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Interesting discussions aimed at gathering women together to engage as powerful forces for good in their homes, communities, and world.
Episodes
Thursday Feb 09, 2023
Thursday Feb 09, 2023
Carolina Allen and Dana Robb visit with leaders from the Houston WAVE, Nikki Brown and America Ririe, discussing February’s tenet, “We are each unique and innately worthy of respect” and their many impactful projects.
“If I had one goal in life, it would be to debunk this idea that you have to prove your worth, that you have to have more and be more or do more than someone else to be able to show your value, because that just really isn’t true. We each have innate worth.” - Dana Robb
“…America had this idea, and had this unique perspective on it, and she was able to move it forward in a way that only she would have done and anyone else would have said, ‘Oh, gosh we can’t do this right now,” but she understood the vision and she kind of allowed herself to be an instrument, to be a light for others because she was willing to move it forward.” - Nikki Brown
“I think that sometimes in our lives, like, the things that are our greatest hurdles become our greatest triumphs.” - Carolina Allen
“We always talk about good acts rippling outward, and I think this is such a great example of that.” - Carolina Allen
“I think you just take a step forward and the pieces come together … As we move forward, we’ve found everybody puts in a little drop and it really does collect and move forward.” - Nikki Brown
“With each of our unique backgrounds … just everyone’s unique talents and abilities came together and made it happen.” - America Ririe
“We create so much more when we work together as a team and we all have something specific to contribute.” - Dana Robb
“The exciting thing to me is the fact that everywhere around the world there are women with unique talents and strengths and that the combination of all of those within, like, these local WAVEs all over the world creates something significant, and then all together, all of us are creating something really, really profound.” - Carolina Allen
“We’ve been given those talents for a reason, and if you’re using them for what they’re intended, you should never downplay them or apologize for them, you should use that strength to lift others up as well.” - America Ririe
“I am becoming better at recognizing and using my strengths as I more proactively acknowledge and … support other people in their strengths.” - Nikki Brown
“I think in part when we are treating other people as though they are enough and acknowledging that, then we are literally changing those messages that we’re sending ourselves … the way our brain operates, the more that we think certain messages, the more that we are believing it and kind of subscribing to that.” - Nikki Brown
“I think, to me, that’s ultimately what we’re trying to do, is allow others to share who they are, and we accept them as they are.” - Nikki Brown
Nikki Brown says her greatest joy comes from being a wife of 18 years and a mother of 6 kids! She also loves serving within her faith community. She works as a therapist and recently completed the process to become a Registered Play Therapist. She loves learning, running, yoga, and being outdoors.
America Ririe is a stay at home mother of six. She lives with her family in Houston, Texas and has enjoyed being a part of the Big Ocean Women Houston WAVE. She works closely with Nikki Brown (President) and other local members, to raise awareness, advocate and bring change about various causes throughout the community. Big Ocean Women has become the catalyst in bribing about real change and a force for good.
Carolina Allen is the founder and leader of Big Ocean Women, the international maternal feminist organization representing perspectives of faith, family, and motherhood throughout civil society. Carolina holds a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Utah with an emphasis in cultural religions and philosophy of science. Her inspirational and philosophical work has been presented at various international U.N. conferences. She is a native of Brazil, and a fluent trilingual. She and her husband Kawika are parents to 7 children. She is an avid soccer fan and had a brief career as a semi-professional player.
Dana Robb: Whenever presented with the opportunity for adventure, Dana is all in. Currently, this includes riding the local mountain biking trails with her husband, canyoneering, and climbing the hills of southern Utah. She loves to learn and explore with her six kids. She is drawn to the opportunities being involved with Big Ocean Women provides. Dana loves connecting to a global sisterhood where women’s issues are being addressed through reframing and an abundance mindset.
Wednesday Feb 01, 2023
Wednesday Feb 01, 2023
Hosts Kim Landeen and Carolina Allen discuss this month’s tenet: “We are each unique and innately worthy of respect.”
