Sense of Soul - The Divine Masculine and Feminine Unite

Episode Date: September 17, 2024

Brad Walsh is a Professional Photographer who found himself wanting to inspire others during the pandemic. Brad is also the host of Empowerography, a podcast where he features powerful women and aims to empower them. He birthed the idea of EMPOWEROGRAPHY as a platform to highlight strong, inspired and dynamic women to share their stories of success, triumph, resiliency and transformation. He had no idea that what started as a simple concept would take on a life of its own. He is excited to share this platform with you and continue to EMPOWER, ELEVATE and EDUCATE by amplifying the voices of women all over the world. Empowerography is a platform that believes in amplifying the voices of women and empowering their platforms to share messages of inspiration and community. New episodes are available for listening and download on the podcast platform. https://empowerographypodcast.com/ Walsh's Instagram account for the podcast is @empowerographypodcast.   

Hello, my soul-seeking friends. It's Shanna. Thank you so much for listening to Sense of Soul podcast. Enlightening conversations with like-minded souls from around the world, sharing their journey of finding their light within, turning pain into purpose, and awakening to their true sense of soul. If you like what you hear, show me some love and rate, like, and subscribe. And consider becoming a Sense of Soul Patreon member, where you will get ad-free episodes, monthly circles, and much more. Now go grab your coffee, open your mind, heart, and soul. It's time to awaken. Today on Sense of Soul, I have Brad Walsh. He is a professional photographer and the host of Empowerography, a top podcast where he is empowering women one episode at a time.

Brad shares stories of success, triumph, resiliency, and transformation, highlighting strong, inspired, and dynamic women. I've been on his podcast and I'm super excited to welcome him on Sense of Soul to empower, elevate, and educate. Brad, thanks so much for coming on. Hello. Hey, Brad, how you doing? I am awesome. How are you? I'm great. You and I have had, I've been on your podcast and we had conversations before.

And let's just go back because I love your story as little baby Brad and how you grew up. Little baby Brad. Yeah. So I was raised pretty much by my mom and my grandmother. My mom left my biological father when I was 10. He was running around on her having an affair. And back in those days, women were the ones who stayed home to raise the children, while the husband was the one at work and making the money to support the family. So for my mom, when I look back on that now, as a grown adult male, and thinking about the situation, the fact that she had the strength and the courage,

the resilience, and of course, the support from her mother, my grandmother, to stand up after 15 years of marriage and say, No, I'm done. I'm not putting up with this. And I don't deserve it. I don't have to put up with it anymore. And that was back in 1980. So to do that, I mean, divorce wasn't incredibly common back then. And women were the ones who stayed home. So to do that, I mean, divorce wasn't incredibly common back then. And women were the ones who stayed home. So to actually have the courage to say no more without a job without anything to just say I'm leaving. So we left, she said she told him that, you know, I'm taking my boys and we're leaving. Sorry, but I'm out of here. And so the three of us left. Nothing but the clothes on our back, we moved

into a one bedroom apartment. My mom, it was in the same building where my grandparents live. My mom slept on a couch, my brother and I shared the bedroom. And she had to get a job after being at work for 10 years, because she stayed home and sacrificed to raise us. And so when she was at work, my grandmother would step in and help raise us. So for me, those two women are everything. They're my heart and my soul. I wouldn't be the man I am today without those two women. They made me who I am. And I owe them a debt that is never repayable for all that they sacrificed, all that they

did for me, all that they taught me and gave me and showed me. This is who I am today because of those two incredibly strong, resilient women. Was your mom religious? Because I know that also, you know, I mean, my aunt Charlotte did the same, but she was kicked out of church for 30 years. Wow. 30 years. Yeah. They let her back in. And I said, why would she want to go? Yeah, exactly. If they didn't want anything to do with you, why would you go back? Yeah. No, my grandmother was religious, but I was baptized, but the religion wasn't really bred into us. We didn't go to church. My mom didn't go to church. My grandmother did, but my mom wasn't really a church God when she was younger. She did. But as an adult, I don't ever remember my mom going to church. So religion wasn't really a big part of our lives. My grandmother came from Eastern

