83-year-old Florence Nash is a poet and a storyteller with a melodic voice that I could listen to all day. She’s also an accomplished musician and a believer that the arts make all our lives more joyful. Raised near the banks of the Tar River in tiny Tarboro, North Carolina, Florence eventually spread her wings. They took her all over the world to live in many places including California and Europe. Out west, she found herself in the middle of the counterculture revolution. Like most women of her generation, she was told her main purpose in life was to get married, have children, and be a good wife and mother. She did all that, but she wanted more. This sent her on a lifelong journey to figure out where she fit in, and if she had other skills to contribute to her community and the world. You will love her continual path of exploration and self-discovery which has led her in so many different directions. Florence is guided by the principal that if something gives you joy and is useful to others, you have found your purpose.

B.J. Council came by her career the old-fashioned way, hard work. She came from a farming family, an educator mother, and a foundation of community service. B.J. tried college, and it wasn’t for her. So, after working multiple jobs to pay the bills and sleeping on friends’ floors, she decided to go to the Durham Public Safety Academy. She graduated as a firefighter and a police officer. She spent her career developing programs to support the community and to help them foster stronger relationships with police. B.J. retired amid a scandal regarding overtime payments to officers in 2009, and while it almost broke her, it didn’t keep her from her core mission. In 2015, B.J. started “You and Five-0” to help bridge the often-troubled relationships between the Black community and police. She believes we are all put on this planet to do something good. You will be inspired by her quiet, calm demeanor and her passion for helping others.

To learn more about B.J.:

https://www.youandfive-o.com/

https://www.instagram.com/youandfiveo/

https://www.facebook.com/youandfiveo/

https://twitter.com/youandfiveo

(22) Beverly Council | LinkedIn

Her name sounds a lot like the name of a character in a movie. And in a way, Tina Tart’s life is like a movie. She’s a country girl from a small town in North Carolina who came to the big city of Raleigh to attend college and begin her professional life. But something was always getting in the way…that something was bipolar II disorder. After many years of struggling, Tina was finally diagnosed and properly treated in her forties. A few years later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and suffered for years with complications after six surgeries. Frankly, it all sounds pretty insurmountable. But Tina refused to give up. With the help of family, friends, and medical professionals, Tina chose survival. In this raw and emotional interview, Tina goes where few of my guests have ever gone before. She shares her pain and her journey out of the darkness. She tells me she’s not sure she’s worthy of being a guest on my podcast which is exactly why she is…

To follow Tina:

https://www.facebook.com/tina.tart1

https://www.instagram.com/tina.tart1/

https://twitter.com/teenertart

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thetinatart/

Martha Lopez-Anderson is member of a club that no one wants to be part of. After the sudden death of her seemingly healthy 10-year-old son from sudden cardiac arrest in 2004 blindsided Martha and her family, she immersed herself in education and training related to the prevention and treatment of SCA in youth. She joined Parent Heart Watch which is made up of parents who tragically lost children from SCA, many of them during a sporting event at school. Martha advocates for prevention strategies like early heart screenings and for lifesaving tools to be available wherever children gather that can be used in the event of a cardiac emergency. Martha could have crawled into a hole and lived in her grief, but instead, she turned her love for her son and her passion for helping other families into her life’s work. You will learn from her experience and be inspired by her courage.

To learn more:

Website: https://parentheartwatch.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/phwsca

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phwsca

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PHWorg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/parent-heart-watch

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@parentheartwatch8881

****PLEASE NOTE THIS PODCAST CONTAINS DETAILED REFERENCES TO KIDNAPPING, CHILD ABUSE, VIOLENCE, AND SEXUAL ASSAULT.****

You may be familiar with a recent movie that just dropped on Netflix called “Woman of the Hour” with Anna Kendrick. It is the fictionalized version of a true story about a serial killer and rapist name Rodney Alcala. He’s known as the “Dating Game Killer.” There have been countless shows, documentaries, and podcasts about his crimes. He was convicted of murdering 7 girls and women and placed on death row until he died of natural causes in 2021. And while he was convicted of some of his crimes, there was always a belief by investigators that he was potentially responsible for 130 more. One of those unsolved crimes involved Niki Rowe Cross. She says Alcala was one of the johns who raped her in an attic in Ohio in 1977 where she was held captive as a teenager along with two other teens for a year. Niki tells her powerful and disturbing story as a way to bring awareness to human sex trafficking and to help others. The show can be watched here on YouTube, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts: https://sites.libsyn.com/490772

If you or someone you know is the victim of human sex trafficking you can call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at: 1-888-373-7888 or text them at 233733.