“I feel as though the world would be completely different if everyone truly understood what this tenet really means.” – Carolina Allen
“As we really focus on the uniqueness, our individual uniqueness, and the uniqueness of those around us, and we see the worth, the divine and inherent worth within that uniqueness, great things can happen.” – Kim Landeen
“There’s an Islamic proverb that I love that says, ‘A lot of different flowers make a bouquet.’” – Kim Landeen
The Mother Tree: Discovering the Love and Wisdom of Our Divine Mother by Kathryn Knight Sonntag
- Set your roots, engage in the work of the root, discover who you are, do the hard work of soul engagement
- Grow, don’t just stay in the root work and “self-discovery,” get out of yourself and serve others
“The term ‘self-care’ has been kind of co-opted to mean ‘self-indulgence’ in a way.” – Carolina Allen
“I know as moms we give a lot, … I get it, … we are stretched thin, but also like there’s power in that, like we’re actually building something, it’s not for nothing, you know, and it’s worth the effort, it’s worth the work.” – Carolina Allen
“You can gain internal peace without needing to gain justice.” – Kim Landeen
“We get to really know what we’re made out of and who we are when we’re put to the test, like when we have to actually engage and apply these things in very real ways and the best way to do that literally is to be there for people and serve them.” – Carolina Allen
“I believe we need to reclaim ourselves… as maternal feminists, the reclaiming of who we are, are divinely inspired, empowered women, that show up in our homes, our communities, and this world. We need those women.” – Kim Landeen
“As we sacrifice for the rising generation because of our maternal identities and because of … know the sacrifice that our physical bodies go through just to even bring about life and nurture that life after that life has been born, because of that there is a very powerful thread that we hold as an authority to the rising generation by way of influence. Meaning, because I am a present loving selfless person within the walls of my home with my children, … all of that authority built from love and from sacrifice has a very unique influence over that child ... in a sense that ‘My mom has been there for me, … I’m going to listen to what she has to say.’ And If you live in a selfish manner, it’s not there, you don’t have that sway, you don’t have that pull, you don’t have that influence. The influence, to me, in my book is the greatest power that exists on the planet which is why I think mothers and this maternal work has been so undermined and has been so devalued throughout time to kind of make us forget … what it is the power that we really have … the way to exercise that power, like that self-empowerment, is to lean into the selflessness not the selfishness. And I think that there are … contradicting messages in our society. I'd say there’s a really strong message in our society to lean into the selfish component and I think that we need to be really careful with that.” – Carolina Allen
“To be a mother is to hopefully have influence… The jobs that we do in our home influence not just today or not next week, it influences generations.” – Kim Landeen
“It’s easy to pit these two against each other. It’s easy to say you can either be selfless or selfish, and by definition, that’s correct… I think it goes back to the intention of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. It is selfless for me to say I am going to have structure in my life so I can get up and I can get the things that I need to get done so I can be present with my children when they are awake. It is selfless for me to say I’m going to take care of my body and refuse the things that I want to indulge in so I can have the energy and the stability to show up in the world when I need to show up. It is selfless of me to say I am going to study and I’m going to develop these different qualities so that I can then engage in political and social conversations. All of those things, the waking up early, the eating what I want to eat, the exercising, all of those could be seen as selfish components of what I’m doing, but it’s the intent of what I’m doing… That’s what it comes down to is the intent… It ultimately comes down to why are you doing what you are doing? What is it doing for you? What is it doing for those around you?” – Kim Landeen
“These identity markers are important; they are deeply important to who we are… but how am I going to show up as that person? And that is where uniqueness comes in. That is where those divine gifts start to really shine. And there are moments of reflection, there are moments of going down into the roots and those are so important, so don’t lose those moments of reflection. Don’t say I’m just going to sacrifice everything and just keep going and going because there is burnout, there is lack of focus, there is lack of intentionality, that’s where those roots come… When you disengage from what you’re doing, and you get on this superficial level and you’re not truly becoming a better person and you’re not truly rejuvenating, you’re not truly feeding yourself in a way that your body needs.” – Kim Landeen
“I really wish that for everyone in the world, number one that everyone can understand that they’re innately worthy of respect, … and that they are valuable irrespective of external circumstances or validation, that there is something unique about each and every listener, everyone on this planet that that means that like you as a person are valuable ... My single wish is that we can feel that, you know, that we can really feel in in the most humble the most beautiful but the most confident way and that we can have … courage to go and share our talents and not hide our light under a bushel but to stand and have this confidence this kind of inner confidence and inner … peace about us that can really influence the world.” – Carolina Allen
“Healing truly comes from connection… There is also deep connection and healing that comes from reaching outside of yourself having those that are dependent on you be able to trust you and depend on you.” – Kim Landeen
“The way I think the world needs to change is unique to my experiences. I’ve seen things that I want to improve.” – Kim Landeen
Call to action: Engage in a way that you feel like you need to engage in to make the world better because of your unique experience.