Canada. She's French. My grandfather's Irish. My grandmother, she was one of 11 kids. She left home very, very young. My great grandfather passed away at the age of 39. And when he passed away, my great grandmothergrandmother was in the next room giving birth to her last child. Wow. Yeah. All the kids left home very young. Like my grandmother left home, she didn't even get a grade eight education. She left home, she moved to Toronto, she moved to Ontario, actually, very, very young. And then as they as she got older, her brothers and sisters, whenever they left the house and left home, they came and stayed with her. Once she was in it, once she got married to my grandfather, they came and stayed with her

to get on their feet. And then they went out on their own in Ontario as well. But they all ended up leaving because it's a lot for one for a single mother with 11 kids. I mean, you can imagine how hard that must have been. And that was back in, oh man, that had to be the twenties, thirties, right? She was a strong woman. Yeah. Many women stay. So it is courageous what your mom did. I mean, I didn't stay, I did the same. And so when you said I left and I was sleeping with all my kids at my mom's house on the couch too. You got to do what you got to do.

And I think it is brave of you to do that. And any woman who does that, it takes a lot of strength and courage because you're conditioned that you're supposed to stay in these situations. You work it out. You stay, you stay, you stay. And sometimes it's just not possible. But to be able to break free, I think, and have the strength and the courage to do it is incredible. So I admire you for doing that as well, Shanna. Yeah. And it changed you and who you ended up being. You wouldn't be talking

to me right now, you know, had your mom not done what she did, grandma not done what she did grandma not done what she did yeah it's so um props to the females in your life because you're now making a difference I think for men and women and so tell me about where you found it was important to do what you're doing today like how did this become a passion well it started with my photography work and because of my daughters as well. My daughter, I have two daughters. They're 22 and no, 20. Yeah, 22.

Yes, 22. And my oldest, February 22nd's her birthday. She turned 25. So they're a big part of it. Oh, mine too. Oh, yeah? Yeah, well, on the 22nd yeah 25 yeah what yeah seriously shut the front door i swear i swear no way 1999 yeah yeah what how did we never talk about that

i don't know my birthday's on the 6th of febru February wow yeah she turned 25 that's so funny we were doing the same thing on that day yeah well almost so almost so they um they were both bullied in elementary school my youngest was bullied by both boys and girls verbally and physically my oldest was bullied by girls verbally and to see them go through and go through that situation with them, it was tough. It was a couple of years of dealing with all of that. And as a parent, of course, it's heartbreaking to see your kids go through that. There's also some relatability there for me because I was also bullied as a kid. So I had an idea of what they were dealing with. Albeit, of course, the situations are very different. Times were very very different but I think the worst part of that situation was seeing the effects that

it had on the girls carry through with them to the different stages of their lives from elementary school to high school to now their young adult lives I still see the effects they're prevalent they're there and so that was a big part of it, but my photography work, I mean, I started out shooting architecture and landscapes, I didn't want to photograph people, I had no interest whatsoever in photographing people, but through my corporate job, I was in corporate for 12 and a half years, I ended up doing the corporate headshots for the firm, and I fell in love with photographing people, because it gave me an opportunity to connect with people as they sat for their portrait, which, of course, as a photographer, when you have a connection or a relation with your subject, it brings out and creates a better image because there's that connection there. So I love that piece of it. And that's where my love began for photographing people.

A few years following that, I was introduced through a mutual friend to a boudoir photographer who was based in Florida. And I fell in love with her work and the mission and the message behind that genre of photography with what you can help women accomplish in terms of body acceptance, self-love, self-confidence. And I ended up mentoring with her for six months. And when I was done my mentorship, it was just one of those light bulb moments. I knew that's what I got to do with my photography business when I do make the jump to photography full time. So that was really the start of it for me. So I've been working in the women's empowerment space, I guess, for maybe eight years this year, my photography. And then, of course, the podcast, which came out of wanting to.

I mean, I loved what I what I do. I love what I do with the photography. I'm able to give back and impact people's lives. And, but it got to a point for me where I felt like I want to have a bigger impact. I want to reach more people. Photography. I mean, it's great. I impact people's lives individually, but it's not on a grand scale like I wanted. So I thought, why don't I take the values and the purpose and the mission of the photography work and turn that into a transplant that into a podcast where I focus the podcast solely on women at the time. And even now, I don't know of any platforms that are hosted by men that solely focus on amplifying and elevating women through sharing their stories. So I thought, this is perfect. I can carve out my own niche in the podcasting world.

