort of like um, categorize myself as the spiritual humanitarian. I really want everybody to get the best out of this life. So if the focus is, what can they shed? What kind of old baggage are you holding onto that you're just ready to get rid of? That to me is a really great client. A longer session would be a half-day session, a signature healing session. So we're doing sort of your reading where I'm helping you maybe bring some of that stuff out that you didn't even know was bothering you, because a lot of people have there's patterns. People feel a lot of guilt and a lot of fear. There's a lot of old sexual baggage that people didn't even realize that they had from when they were teens and in their 20s, and so there's just a lot of baggage and it's just time to get rid of it. And then you know there's dealing with old opinions that other people sort of placed on you, that kind of weighed you down with the concrete blocks. We deal with a lot of that.
Speaker 1:And then I do do coaching. I've done coaching for years. I actually started a great B&I group in Montgomery County years ago, before my kids were born, and that's what I was.
Speaker 1:I was a coach and an interior designer, and I had a lot of people that would sort of switch back and forth, because, really, who you are at home is important too. Like, in other words, okay, you're a writer or an artist, but I don't see a studio, I don't see a jewelry place for you in your house, I don't you love to cook and bake, but your kitchen is kind of like too small or a wreck. So, you know, a lot of the renovations and the things that I do are to help people feel secure, and the only place that they really are able to feel secure in life anymore and that's home base. Yes, like, if I can't get that right, if I can't do that and you know I do high-end design, so it's not inexpensive, it's actually, I think, wonderful though, because, like, for instance, schumacher and Brudgwick and Fee and Clarence House and all these beautiful fabrics you go home and you're like, oh, I'm in this happy little dream room with these happy fabrics that are so good.
Speaker 2:This is my home.
Speaker 1:This is my home and it's personal and it's unique and nobody else has it. Yes, and it's not just rote, yes. So I think people probably think, geez, how does Callie do all that different stuff? But in reality, in order to be a painter when I was a teenager and reading my mystery books and my ghost stories, you know so there was always that other element, but I was painting a picture and then in interior design, I was painting a picture and then when the psychic abilities popped, I was just painting a picture. Like you said, it's all connected. It's all connected and so I think for some people there's a little bit of a mystery there.
Speaker 1:Really, I think the more critical point and I want to emphasize this is the ethical standpoint and I think the moral standpoint, and so I think that's where you can count on me as being somebody that's ethical, because I actually had a room in a psychiatrist's office, a really wonderful place in Bethesda. I actually had a room for rent in a psychologist's office. My wonderful OBGYN would refer me and to this day I still get my chiropractor friends referring me. So the physicians know that Callie's in a good place and I know the rules. You know if somebody is saying I want to die, I want to kill myself, that literally immediately and just for anyone listening, by law you have to call 911. You know, if they're just being exaggerated or dramatic, that's one thing. But then the communication has to happen at a higher level of okay, well, this isn't right, like if this is where you're really feeling, then what's your next step? Are you going to be going to the doctors? After this? Phone calls have to happen back and forth.
Speaker 1:So I think that for the most part, the people that come to me are incredibly high achieving, like Kath over here. They're super high achievers. They're incredibly efficient, productive people. They're great on their own path, like you are, and they just need to get rid of the last concrete blocks that they're dragging around everywhere with them and then start building new, healthy habits. Because I can tell you, as a hostage survivor, there are persistent things that military personnel and veterans that I love God bless them have to carry with them everywhere in life.
Speaker 1:You know loud noises, even shots Like whatever it is that's happening in daily life, the insanity. You have to find a way to walk your walk. Still, you still have to be part of life. You still have to get yourself out the door and go see your buddies and do activities. So the heirloom tuminos I brought you. I love being in my garden, being in nature. I feel like I'm helping the earth. Please plant flowers with your veggies, because that way you have cross-pollination veggies, because that way you have cross-pollination. So do bee balm with your cucumbers and your zucchini. I heard a great tip the other day and that was, if your zucchinis and your cucumbers and your yellow squash are dying, actually vacuum up the shield bugs that are eating them, because they're from a different culture, a different continent and the same techniques of killing them are not useful.
Speaker 2:The same yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know, like for me, we have a swimming pool. It's such a blessing. I want to say to everybody out there if you have a swimming pool, please plant inside the perimeter so that the deer can't get you. Oh, the more you know. Thank you, that's right.
Speaker 1:The deer can't eat your things through the fence because you have to have a fence to keep out the kids so that they don't injure themselves. Yes, so, yes, wow, yeah. So we have a wonderful bounty and I love deadheading my roses. So fabulous, I love to deadhead those roses.