Carolina Allen is the founder and leader of Big Ocean Women, the international maternal feminist organization representing perspectives of faith, family, and motherhood throughout civil society. Carolina holds a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Utah with an emphasis in cultural religions and philosophy of science. Her inspirational and philosophical work has been presented at various international U.N. conferences. She is a native of Brazil, and a fluent trilingual. She and her husband Kawika are parents to 7 children. She is an avid soccer fan and had a brief career as a semi-professional player.
Kim Landeen is a founding member and a Global Team Director of Big Ocean Women, the international maternal feminist organization representing perspectives of faith, family, and motherhood throughout civil society. Kim has a deep love for the natural world. She lives in Alaska with her family where she enjoys spending the slower paced life with her children combing the beach for treasures, gardening, picking wild berries, and spending rainy lazy days making bread, reading books, and watching movies. She is an ecotour captain in Glacier Bay National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site where she helps educate her clients on the relationship between humanity and the larger eco-environment. In addition to her love of nature, she also enjoys studying theology and the inner workings of the soul as well as tracking global political and social movements. Her love for God, people, and this world drives her to continually seek to improve her own circumstances and the circumstances of all those with whom she comes in contact.
Thursday Jan 26, 2023
Thursday Jan 26, 2023
Members of Big Ocean Women discuss Faith and how it impacts their lives, their actions, and their wider beliefs.
As moms of faith It is one of our deepest desires that we can translate our value system to our children… the way to do that with children is to know and understand first what you believe in. Children can feel a sense of discrepancies between your ideas what you believe and what you do.
-Carolina
As a young mom, they were three ideas that I wanted to impart upon my children I wanted them to Love God, love for people, and love this world. I decided that if they loved and understood those three things everything else would come naturally.
-Kim
When raised in faith We invariably reach a point in our lives, where our faith is challenged, but if you walk through that complexity, and you ask questions, and research and dive into the complexity, you reach a place of simplicity on the other side of complexity that is a beautiful place to be, that is more valuable than staying in the original simplicity.
-Dana
Recently, I was having some personal trials, and I wanted answers, and I felt like the only answer I was getting was to be still and I felt like that was not the answer that I wanted because I wanted to know more about what the future would look like and all I kept getting this be still be still…and as I did that, I came in to that next simplicity again and I’ve had a lot more peace in my heart, and in my mind
-Lisa
I have gone through a number of faith crisis, and I have learned that I need to give myself the grace to step back when I need to step back into engage when I need to engage… when I need to step back what I personally focus on is eternal patterns its this meta this level above scripture in my mind less linguistic and more symbolic.
-Grace
Wednesday Jan 18, 2023
Wednesday Jan 18, 2023
In this third episode, Kim Landeen and Carolina Allen discuss the biodiversity of faith with Melissa Inouye.