So I reached out to seven or eight friends of mine, photographers, makeup artists that I knew through my work. And I asked them if they would let me interview them to get this platform off the ground, explain what it was all about, what I wanted to do with it. Now, of course, the vision and the mission has evolved since then, but that was really the start of it. And then photography took a front seat again, my business started to pick up traction, I thought I have to shift my focus back to the business. That's why I left my corporate career. So I did that. And then of course, we fast forward to March of 2020. We're under my business interoperable. So I thought, instead of sitting around and complaining, like everyone else is doing about what's going on, why not take advantage of

this gift of time that we've all been given and put something good out into the world. This is what we need right now. So I reignited the podcast in March of 2020. And it's just been go, go, go towards since then. It's been amazing. I have met I mean, you and I met because of the podcast. You've been on my podcast, as you mentioned. I have met some of the most incredible women. It is just, it inspires me. Every interview I do inspires me. I take inspiration away from every single interview. It is an absolute honor that I get invited into these spaces with these women to share

in their stories. I compare it to, I'm in the passenger seat of their car as they're driving me along the journey of their life. I get to, I get witness. I get to witness that firsthand. I'm in the front seat with them sharing in that. And it is such an incredible honor for me. And honestly, the relationships and the friendships have been the best part of this whole thing. It's been amazing. Yeah. I love hearing stories just period for men or women yeah but today the divine femininity seems to be rising you know in everyone i mean i even i see it in my mother i see it in my daughters you know all throughout all the generations and you know I think about your grandma, my grandma, who didn't, you know, have that necessarily, that privilege. In fact, they were probably the last generation.

Yeah. Because then right after them, it was like, all right, women were stepping into, look what your mom did, right? Into their power. For sure. look what your mom did right into their power for sure so i bet you hear a lot of similar vibe of this rising within them yeah oh absolutely i mean every single woman and i mean i believe that every single person as you said stories are amazing this is this is the fiber and fabric of society's stories i mean you, you go back hundreds, thousands of years, and women had circles sitting around telling stories.

They were sharing stories. It goes back years and years and years. And so I believe everybody has a story. But with the women in particular, because the platform is focused on that work, every one of these women has a triumphant story. I mean, some of these women have shared stuff with me that they've never shared with anyone ever. And I'm blown away by that and so honored and feel so blessed and so lucky to be in that position to share in that. But every woman

has a triumphant story of overcoming crap in their lives that they had to deal with and coming out the other side because they've done the work they've put in the work and that is one of the common threads through all of the interviews is that these women have put in the work wanting to do better for their kids or just for themselves well first and foremost for themselves because that's where it starts the foundation is with us we have to want to do the work for us first, but the benefits that ripple out in society. I mean, I believe that when women stand up and tell their stories, it's a permission slip for other women to tell up and stand up and share their stories as well. And that's what it's about is helping to raise the vibration of the collective

through sharing our stories. That's how we're going to heal the world is through story and sharing those stories and letting people know that it is okay to share your story, no matter how hard or difficult it is. There's someone out there who will be there to support you. Someone else, you're not alone. Someone else has gone through something similar and it's okay to share. You need to share it. It is your duty and responsibility to share that story in order to help the healing process of the collective. Yeah, for sure. You know what? The other day I saw an interview and I don't know who the man was, but it was with Lady Gaga. Okay. I'm going to find it and send it to you.

Okay. Yes. Because I'm really thinking about you in this moment right now. Because she was talking about, she started to cry. And she said, I just miss people. Like she's so secluded because of who she is that she can't just go meet new friends. You know what I mean? And this man that was interviewed, it was a man that was interviewing her. And my first thought was, oh gosh, it's a man that's interviewing her. She's crying to this man and she doesn't even know him. And then I was like, he must be making a safe space for her. You must have created a safe space for her where she felt vulnerable and she felt safe to express herself. And I thought it was very beautiful.

