Live From New York, It’s Blair Kaplan Venables

Blair Kaplan Venables: 00:00:00

trigger warning, the Resilience Project provides an open space for people to share their personal experiences. Some content in this podcast may include topics that you may find difficult, the listeners discretion is advised.

Blair Kaplan Venables: 00:00:19

Hello friends, welcome to radical resilience, a weekly show where I Blair Kaplan Venables have inspirational conversations with people who have survived life's most challenging times. We all have the ability to be resilient and bounce forward from a difficult experience. And these conversations prove just that, get ready to dive into these life changing moments, while strengthening your resilience muscle and getting raw and real.

Blair Kaplan Venables: 00:00:49

Welcome back to another episode of radical resilience. I'm coming to you. Well, not live but almost live from a hotel room in New York City. It's me, Blair Kaplan Venables, and I'm here to give you a little update. So if you've been following my personal Instagram, I'm Blair from Blair land, you may have noticed that I'm on a media tour. So the global Resilience Project book launched a few weeks ago, and it was the digital version, the print version is coming soon. And my background is in Social Media and Publicity. So I knew that I had to get creative with how to market this project, how to promote this project, how to spread the global word about the global Resilience Project. So not only are there multiple, you know, contributors and stories in the book, and so all of you out there who listen to this podcast, or shared your story online or in the book, you know, you you know about it, you're spreading the word, but what about everyone else? Right? What about all those people who haven't been touched by our community. So I agreed to be a co author in two separate books. And each book, I was given a chapter. And in those chapters, my job was to tell my story. So the one book is more Canadian based at this time, I know they're expanding, it's called pre pursuit 365. And that book came out a few days before the global Resilience Project. And my chapter talked about the loss of my parents and the global Resilience Project. My book came out, our book came out, I should say, the global Resilience Project, it became a best seller, you know, just because of all of you. And then I was part of another book called woman gun wild, the wealth edition. And they're my chapter I also shared about the global Resilience Project. And what was really interesting was that I wrote my chapter before my father passed away. And then so I right before publishing had to do some edits, because things changed. And this book, woman Gone Wild, had a lot of leverage. We have an international cohort of women who shared their stories from Australia, Bali, the USA, basically all over, you know, the world, Ireland, Portugal, it's amazing. And me, I'm the Canadian. And so the marketing campaign for this book was bananas. And I believe in saying yes, with the pandemic being what it was. And previously to the pandemic, my husband almost died, he had a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery. That meant that over the last three years, I haven't really done much traveling. And traveling is one of my most favorite things to do. And so when I was presented the opportunity to go on a media tour, to promote the woman Gone Wild book, which essentially promotes the global Resilience Project, how can I say no, because my mission is to empower 80 million people in the next three years. So by the time I'm 40, I want to empower 80 million people. I think I'm probably right now, doing the math of the visibility of some of the things I'm doing like I might be at 30 million, but it's a very just big goal. I've been on TV shows I've spoken on stages. I've been guests on other podcasts. But this media tour was something I have never done and I felt like a complete rock star. But maybe not all thought a rock star at the same time. So what was the media tour? The media tour took me from Kamloops to Vegas in Las Vegas. I had a friend meet me there, which was really nice because me and this person haven't really spent time together and a few years. And there I got to speak on stage and share my message and it was the first time I spoke on stage.