“If people have described religion as trying to keep lighting in a bottle, charisma is the lightning and organization is the bottle. Kind of a balance between the two: if you have too much bottle, you can’t see the lightning, and if you have too much lightning you break the bottle.” – Melissa Inouye
“I believe that God created the world, and I believe that … we can draw from the natural world, created by God, some principles, and just looking at the world it seems pretty significant that we have biodiversity that seems to be the key to making a lot of things work.” – Melissa Inouye
“I believe that God has also created us with spiritual biodiversity.” – Melissa Inouye
“One of the ways we start becoming better as people is … developing our understanding of our fellow beings and becoming a little more mature in being able to understand goodness in other people and faith and to see that goodness and to learn from other people. I think that God has … nudged us toward that trajectory through creating a world with incredible spiritual and physical biodiversity.” – Melissa Inouye
“Everyone has a lot to learn, and we can learn so much from people who teach us in different ways.” – Melissa Inouye
“Lean in to the ways that religion holds together the fabric of societies.” – Melissa Inouye
“Religion is a motive source in many ways for a lot of social change and social cohesion.” – Melissa Inouye
The Way of Openness: https://civicfriendship.org/the-way-of-oppenness/
The Ten Conventions for Dialogue:
- Be Honest
- Be Kind
- Listen Well
- Share the Floor
- Presume Goodwill
- Acknowledge Differences
- Answer the Tough Questions
- Give Credit Where Credit is Due
- Speak Only For Yourself
- Keep Private Things Private
“My faith has literally saved my life. I had a really scary diagnosis… I think one of the reasons why I’ve been able to beat really bad odds for such a long time is because even when I myself didn’t have faith or hope in myself, there were other people that I could rely on who did and I think that the body responds to that.” – Melissa Inouye
BioDiversity Presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsPERjmBH0
Every needful Thing; Book preorder: https://deseretbook.com/p/every-needful-thing?variant_id=200906-paperback
Melissa Inouye works as a historian at the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is also an honorary Senior Lecturer in Asian Studies at the University of Auckland. She is currently researching the life of Chieko Okazaki, a Japanese American Latter-day Saint who was the first person of color to hold a prominent general-level position in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Carolina Allen is the founder and leader of Big Ocean Women, the international maternal feminist organization representing perspectives of faith, family, and motherhood throughout civil society. Carolina holds a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Utah with an emphasis in cultural religions and philosophy of science. Her inspirational and philosophical work has been presented at various international U.N. conferences. She is a native of Brazil, and a fluent trilingual. She and her husband Kawika are parents to 7 children. She is an avid soccer fan and had a brief career as a semi-professional player.
Kim Landeen is a founding member and a Global Team Director of Big Ocean Women, the international maternal feminist organization representing perspectives of faith, family, and motherhood throughout civil society. Kim has a deep love for the natural world. She lives in Alaska with her family where she enjoys spending the slower paced life with her children combing the beach for treasures, gardening, picking wild berries, and spending rainy lazy days making bread, reading books, and watching movies. She is an ecotour captain in Glacier Bay National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site where she helps educate her clients on the relationship between humanity and the larger eco-environment. In addition to her love of nature, she also enjoys studying theology and the inner workings of the soul as well as tracking global political and social movements. Her love for God, people, and this world drives her to continually seek to improve her own circumstances and the circumstances of all those with whom she comes in contact.
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
In this episode, Carolina discusses religious liberty and persecution with Fatima Njoku, a WAVE leader from Jos, Nigeria. Fatima emphasizes that it is important for everyone to know their rights, be respectful, and hold everyone to the same rule of law which should protect everyone’s rights of religion and expression.
In Fatima’s advocacy she found that “most of the minority rights issues were linked to religious identities.” She also said, “Freedom of religion and belief has a lot of connections into other things… When we talk about human rights, it links in many ways.” - Fatima Njoku
“We have to respect each other's religion and religious belief and objects of faith, right, but then there has to be clearly defined boundaries.” - Fatima Njoku
“We have to at some point recognize boundaries and recognize where your freedoms end and someone else’s begins.” - Fatima Njoku
Why should the world care about this?
“Many lives are at stake… when it happens to one, it happens to all. How many countries can handle a refugee crisis from Nigeria?” - Fatima Njoku
What is the solution?