Speaker 2:And we thank you so much for the tomatoes. That was so sweet. They look so healthy and beautiful and plump and red, so I can't wait to try them. Yeah, no, um, I would like to ask you, just because you seem like and you are, I'm sure a very, very busy woman you have so many skills and things to offer to people. How do you manage to keep, keep, I want to say keep.
Speaker 1:Because this is the only life we have, so there's no choices, right?
Speaker 2:Even when you get burned in the kitchen with a third degree burn. I wanted to ask what happened, but I was like.
Speaker 1:Am I overstepping? I was three days in the hospital last week.
Speaker 2:I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1:It was very scary, the infection was going towards my heart, but I wanted to be here, even though I didn't feel as prepared as I wanted to, because time doesn't stop for any of us. You just have to put one foot in front of the other. And my coaching clients? I do do year-long coaching packages and I think for a lot of people that's good, because I do have habits that are important. I sleep eight hours a night, I read three or four hours a day, I do my artwork, I do my real work, I see my friends, I take care of my little kids, I have my Girl Scout troop yes, so I do have strict parameters with myself. I would say sleep and being able to cook and bake from scratch every day, all three meals, wow. But that way I'm more in tune with what I'm doing.
Speaker 2:Yes, and putting in your body.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then and then. So that's why that that when I do have clients that are typically referrals, um, but when I do have people coming to me, um, that time is so valuable and what they're getting out of it is so valuable. So I have had people that have been clients for 20 years.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, interior design clients 30 years, but other newer clients from the psychic side that saw me on television and they still call a couple of times a year from Chicago and Australia and England and, yeah, internationally. So it's wonderful, yeah.
Speaker 2:No, I was just asking. So I'm just like, oh my goodness, because you're helping people with trauma, and I feel like, maybe sometimes because I like to swallow people's emotions sometimes and that can be a little bit hard, you know. So that's why I was curious to know, like, how do you stay so like vibrant and happy.
Speaker 1:I do my yoga, I do my breath work. There's brain, brain entrainment for sale on there. There was a time where I was very overwhelmed by other people's emotions and the brain entrainment was incredibly healing because you just stick on your, you know, and you walk and you breathe and you're just listening and you're letting it all go. But yeah, boundaries is important and that's why I was talking about the moral, ethical boundaries, I think, because I have had very famous top C-suite CEOs, people making millions and millions and millions of dollars as clients who really, whether it was interior design or personal coaching, really have zero time to waste. So the caliber of my work, I think, is exquisite. I'm an exquisite listener, I have great compassion, I have great bandwidth for people and the healing work I do is equivalent to one, two, three years of traditional therapy all in one session. Yes, so it's really important because I don't drink. I think I have one or two social drinks a year. This year is unusual because I think I've had three mimosas this year. That's unheard of.
Speaker 1:I think it was like three years before that that I didn't, but I don't miss it, yeah. And as you get older, they're saying if there's one thing you could drop, it would be drinking. Yes, and also you need to eat less. So it is hard, because now I'm a really great cook and I'm a really good baker, but I'm not supposed to eat anything that I actually make.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know yeah.
Speaker 1:So you have to go with the flow. And when I was in garden club years ago and that's another thing to do is just follow your hobbies and interests, get back into things that you love, take classes. I'm doing a lot of classes. I have a mini course that's coming out on forgiveness, which is a really big deal. What does it entail?
Speaker 1:You know it's really talking about all of that old fear and contempt and resentment that we have, the shame, the guilt, the embarrassment. It's all those really ugly emotions which only we can excavate, only we can dig those out and choose to dig those out. But sometimes they're buried so deeply in our psyche. Old things with our parents, a lot of really successful people like me, I mean. Let's just say I've made a million dollars, I've spent a million dollars right, I've had big companies, I've done big things in my life, I've inked 5,000, all that stuff. We have tested it and tried it and made it true.
Speaker 1:My mom, who I adore, she's one of my best friends. She doesn't jive with all this stuff because she says but you were raised well, cal, I gave you the tools and techniques which then I took off on and made my own, you know. So she's not really interested, she doesn't think it's a big deal, but it is a big deal. All of my success speaks to that. The millions of dollars coming in feeding these businesses speaks to that. Okay, so I know people know what I want.
Speaker 1:So I have had to learn. For instance, I sent her the book cover last night and I said say something nice. And she said that's a great picture of you and it's like this. So I've had to learn how. And you do this in every friendship in your life, every relationship in your life. Right, you have to learn how. Kath and I did this my girlfriend that's sitting here with me. There was a point tell me how many years ago it was seven or eight years ago where we basically just said to each other I would just want to complain, I just want to bitch and moan.