Blair Kaplan Venables: 00:04:52

Probably in years, like in years, my last stage was before Shane's heart attack. So it was really really special to get on stage. She'll be at a networking event be at a red carpet event, a launch party in Las Vegas network with people in person, which is my favorite. Talk about resilience, talk about social media. It was also really hot, really, really hot in Vegas. So that was really special. And I made some really great connections. And I thought, wow, like this is really cool. And then I went to Winnipeg, because it was my mom's unveiling. And so in Judaism after someone is deceased, they don't get a headstone right away. Usually it's six months to a year or so after. So we had our mom's unveiling and that's where we reveal the headstone and it's supposed to mark the end of like a mourning period, but really, like does mourning and grief. And I don't think so. I mean, I don't know I've been like a new death seems to happen before I recover from the last. Anyway, so Winnipeg was beautiful because the borders are now open and we had family from Toronto family from New York. Friends from British Columbia. Some of my best friends flew in and it was a really special experience honoring my mother giving her the memorial that she deserved the unveiling that she deserved. You know, and I wasn't gonna go to Los Angeles I was gonna fly back to Kamloops. But the Los Angeles leg of the media tour just seemed so interesting. And events kept getting added my gut said my intuition said, Blair, change your flights, get on a plane. You're not going to Kamloops, you're going to LA so and I never do this because I'm a planner. I like to know the plan. The day before I was supposed to leave for Kamloops. I switched my flights and flew to LA and thank goodness I did. We had an awesome meeting at USA Today's head office, which is great because some articles just came out about me and the project. We had this really awesome party in Bel Air, you know, down the street from Jennifer Aniston's house. I mean, she wasn't at the party, but I'm a huge friends fan. So that was kind of cool. But really beautiful. Like I've never been to Bel Air and a lot of people from the Los Angeles area were there. So I got to do some networking and met some really phenomenal people. I got to spread our message in person inviting people to be on the podcast and share their stories with our community. And then we had a Mindvalley event. And Mindvalley is in a really amazing company. I've spoke to their Swedish network, and it was super cool to be in person. And along the way, we were signing books and autographing books and be we were made to feel like the celebrities and whatever celebrity means or fame means I'm reflecting on that. But my goal is to empower so whatever someone wants to label it, go for it. My, my drive isn't to be labeled anything, it's to empower and inspire. And so right from Los Angeles, flew to New York, and here I am. So in New York, my friends in New York, I'm on a billboard in Times Square. Every I think minute for like three seconds. My picture says Blair Kaplan, powering to share. And it's promoting the woman Gone Wild movement, which is promoting the global Resilience Project. And let me tell you, it is so surreal, so surreal, it was supposed to be up at a certain time and me and the other co authors in the book were arranged a photoshoot. It didn't go up on time, because well, seems like nothing seems to be on time these days. And so I actually had to go back to my hotel and do some work. And I saw that it was up so I snuck over by myself. And I had this really beautiful moment, looking up seeing my work my face in Times Square. And there's these two billboards that like they're like long, skinny panels, and they sandwich in the Coca Cola billboard on, you know, seventh and Broadway. It's an iconic billboard, basically the exact opposite end, where the big ball drops on New Year's. And I just couldn't believe it. You know, I never set a goal to be in Times Square. I just know when to say yes, my gut tells me when to say yes. And I can't say yes to everything. I've turned down a few events because I'm still in grief, and I'm still tired. And it's really, you know, I went from, you know, almost losing my husband, the pandemic, losing a baby and three parents, like it's exhausting. I'm exhausted, but I feel really energized. And I actually looking at that billboard. It felt like that billboard