“We have started by talking about it. Keep talking about it and raising these issues and keep raising these issues. Secondly, is to educate people. We need to have workshops and educate people on their human rights and then victims of these types of things…. We have to care for them and support them. Keep denouncing these types of things.” - Fatima Njoku
“When we hear that something is happening to people, let’s not feel that because it doesn’t affect us directly that we don’t care; we really need to care, and there’s always something that we can do.” - Fatima Njoku
Fatima Njoku is a lawyer working in Nigeria and currently a doctorate candidate at the University of Jos. She has been a human rights advocate for over 11 years, in the course of her advocacy, she has been to the United Nations headquarters in New York and Geneva, she had meetings at Capitol Hill, House of Lords, Swiss Press Club and the like. She has been serving her community through Big Ocean Women in Nigeria where more than 50 women meet regularly for encouragement around the importance of faith, family, and motherhood. This group also carries out community development projects that have touched many lives.
Carolina Allen is the founder and leader of Big Ocean Women, the international maternal feminist organization representing perspectives of faith, family, and motherhood throughout civil society. Carolina holds a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Utah with an emphasis in cultural religions and philosophy of science. Her inspirational and philosophical work has been presented at various international U.N. conferences. She is a native of Brazil, and a fluent trilingual. She and her husband Kawika are parents to 7 children. She is an avid soccer fan and had a brief career as a semi-professional player.
Wednesday Jan 04, 2023
Wednesday Jan 04, 2023
In this first episode of our new series focusing on our monthly tenets, Carolina Allen and Kim Landeen discuss the first tenet of Big Ocean Women “We believe in God and are women of faith.”
“We are connected to divinity, we are divine and that power both outside and within us compels us to help mold our actions and it helps empower everything we do both internally and externally in changing our lives and shaping our lives and the lives of our family and the lives of our communities.” – Kim Landeen
“Faith is power and when you can tap into this infinite source of power… it can compel you along… it can give you this strength to keep moving to keep planning to keep rising above whatever challenges are faced, or set before you, and it really drives our advocacy work and the humanitarian work that we do.” – Carol Allen
“I think there is some deep matriarchal wisdom in understanding that your example is first and foremost the thing that will change people’s hearts.” – Kim Landeen
“When something is done with a lot of intention, even though it’s mundane, it becomes very beautiful and ritualistic in a way that invites this kind of abundance into your life.
“When I can start the day in a prayerful mindset then all of these mundane things that I do that don’t seem very important become ritualistic through the intention and the deliberateness that I put into them.
“The cool thing is that I can pray anywhere. Like if I’m needing to recalibrate, if I’m needing to reconcile some kind of a negative feeling, I can just pray in my car, I can pray any time any place and connect with Divinity and tap into that infinite source again, and then my mundane actions become very holy and very sacred.
“Every little thing I get to do is such a gift when I’m living in abundance.” –Carolina Allen
Call to action: Wherever you are listening, and whatever faith tradition you subscribe to, or you don’t, if you have a will and a desire to connect with the divine more intentionally this week, my invitation to all is to see ways in which you can connect with the divine this week. How can you bring in that divine grace to your life as you are going about these mundane things, and how have you seen that divinity make these mundane things more sacred?
Carolina Allen is the founder and leader of Big Ocean Women, the international maternal feminist organization representing perspectives of faith, family, and motherhood throughout civil society. Carolina holds a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Utah with an emphasis in cultural religions and philosophy of science. Her inspirational and philosophical work has been presented at various international U.N. conferences. She is a native of Brazil, and a fluent trilingual. She and her husband Kawika are parents to 7 children. She is an avid soccer fan and had a brief career as a semi-professional player.
Kim Landeen is a founding member and a Global Team Director of Big Ocean Women, the international maternal feminist organization representing perspectives of faith, family, and motherhood throughout civil society. Kim has a deep love for the natural world. She lives in Alaska with her family where she enjoys spending the slower paced life with her children combing the beach for treasures, gardening, picking wild berries, and spending rainy lazy days making bread, reading books, and watching movies. She is an ecotour captain in Glacier Bay National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site where she helps educate her clients on the relationship between humanity and the larger eco-environment. In addition to her love of nature, she also enjoys studying theology and the inner workings of the soul as well as tracking global political and social movements. Her love for God, people, and this world drives her to continually seek to improve her own circumstances and the circumstances of all those with whom she comes in contact.