Speaker 2:Right now I don't need any advice you need those days sometimes. Yeah, like, I think she said that.
Speaker 1:She's like we don't. We're not problem solving here, we just want to Days. That's the norm. That should be the norm.
Speaker 2:Yes, it should Just say whatever you feel, without any kind of filter.
Speaker 1:Yes, and even though I have my skill set and that's not saying that Kath doesn't come to things she introduces her friends and we did a past life regression circle earlier this year and a beautiful forgiveness session but she's her own person and she has her own ways of doing it and she'll let me know if she needs that extra.
Speaker 1:And that's one of the things that I really love about this. Work is for a lot of really high-powered people. I had lunch last week with a beautiful girl who's the vice president of a national company and she's just like Cal, I love you, just keep going. Like everybody should know about you, but then she's like but you'll still be mine, right. Like everybody should know about you, but then she's like but you'll still be mine, right, you know, she had somebody special in her family that passed away and brought me in and we did you know readings and we did healing work with a whole big group. I love that. Oh, my goodness, what an honor, what an honor and a blessing to be able to help people through difficult times.
Speaker 2:And they're trusting you because this is such a personal thing to do to open up, to let you in. That's such a powerful thing. Yeah, it's not easy.
Speaker 1:Well, and the thing is, with the World War II people are like, well, how the heck does that come in at? Well, my grandparents were there, my grandmother. You know my pappy. He proposed at age 10 to my grandmother, who was eight years old. They grew up together and then his brother married a woman that went to school with her her whole life. You know what I mean. So they all knew each other and they all loved each other and their experiences were so worthwhile and so different from ours.
Speaker 1:My great aunt Genevieve I was thinking about her this week that was my grandmother's sister-in-law. My grandmother's name was Pleasant Love, that I know. And my great aunt Genevieve, her life. Like I have, my kids are just turned 10 and 6. So aunt Genevieve had polio. She couldn't go to school. Do you know what they did to her? No, they made her go to the funeral home and she did hair what she did everybody's hair. She was really great. She had these little fingers and she would dress them. And today we're like what? Yeah, but they were all on farms and they had a different experience. Everybody's shaking their head in here. They had a different experience of, you know, life and death and you know like I remember my grandmother saying oh, she was the youngest one year she interrupted her dad who was doing the once a year slaughter of the pig and he was so upset with her because he had to shoot twice, because he was worried he didn't do the first shot, didn't take the pig out you know what I mean suffering suffering.
Speaker 1:So you know, they all had a different way of dealing with things, and so that's what I'm saying is, I am a very spiritual being and I get to talk to my loved ones in spirit and help you talk to your loved ones, but this is a human experience. We are spiritual beings having a human life, and I can't lead Girl Scouts or watch kids in the pool or do all the practical things that life needs if I'm totally distracted, yes, by you know. So it all has a place and a channel, and your intuition is your sixth sense. It's a real thing. Don't ever let anybody tell you it's not a real thing, but it has to be positioned correctly, yes, and accessed correctly. Right, yes. Like did I know that I was going to get burned? Actually, yeah, a couple of funny things happened to me. Oh my.
Speaker 2:God, I was kind of getting the warnings.
Speaker 1:But when I was in the hospital I refused the blood thinner. My husband brought my computer and I wrote a 12,000 word ebook. That's going to be a wonderful freebie on caregiving. That's going to help people with what I went through with my mother-in-law and sort of like. When a family member is suddenly going into hospice or has a horrible diagnosis or an injury and you're, johnny, on the spot and you've got to figure out how you're going to deal with all the family dynamics and the caregiving. I gave an emergency. It's literally called the 911 caregiver's handbook so that you know what to do. And I would not have been able to do that if I was at home doing my normal rigmarole at the end of summer, getting ready for school. So it was actually three days of peace and quiet and I worked every minute of those days to get get my to do list done. So you'd never know how it's going to turn out, but you just have to trust that the people that love you you know when I actually have, believe it or not.
Speaker 2:In addition to the master's in history.
Speaker 1:My BFA in interior design and store preservation. I actually have a certification in remote history my goodness, my BFA in interior design and store preservation. I actually have a certification in neurolinguistic programming and I have a certification in hypnotherapy. Wow, and I have a certification from James Van Praagh. These are amazing accolades. Yeah Well, the advanced certification in mediumship. And when he met me he said I've never seen anybody that has like so many wonderful, like people in spirit that are on your side. I said oh yeah, Yep, they're there and they're loving me and they're making sure that things are going smoothly. So faith and I are like this, we are tied together. But you know, you have to activate faith and that's what human life is all about. You know, I have to activate faith. I have to be in and of the world and I have to be in tandem with things. I have to be walking the walk to allow good things to happen to me. Yes, you know.