And I felt very moved by that vulnerability of her sharing. So, but what's interesting is that that must be what you do that's what you do you create a safe space for these women to be able to tell you stuff they've never told anyone in their lives yeah it is you know it's i've had women cry on the podcast and i am so again it just goes i am so this is so much bigger than all of us it's much bigger than me it's about shining a light on these women and the incredible things that they're doing but I had a friend say to me a little while back last year sometime we're talking about podcasting and the interviews and stuff and my platform and she said do, you don't even realize what a gift you have. I'm like,

what are you talking about? I, I have no idea what you're talking about. Just your ability to hold space for people to create that safe and safe space for them to be born. I said, I don't, I don't see that as the gift. She goes, that's exactly why it is a gift because you don't I don't see that as the gift of the girl she goes that's exactly why it is a gift because you don't even know it and you do it it says you are one of the most incredible people when it comes that that she that ever encountered encountered and she said you do it just and I said but this is just who I am I just this is what I do and she's that's exactly why it's such a gift that is your gift. I'm like, well, I never thought about it that way until she pointed that out. I never thought never even entered my mind. So it is an incredible honor to, to be in that space, to create such a safe

container for women to share their stories and that they want to share them with me. Like I, I think about it from time to time since that conversation with my friend. And I just, every time I'm just blown away when I think about it and overwhelmed with emotion because I never, I never look at it that way ever until she pointed it out. So I'm just so grateful, honestly, for all of the relationships, all of the women that I've met,

all the women who want to be on the podcast, who want to share their stories. It's about sharing those stories so that other women can, so that we can inspire, help and reach other women to know that they're not alone and you can do whatever it is you want to do in this life. Because these women are leading by example. They've shown you through sharing their stories. They've given you that permission slip to stand up and share your story. Yeah. Yeah. And they need a platform. They need that soapbox to do so.

It's also interesting. You and I, I think we're from the same generation. The generation that no one ever talks about, Gen X. Yes. We have the best music. Hello. Yes, we do. But we're also, we were those latchkey kids. I remember all of my friends. Well, my parents weren't because they're both Catholic, deeply rooted. But most of my friends, you know, their parents were divorced. And it was awesome because no one was ever home. And so it was like, let's go to your house. We'll get in some trouble there. And it's so true, right?

But with that, women also got more masculine. Yes. And there became this imbalance even for women because they felt that they had to. They had to fight for the positions because they had to work. They had to be the father, the mother at home. And yeah, this became an imbalanced thing that I think today as we become more conscious, we're also having to embrace our more feminine energy. Absolutely. I mean, I can remember having the, I remember as a kid, we get the latchkey kid thing.

I had my keys on a string around my neck as a kid. I remember having that, right? Like this was just something we did because the parents weren't home. And I've thought about this a lot when I first started the podcast is the fact that, you know, and I've talked to many women about it, but the competition between women, that always blew my mind. I could never wrap my head around it because I always thought, well, why? I mean, you would think that women would want to support each other and lift each other up because sisterhood and all these things.

But I realized through the interviews I was doing and talking to many different women that this competition only came and came about because of men. Men really are who caused this because there were so few positions available for women in, let's just use corporations as an example. There were so few positions of power or of authority in these companies for women that they had to compete. They had to fight for these business. They had to claw at each other to get the positions because there were a handful of positions available and there was more women out there than positions. So they had to fight for them, right? This is what caused this. And it's, I think it's horrible that these

women have had to fight and claw each other because you don't see that shit among men. Men don't fight and claw at positions. It's a very different dynamic. But I think we are starting to see a shift, which is great. But we still have a lot of work to do, a lot. Have you ever watched The Red Tent or read The Red Tent? No. Oh, it's so good.

It's so good. It's so good. It's the story of Dinah, which was one of Jacob's daughters. So you only hear about Jacob's daughter or Jacob's sons, right? All of his sons, you know, Israel. Yeah. And it's her story. And it's about how they would have to, every time they had a period or any time they had a child or anything like that, they had to go into this tent. And they end up calling it the red tent.

So there was this sisterhood that no one ever knew about within this tent. And in this story, God, it really lit me up. I mean, I'm in a goosebumps right now talking about it. It gets me excited. But it's a story that I wish I would have grown up knowing, right? That we came together as sisters because we are different in our bodies. And there was no shame in that tent or anything. But we were in there because it was shameful, right?

