This is the second time I've had the great privilege of interviewing the radiant and gifted Jeannine Rivers for this Changemaker Series. She's that amazing and positively LUMINOUS in her efforts to make the world work better for everyone she meets. I hope you'll check out our first interview from last summer here.
This time, I interviewed Jeannine for my new show, On Your Own Terms, on Win Win Women TV. Again we used the Blue Roads Changemaker Journey Framework, Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World, to structure our conversation. You'll learn some new things about Jeannine's journey as a changemaker including how she can be helpful to you in finding and switching on your own luminous light that will allow you to take your place in the world with joy and resilience.
The Changemaker Series publications are offered in multiple formats so you can consume them on your own terms. If you are a visual person, watch the show at the link below, or on ROKU, Apple TV or Amazon FIRE. If you prefer to listen only, you can catch the podcast version. The summary below is for those who love to read and reflect on a few of Jeannine's powerful words captured in our interview. You see, there is literally something for everyone along the changemaker's journey!
Homegrown Jeannine
From the time she was seven years old, Jeannine knew she was a singer.
I can't remember a time when I didn't sing… I used to line up all the neighborhood kids in our basement and put on little concerts for them.
All of her family, especially on her father's side, were musically gifted. She had a clear view of her future self.
I'm going to be a star! I'm gonna be on the stage and I'm gonna SING!
Unfortunately, her life took some hard turns before this dream became a reality. A suicide attempt where she literally followed the light to a location where she could be found put her on a lengthy and, sometimes, tumultuous path to healing. Over time, she began to see her own radiance.
I put myself around people who I knew loved me and who could nurture me.
She went on to a highly successful career in the banking industry where she developed her capacity as a leader and mentor able to help the people she supervised realize their own potential.
I can help because I have gone through so much in my life. If I can make it out, anybody can!
Over time, she also came to understand that she was shortchanging her own dreams in the process. But thankfully…
A dream alive…
…if it's alive in your soul, it's never deferred.
You can still do it. And I'm evidence of that.
Solution-Focused Jeannine
Jeannine developed a special strategy to help her foster that dream each day while she was on the job. She calls in the “CONFIDENT STARE”.
A confident stare is just having yourself directly fixated on something, seeing it and staring at it and your're there.
She likens it to daydreaming with a twist. As you are looking at the dream with intent, you actually see and know it will come true so you take the steps you need to get there.
Her opportunity came to make a change when she got a buy out with a bank merger that gave her the chance to go back to school and finish her music degree.
Soon…
I was traveling all through the midwest, all through the south, (going to) Europe and, there you go!
Jeannine's Patchwork
Jeannine wasn't the only one with dreams. After hearing Dr. Martin Luther King's “I have a Dream” speech in 1963, Jeannine's father made a decision for his family. He moved to a predominantly white neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to raise his family. Jeannine grew up living, learning and worshipping surrounded by white people. As a result she says…
I learned the hard way that I was black.
It was a big shock to her when George Floyd's murder and the Black Lives Matter movement started to shine a light on the inherent racism all around her. At first, she wasn't happy with her dad's decision to take her away from her African American culture, but over time, she's come to see it as another important part of her journey that's allowed her to work successfully with people from all backgrounds and ethnicities.
After all, we all are human, right?
Changemaker Jeannine
Jeannine's experiences have equipped her well to help women overcome their own difficult and, often tragic, circumstances to illuminate their own dreams. .
When we get out of that box, we have to choose to form our own beliefs, our own mindsets, not do things that we learned in the box, just because that's what we were taught.
By finding new tools within them and looking beyond their current situation, they find new possibilities.
It is so important to show them the tools that they have in their toolbox. There's tools in there that they never used, because no one told them they could use them.
The ones on the top that are all shiny – that hammer, that screwdriver – but then down at the very bottom … there are those (other) tools… You take out and you go, what is this? What is this one for?
That is Jeannine's special magic. She can help you find the tools you've had within you all along, but just didn't know they were there. Tune into her show, Jeannine's Voice on Win Win Women, Saturday mornings at 7 a.m. Central time so you can hear more of her story and begin to discover more of your own!
I'm sure you can easily see how Jeannine's change-making work is directly connected to Global Goal #3 – Good Health and Wellbeing. When we take care of ourselves, we begin to see our potential to really change the world on our own terms! Reach out to Jeannine or to Patti to get started on your own ILLUMINATED PATH as a CHANGEMAKER!
And for an extra special treat, check this out! You have not lived until you've heard Jeannine Rivers SING! DEBUT CD | Jeannine Rivers | Musician
Here's another idea! CHECK OUT the CHANGEMAKER YOU course to help you get started today!
About the Author
Patti cultivates homegrown changemakers prepared to step into their power and work with others to create the world they want to live in. Get in touch to find out how you can grow the social changemaker in yourself and those you serve with Blue Roads Changemaker YOU.
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Patti cultivates homegrown changemakers prepared to step into their power and work with others to create the world they want to live in. Get in touch to find out how you can grow the social changemaker in yourself and those you serve with Blue Roads Changemaker YOU.