Speaker 2:Absolutely no, and thank you so much for sharing all of this insight and your stories and your experiences. That means a lot that you have come here and shared that with us, and all your backgrounds, and everything is quite impressive. I literally could talk to you all day I really really could and I have so many questions. But you're beautiful, though. Oh, stop you too. You have great skin. I'm it's on mind, like what does she do? Well, I'm in my 50s. You look amazing.
Speaker 1:I want to look like that.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Like your skin is glowing and smooth and beautiful, like it's just like you're like tomatoes, you're just plump and beautiful.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love it, thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but One of my final questions is is there anything that maybe I have missed, that you would like to share Any parting words?
Speaker 1:There is a book coming out. I'm really excited about it. You know I had some pretty bad experiences. I actually sent. I went to New York City this was before COVID. I met all of these great big publishing houses. I met an editor. She said, oh my goodness, kelly, send me your stuff. I wrote a whole book. She said, oh my goodness, kelly, send me your stuff. I wrote a whole book. She said, oh, keep sending me more. And then I was in California visiting my sister and I went to this little new age shop and I found my book on the shelf with somebody else's name on it.
Speaker 1:What. So I have just decided that I'm moving forward on my own, and the book is called Unleash your Comeback and it's really talking to women who have had all the interruptions divorce, their own illness, maybe they've they themselves have had cancer, maybe they're caregiving for small kids and they've had to remote work or quit work. Maybe they're empty nesters, maybe they never were married and they're about to try to figure out their retirement and their last chapter. So it's a book. It will be available on Amazon for pre-sale, I would say as early as next week, and then it's also going to be a class and a year-long coaching program. Yeah, because I think it's a big deal.
Speaker 1:I don't think people realize how many setbacks women have. Their career just completely pauses and you think that everything's going to be able to jump back in again and that you're going to be able to get on board. But then you realize that the people that would have given you your testimonials but then you realize that the people that would have given you your testimonials, like, they're on hiatus or they're sick or they're retired, and everybody has their cross issues. So I think it's still a problem for the primary caregivers. Their lives are interrupted constantly, and so this is talking about how we lost our family business amidst my mother-in-law's cancer diagnosis, and so how I got through that, and that was a multimillion-dollar business and we closed that in December of 2022. So all of those friendships this one here in the room with me as well everybody helped in one way or another, um, and so that was incredible, but, um, we basically had to start from scratch.
Speaker 1:So what you're seeing in this artwork is me coping with basically the end, like what look could have been the finish line, but I was calm and I'm in faith. And I'm in faith now that my timing is perfect. My timing is perfect. Your timing is perfect. You're doing what you're supposed to be doing right now. Is this what you're going to be doing next year? I don't know. You might have matriculated and you might have grown and so something else, but the lessons that you learn with this will be able to be applied to the next thing and you're going to unleash your comeback. You're going to unleash your next chapter. So that's the beauty of all of this is that everything that we're experiencing is still useful if you keep your perspective and your faith.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And I'm here to help you do that.
Speaker 2:No well, thank you so much. Thank you for sharing all of this and I love that, through all those hardships that you went through, you came out of it with something so beautiful, like your artwork and the colors. I feel like sometimes it could be totally opposite, right, or the colors could be completely just opposite of what you're going through, but, yeah, I love that. Thank you. No, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. Thank you, no, absolutely. Yeah, I think. Lonely, loneliness and people sort of like crawling into their shell. It's a natural thing to do with all the pain. It's frightening in the world right now, but I'm a humanitarian and the majority of my friends. I don't ever talk politics Okay, it's your sacred franchise, but the majority of my friends vote differently than I do. So if I can find a way to talk to all of these different kinds of people and befriend these people and truly care about them and love them and offer compassion, then y'all can too. Yes, and I'm a living example of that.
Speaker 2:No, I love that and I love that there's people like that out there because sometimes it's like, nope, I can't because of this, and it's just like we have to find a way to come together and move forward with it it's all about human life.
Speaker 1:It's possible. It's about loving one another, and you're amazing and you have great things to do in the world and your job is important. What we're offering is important.
Speaker 2:It's critical well, thank you so much, it was such a pleasure.
Speaker 1:This has been an honor.
Speaker 2:I'm so happy that you are here and sharing your story and sharing everything that you're able to offer to society and people in the community. So thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. Absolutely, come visit Leesburg, general George C Marshall House. Come visit Alamont.