Yeah. So they laughed amongst themselves and and were vulnerable that story was never told i don't even know if it is a real story i don't know if they you know dramatized it i've never looked into that but for me as a woman watching that it was very powerful and i found out they even do like red tent pop-ups like in cities now where it's not, you're not, you're not going there just to gather together and have sisterhood. I mean, for, for generations, we've had men going to lodges. I think of like Fred Flintstone. The Buffalo, Water Buffalo Lodge. Yeah.

Right. Or golfing or whatever it is right the women don't have that or haven't had that we're starting to see a shift in that which i think is great we need more of it absolutely but it's interesting the shift and we just need to keep moving in that direction we need to keep like we talked about really before we jumped on, is having the conversations. Conversation is what's going to change things. And if we don't talk about it, people don't know about it. We've got to shine a light on all of this stuff. It needs to change. It's time for men to step up, I believe, and start letting women know that we see you, we hear you.

When you think about it, all we want as human beings really is to be seen, heard, and understood. That's it. It's pretty basic. It's pretty simple. We have our needs, yes, of course. But when it comes down to it, we just want to be seen, heard, and understood. And so I think that if more men start standing up and rising up and letting women know that we see you, we hear you, we're allies, let's get rid of the patriarchy.

Let's cut out the competition bullshit of masculine versus feminine. There's no need for it anymore. Why can't we just come together as human beings and support each other? Period. Let's be allies because if we do that, we are so much louder when we are collective, when all of our voices come together. So let's do that and let's make change in the world. That's what we're all here for, to leave an impact. Let's make some change. Let's get some shit done. We need the women and the men. And I don't, when I say need, I don't mean we need them to survive. Yes, of course, women, well, yes, women bear children. But when I'm, when I'm saying, when I say we don't need each other, I'm not talking about like the Jerry Maguire you complete me type bullshit I'm talking about we do need each other as men men need women and

women need men we can't do this alone we need to come together as human beings and that's how we're going to raise the vibration of the collective is together as allies we need more of that. Right. Yeah, we definitely do. The things that are missing in the world, compassion, empathy, that's the power that is needed to save the world right now. Yeah. I think a big part of it is because of how our boys are raised. Yeah. That's a huge part of it because boys are now my case is different. I was raised by two women. But for the most part, most boys are raised that it's not okay to cry. It's not okay to be vulnerable. It's not okay to show your emotion, man up, pull it, put on your big boy pants, stop crying like a little girl, all of these things. That's where we need to start the shift

is with our children. We need to raise our boys to let them know that it's okay to be vulnerable. It's okay to cry. It's okay to share your emotions. It's okay to talk about things. It's not girly or why is crying girly? Who even said that? Right? We all cry the same.

Exactly. Human beings, we all emote. It's part of who we are as humans. These are emotions that we have so i'd love to know where the fuck that even came from it's girly to cry who said that but i think that's where we need to start and i think that's a big part of the problem is the conditioning that boys have because then it just carries on into adulthood as men and and then it's a whole other thing to uncondition and undo all of that

conditioning, which again, takes the work. You have to be willing to put in the work. And generations to do it. Exactly. Years and years of that undoing. Right. You're so right. Okay. I just thought about something else. Okay. Oh boy. I'm guilty of this too. Okay. So I have a brother and growing up, I mean, he was like the Messiah. Okay.

All the boys in my family. This is generational as well. And then I think I did this too. And I think my daughter, my oldest daughter, my 25 year old, she would tell you, attest to that. I did this too. And it would be like, go help your brother, older brother, by the way, right. Or something. And I remember like being trained in this way. Like I remember my oldest son's first birthday, my mom saying, are she going to feed your husband? And I just thought it was great.

I was like, Oh my God, I'm so excited. I finally get to feed my husband. Like I get to be that mom that gets to serve everybody. Like, this is what I wanted. Like,

cause that's what I saw. And I was like, I finally reached adulthood i get to serve you that's part of it for sure too i mean again that plays into the conditioning but again my situation was different we were brought up my brother and i were brought up you help out around the house you do shit when you're finished your dinner take the dishes to the kitchen and wash them wash the dishes dishes, clean up after yourself. There's nothing wrong with cleaning the house. You need to clean the house. You need to help out. I'm sorry. You're old enough to do it.