To learn more about Niki and her work:

staarministry.com/home.aspx

GiveSendGo | LIKE DADDY USED TO SAY Movie Development Funds

(20+) Facebook

Niki Rowe Cross (@crossni.nc) • Instagram photos and videos

(30) Niki Rowe Cross | LinkedIn

NC woman who was victim of sex trafficking now tries to help other victims

Marla Bedrosian was on a successful track in corporate America, managing hotels up and down the East coast for a global hospitality company. Along the way, she learned a little bit about wine from the sommeliers at the hotels she oversaw. Eventually, that knowledge and interest fueled the fire beneath her to make a big change. She and her husband decided to become farmers and purchase a boutique winery in California. The confirmed New Yorker is now swimming deep in the entrepreneurial pool, learning as she goes how to make the wine flow and doing it with her family. She makes frequent trips back East to see her adult children and new grandchildren, but she and her husband are determined to make a go of this chapter. You will love her wit, brilliance, and enthusiasm, and will be inspired by her unique journey.

To learn more about Marla:

(20+) Facebook

Domaine de la Rivière (@domainedelariviere) • Instagram photos and videos

(26) Domaine de la Rivière: Overview | LinkedIn

Russian River Valley Pinot Noir - Domaine de la Rivière (domaineriviere.com)

Darlena Moore grew up in the beautiful city of Asheville in the North Carolina mountains. The devastation that Hurricane Helene left behind has been tragic for her and her family, as well as heartbreaking. She is continuing to help in the recovery there in any way that she can. But at the same time, she is on her own personal mission. Darlena and her siblings were born into poverty and lost their mother at a very young age. They were separated and Darlena ended up in a very dangerous situation—a home that included alcoholics, violence, pedophiles, and emotional and physical cruelty. One day, she climbed out a bathroom window and ran away with nothing but the clothes on her back. After several placements, Darlena finally ended up in a nurturing foster home. The couple that took her in, the Gilberts, not only cared for her, but they helped her follow her dream of going to college. To honor the opportunity she was given, Darlena created a nonprofit scholarship fund that specifically helps children in the foster care system in North Carolina pay for college. Initially, she funded it by making homemade “mountain girl” granola until she could get donors. Now, Darlena is making granola for hurricane survivors as well as making the dreams of other foster children come true.

To learn more about Darlena and her work go to:

https://mountaingirlinitiative.com/

https://www.facebook.com/TheGilbertScholarship/

https://www.instagram.com/gilbertscholarshipinc/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/darlenamoore/

Like the title of her first book, “Bare Naked in Public,” Christine Amoroso is baring everything—not literally, but emotionally, as she unpacks a life where happiness often seemed elusive. Pregnant and married at age 17, she pulled herself up by her bootstraps to have multiple successful careers in accounting and education. But eventually, she realized that her workaholic ways and poor choices in the romance department had led her into a downward spiral of shame and guilt instead of happiness. In her fifties, Christine quit everything, got rid of her belongings, and traveled to Italy in search of her family’s roots. What she didn’t realize was that in the process of examining her family tree, she would eventually find herself. Christine is now blowing up the myths that have ruled her entire life. Twice divorced, she realized that she had been making all the wrong choices when it came to men. She also realized that life is not all about work. Christine calls herself a “recovering overachiever” who occasionally relapses, something many of us can relate to. She bravely shares her journey to self-acceptance and fulfillment with me in this week’s show.

For more about Christine:

www.christineamoroso.com

www.barenakedinpublic.com

https://www.facebook.com/christine.amoroso.5

https://www.instagram.com/barenakedinpublic/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christineamoroso/