Tuesday Sep 14, 2021
Tuesday Sep 14, 2021
Erica Komisar talks to us about why being there for your children, especially in the first few years of life, is so important. Ms. Komisar is a clinical social worker, psychoanalyst, and parent guidance expert who has been in private practice in New York City for over 30 years. She strives to help parents live more satisfying lives and raise healthier children.
A graduate of Georgetown and Columbia Universities and The New York Freudian Society, Ms. Komisar is a psychological consultant bringing parenting and work/life workshops to clinics, schools, corporations, and childcare settings. She is a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New York Daily News. Erica is the author of Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters, and is currently finishing a second book on the topic of raising resilient, emotionally secure adolescents in an age of anxiety.
Wednesday Sep 01, 2021
Wednesday Sep 01, 2021
Dana interviews Aditi Aromi, talking about honoring our feminine biology through the gift and power of breastfeeding as well as the model of powerful impact as we reach out to meet needs in our community.
Aditi is a born-again Christian, full-time mother of two beautiful children and a wife to the same husband of 22 years. Residing in Southern Utah as an entrepreneur of three family oriented businesses. She is the founder of Free2Feed a local motherhood support group, the owner of Sound Start Education where she works as a Certified Lactation Education counselor. And most recently the campus Director and CEO of the Learning Space, Homeschool Micro Campus in Southern Utah.
Wednesday Aug 11, 2021
Wednesday Aug 11, 2021
Michelle Meline is the mother of six children and grandmother to 2. She has been involved in PTA, Boosters for the Performing Arts, bake sales, little league, girls softball, school plays, and endless hours of homework with her children. She even built a five story pagoda entirely out of food storage, once!
She wants women everywhere to know that they are all gifted and uniquely talented and they possess abilities to love and nurture goodness in every facet of life. She hopes everyone will practice peace, choose joy, believe in goodness, never give up and keep being amazing! Favorite words to live by “Be beautiful, Be real and Bring light! These are written on her heart and the bathroom mirror in lipstick! She celebrates womanhood and believes that the strongest good can be accomplished by working together with good men!
Michelle’s Professional adventures have taken her to several industries. She has worked for and assisted firms in Marketing, Advertising, Law, Accounting, Consumer Electronics, Healthcare, Interior Design and Media. She has had the pleasure of meeting many talented and wonderful artists including Hiroshima, Earth Wind and Fire, and Kenny Loggins who she sang happy birthday to.
She has also served with Interfaith Boards and in the Dept. of Communications as a director of media relations at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Currently, she is serving as a board member for Big Ocean Women which is an international women’s organization. This organization’s mission is to gather and train women to be deliberate thinkers and to engage as powerful forces for good in their homes, communities, and the world. She invites you to visit bigoceanwomen.org for more information
Tuesday Aug 03, 2021
Tuesday Aug 03, 2021
63 million girls are missing from the Indian population.
In India there are estimated to be:
70 million sex selective abortions yearly
37 million more men than women
1 girl for 8 boys in some villages
There is even a village called Devra that has no women in it.
These are just a few of the realities based one on of the most tragic circumstances in the world-the belief that girls are liabilities.
What do we do? Listen to this interview with Jill McElya to learn more, gain hope in a better future, and become part of the solution.
BIO: Jill McElya is an attorney, whose experience includes extensive public
service, in both criminal and civil law practice. In January 2008, she moved to
India to serve as the Deputy Director for the Chennai field office of an
international human rights organization. In this capacity, she and her staff of
Indian lawyers worked to rescue victims of bonded labor (slavery) and hold
their perpetrators accountable through the public justice system.
While living in India for two years, Jill and her husband, Brad were
exposed to the practice of female gendercide (the systematic killing of females).
After studying the issue and forming relationships with Indians from
organizations that combat the problem, they founded Invisible Girl Project
(IGP) in 2011. IGP’s mission is to save girls’ lives to end female gendercide in
India. Jill now serves as President for IGP, a 501(c)(3), charitable organization,
headquartered in Raleigh, NC, where she now lives with her husband and their
own two little girls.