Help out. This is not just for your mother to do or your wife or whatever, or your sister or whatever it is. And I think that's a common thing in European families as well as the boys are up here. The boys don't have to be, I've seen it. I've witnessed it being married to my wife. She's Italian. She's a middle child between two boys. I've gone to dinners even like as recent as two or three years ago for family dinners. And I'm up helping clear the tape after their her brothers are sitting on their ass doing nothing and the mother my mother doesn't say a word i'm like what the

hell is like it's crazy oh my god i was at my brother's last time i had dinner with him and both of our family his wife's family is also from new orleans and oh my god the women were going up and down the stairs because they have this to bring the crawfish because there was a crawfish boil up and down the stairs and do you know my brother looked at me and goes can you grab me a coke and I was like hell no what I was like and they shouldn't be bringing you down food I was like this is crazy that is it's it's so backwards it is so backwards but It is so backwards. But again, that speaks to,

that takes a long time to get that conditioning out of people. As they say, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Some like, I think that generation, no matter what, it's not going to change. Like if you look at our parents, well, it's not going to change. They're not listening to your podcast. No, definitely not.

They don't even know what podcasts are actually. No, exactly. Exactly. But again, you only know what you were brought up in. If that's how you're brought up, you don't know any different. This is what it is. Okay. Well, the women wait on the men and that's it.

Yeah. But this again is where we have to change things with our children and going forward. This is what needs to change. This is all part of what needs to change that. No, the cooking and baking and getting the house clean. That's not just a woman's responsibility. I mean, my wife leaves the house to go to work every day. I work from home. I have my business. And I clean the house. I do the cooking. She doesn't. She hates cooking. An Italian woman hates cooking. Go figure. But luck of the draw, I guess. But I love to cook. I really do. I enjoy it.

I love baking, cooking, all of it. I clean the house. I take the dog out. I do all the cooking. I don't care. I believe that she's leaving the house to go to work every day. She shouldn't have to come home and then worry about cooking dinner or worry about cleaning the house. If I'm here and I can make the time to do and I make the time, why shouldn't I do it?

We're equals. And this is part of it. So I don't mind it. I absolutely love cooking. Right. It should be more of a partnership rather than on the role of what gender you are. But this is this is what we've been taught and what we've been shown to believe. This is how it should be. The woman does

the housework. The woman does the cooking. No, things have changed. Yes, totally. I was like the young mother, you know, back when I had my older kids, I was in my twenties and then I was in my thirties and forties, you know with my youngest. And I've seen a total shift. Okay. Total shift. There are so many dads bringing their kids to school, picking them up. This was not back then. No.

I'm not trying to be totally judgy, but they be messing up the line. Dude, you are going the wrong direction. You cannot stop and get out and hug and kiss your kid. We all want to do that, but we can't. There's 50 cars behind you, sir. Just like, it's going to take a minute for this dude to get it. Yes. Give him props.

Absolutely. For doing it and being there that is so funny screwing up the line holding up the line screwing up the nature of things i'm like going on and every time i'm like i know it's a dad i know it's a dad it's a dad hello sir it's a dad. Hello, sir. Maybe someone needs to school the dads on what the format is for the lines. The protocol is for dropping the kids off. My kids, they would laugh at me. Well, my youngest, cause she was like, how do you know it's a dad? I'm like, just believe me. It is. I just know mama knows. You don't even have to see who's in the car. It's a dad i'm like just believe me it is i just know mama knows you don't even have to see who's in the car it's a dad that's it but and i love it too because it also steals my heart that

he wants to get out and give his kids like big hugs and kisses and like walk him to the door with 50 cars behind him but i'm just like you're messing things up at least he's there it's pretty amazing it is happening it's shifting and and i've seen it and i think it's i think it's awesome but you know it is the life that you witnessed and so it's it's it's a conscious decision right now for people to make this change yeah for sure and we need to again it's you, we both men and women need to do our part. Yeah, we both need to do our part and come together and create that change, help create that shift in society. It's not all men. It's certainly not all women. It's both. So if we both come together,

we both do our work, if we both are more conscious of the way we're behaving, the things we're saying, all of these things, it's going to make a change because then we can come together and work together as human beings and make that shift. That's really what it is. As equals. Because we are. Yes, we're physiologically different. You can't deny that. Of course, men and women are different, period. But we are all human beings, which is the same. So let's come together as humans and work together, form allyships and let's change it. Let's shake shit up and let's keep moving forward with the change. I do admit, I mean, women need to stop man hating. Right? Yes, there's a lot of that. Yes. I mean, look, I just did. Well, I wouldn't call that man hating. That's not even close to man hating. That's actually laughing at men, which is okay. You got to be able to do it. We have to be able to laugh at ourselves. But there is there is a lot

of man hating out there. And that needs to change too. That's why I think we both need to do our work equally. I don't know. I think the pendulum swung a little bit too far that way, where now it is this, I don't need men for anything. And again, nobody needs anybody, but we do need each other to come together to create change. We all have masculine and feminine within us. And we need to realize that this is, this is biology. It's caught. It's, it's, it's there that you can't argue it. So we both need to do our work on both sides. Yeah. Yeah. It's so funny. I have a memory of when my youngest daughter, her dad and I, when she was two, he looked at me and basically was like, well, aren't you going to go back to work? And I looked at him.

I was like, are you crazy? I have a child. She's not in school. And, you know, his mother owned a business when he he was a child, his grandma went to college for Christ's sake. I mean, like we had different lenses as what we saw growing up. And so what we saw the roles was so different. But once we realized that once we talked about that, like, this is what I saw. This is, that's what you saw. So you don't think like, I'm not eating bonbons at home, doing nothing, watching Price is Right. I mean, I did sometimes

and soap operas and all that good stuff. But no, and, and he was just looking for a partnership. He felt I didn't want to be that partnership because that's what he saw. But once we were able to talk about it and be vulnerable and share our stories, then it was like, okay, all right. So maybe I'll take out the trash every once in a while, which I don't think is a woman's job. This is what I thought. And even I was like, well, if you don't do it then my son's gonna do it not my daughter right but it was like all of these things I started to become aware that it was so silly like why can't you take out the trash like why can't my daughter take out the trash I mean you know just those things like you said about cooking so I think it's important to talk about it for sure in your relationships. Yeah. I mean, conversation is the catalyst for change. I believe if we don't talk about things,

as we've said, nothing's going to change. But I think that in terms of what you're saying about your daughter taking out the trash, and I think that's part of our job as parents is to raise our kids, women, especially young girls to be independent, to not rely on a man for anything. And no one, again, nobody should rely on anybody for anything. You have to, you have to do shit yourself. You have to be your own superhero. So if we teach our young girls, yes, take out the trash, do the dishes. You're going to have to do it at some point. You're going to have to learn how to do these things.

So why not start when they're younger? There's nothing wrong with a girl taking out the trash, but there's also nothing wrong with the boys saying, get off your ass and take the trash out or help your sister or whatever it is, right? Like you were saying, your brother telling you to go asking you to go get him a coat. Get off your ass and get it yourself, you're you got two legs just like me i'm not i'm not here to be subservient that's not how it works right yeah so it needs we need to change the narrative and that happens through conversation like this conversation like this yeah and i'm sure he was very shocked

that i said i'll be like, what a bitch. But that's the thing, right? Now I'm a bitch because I don't want to wait because that's how we grow up. Things have got to change. And I think I always think about if without this meat suit, we're just energy. I think you are one of the first people I've heard use that term. You used it on my podcast when I was interviewing and it killed me. And it's, it's meat. I love it. Anyway,

sorry. I just had to say that. But you know, I mean, without the meat, so do you have like more feminine or masculine or would you just be divine energy of both? I think just divine energy.

Absolutely. Let's not forget the goddess there you go well you're right 100 i mean father son holy ghost what again this is this is the conditioning and what we're brought up learning so we need to change it we need to make it the shift. Awesome. And we do that collectively, coming together as men and women, as human beings. That's how we're going to do it. Why do things have to stay the same way they've been for so long?

They don't. If we learn nothing else from COVID, things can change. We can do things much differently than we've been doing them for so long. And now we're seeing with everything that's going on in the world, the wheels are coming off the bus. And I think it's beautiful. I think it's an amazing thing to witness and it's been a long time coming and it's great. Love that you highlight women and that you're doing this. And I feel like it's an important part of raising the consciousness of humanity in a whole for sure so thank you for what you do you're very special thank you i i received that i've been working this is something i've been

working on since last october is receiving i've had i've always had trouble receiving i got no problem giving and supporting and helping so as of october last year I've started to get into the process and learning to receive. So I receive your kind words and your comments. I really appreciate that. It means a lot. This is my mission. This is why I'm here on this planet is to do this work,

to help elevate women, amplify their voices, share their stories so that we can move forward in healing the collective. This is what needs to be done. Well, your daughters and your wife are very lucky. Thank you. I appreciate that. I received that as well. Yay. Love it. For contributing to

my receiving journey. Yay. Tell everybody where they can find you where they can listen to your amazing podcast. They can find me through my website. My podcast is on Apple, Stitcher, Google, Spotify, all the things. Empowerographypodcast.com is my website. You can find me on Instagram at Empowerographypodcast. And on Facebook, just Brad Walsh. That's it. Awesome.

Thank you. And then your live show that you do every other friday is that right yes yes yes the empowerment sessions unfiltered it's called so every second friday we have open conversation so it's myself and four different women each second friday and we select a topic that resonates for all of us to discuss just to have an open conversation. Because as we've said many times through this interview, is that we've got to start talking about things in order to shine a light on them in order to move forward with changing them. So the empowerment sessions on filter was born out of that want and that need

to start to shift things. So these sessions are held every second Friday. The times are different because there's women from different time zones. So, but what we do is we select the topic that resonates for all of us and no topics are off limits. We want to talk about the difficult things, have the tough conversations,

the taboo conversations, and we just riff on that topic for an hour. And it's just a free flowing conversation. Yeah, I definitely am going to check that out. I appreciate you do that too. Yeah. Well, thanks so much for coming on. I have so much fun with you.

You come back whenever you want. I would love to. It's always fun to get together and chat with you. I love the interview we did on my podcast and I'm just grateful for this incredible opportunity. Thank you for inviting me into your space and onto your platform. It's an honor to sit and chat with you.

For sure. Absolutely. Hey, have you ever thought about, like, doing, like, a photography book? I have, actually. Yes, actually. I started one. I've started creating the art for it. It's called Project Naked.

And what it is, I created a questionnaire, five questions for women, they can sign up to do it on my photography website. And the whole goal of that is to bring women into the space, I want them to come in. And the naked comes from no makeup, no, no having your hair done. I don't have a makeup artist there, you're not coming with your hair all done. It's just coming to who you authentically are. And so what I did, the first session I did, I did it with six friends that they, they were all friends. They came into the studio and I had sent them out a questionnaire ahead of time. And I told them they need to bring that questionnaire to the shoot filled out. And so we did the shoot, all six of them. Tell them, bring a couple of outfits, anything you want, jeans and a tee.

I don't care what it is. Bring that, whatever you're comfortable in. And let's have fun. Let's have a session. And then what we did to finish it off is we sat around. We had food. We had drinks. And we talked about their answer.

We sat around and talked about their answers. And so what I want to do is put together this coffee table book where I put one to four images from each woman on one page. And on the corresponding page is the question and their answers to those questions and build a coffee table book. And the goal is to photograph 100 women. I love this coffee table book. I got to get back to it. Yeah. We need another, we don't need another COVID, but no, definitely. There was a lot of people got done in that time. Oh, for sure. Oh my gosh. Yeah. This is another project. So I love that. I hope you do that. And if you do, you come back. Absolutely. I would be honored. Thank you so much, Shanna. It's always a pleasure to chat with you. Take care. Okay. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to Sense of Soul Podcast. And thanks to our special guests for joining me.

If you want more of Sense of Soul, check out my website at www.mysenseofs soul.com where you can work with me one-on-one or help support sense of soul podcast by donating to my coffee fund. Thanks for listening.