Blair Kaplan Venables: 00:09:26

revived me. It gave me this burst of energy, this light this life. It's so special, you know, and I really felt my mom and dad's energy with me and you know, that billboards up 24 hours a day, for a month, so it's bananas. And so I've gone back a few times this morning, I went and had coffee with myself and I ran into Brian Swan who is involved with the book and we chatted had a really beautiful time just like watching you know, the billboard go by his wife, you know, I was on the Billboard, his daughter, who I'd like to, you know, eventually have as guests on this podcast. But, you know, it just really got me thinking like, how did I end up on this billboard? Because I'm all about goal setting. I'm all about setting goals. You know, in my social media publicity world, which is basically my bread and butter, like what you're listening to the radical resilience podcast, the global Resilience Project, this is my passion project, I really believe in being philanthropic and giving back, Is it money, if I have extra money to give someone needs some money, I'll give it if it's time, if it's expertise, whatever it might be, maybe it's just holding space, I really believe in the power of giving back I have since my butt mitzvah, I've always volunteered. And this project is a really, really important place in my heart. And so I have goals in my other, you know, with my other hat, and, you know, I would love to be in Fast Company like, that's my dream is to be featured in Fast Company, I will take online print would be ideal. You know, I think it'd be really great to win some business awards, like I've had my clients win awards, but it'd be really great to be recognized to win awards for me, I'd love to become verified on social media. Yes, I'm an expert in social media. But I do not have a blue verification tic and will that impact my business? Maybe maybe not. The only reasons I want to do all this is because like, set a goal and achieving it is something that really gives me this adrenaline, adrenaline rush. And this thrill, I'd like to become a New York Times best seller. So I'm working on a book right now, that's going to be hopefully ready for the holiday season. It's a kid's book about resilience. But my next book, I'm actually, I'm going to purposely plan the book out and figure out what I need to do to become a New York Times best seller just because I want to do it. Is it going to change anything I do in my life? No, my goal is to empower my goal is to empower you, and inspire you and help you through your difficult times, or inspire you to share your story. And I have all these goals because I I set goals and achieve them and like well now what should I do, because if I don't have a plan, I'm just kind of doing things. But things come along, like being on a billboard in Times Square, where it was never my goal, but it feels like it happened overnight. But it didn't. It took me 14 years of being in business, a lot of hard work, a lot of pounding the pavement meetings and dollar spent and dollars earned and tears and moments of gratitude and moments of questioning myself and everything in between.

Blair Kaplan Venables: 00:12:31

And there I am sharing my message with the world in Times Square. And I was looking at the statistics and I think 400,000 ish people walk through Times Square a day, then that, you know that times. What 30 days is is I'm bad at math. But was it 12 million? Who knows? I'm on my way to empowering 8 million people. So, you know, some lessons learned, like, being on a media tour has been exhausting. In the sense of I've really packed my schedule very full, while trying to also fit in work for my clients record these podcasts. And you know, last minutes someone in the media might put on an event and like I say yes, and I have to rearrange things. And with integrity being one of my main core values. I struggle with that because I want to show up for my clients in my community. But then I remember showing up to these events is for my clients in my community and soon I'm going to be back in Kamloops British Columbia, lying in my backyard, being able to let everything that happened percolate and surface and reflect on everything. And yeah, I just wanted to be raw and real and honest with everyone. You know, along the way with the global Resilience Project book, I had the print version, the proof meet me in Winnipeg, and I was so excited because I thought wow, wouldn't that be special to launch this book, the print version of the book while I'm on a media tour, but Amazon who is print on demand, they messed up and a whole bunch of pages were missing. I can't release that. So I decided okay, well I'll order proof to Kamloops but then I didn't end up going to Kamloops so I ordered a proof to Los Angeles. But Amazon said they had other plans for me. They said no, we can't be there's a problem with your order. We can't deliver it sorry, here's a refund. So I saw that as a sign of that I'm meant to be here and be present and not take too much more on to really be here in the moment to really soak it all in you know in Times Square every time I go by. As you know I'm there and I'm excited. I'll just tell everyone around me like want to see me on a billboard and I point and it's cool. It's a really cool experience. And so when I'm back, which is going to be on Monday, I'll be back in Kamloops. I'll be able to see if the next proof is ready to be printed. We became an international best seller so I you know wanted to make some modifications to the cover. But in good time the book will be ready for you to order and I'm really excited about And stories are coming in. So I want to invite you that if you do have a share, to story, a story to share, I am resilient dot info I believe every story deserves to get told. That's why I'm so open about what I do and where I am. And you know, what you see online and what you see on TV, there's so much more to everything that goes into it. And we all have a story. We all have a challenge we've overcome. Maybe we're deep in the thick of it right now. And you need inspiration. All of our stories are on almost all of our stories are online at I'm resilient dot info. You can check us out on social media, our handles are all on our website, you can submit your story. So I believe every story deserves to get told we don't charge you to put your story on our website. You submit them, we review them and edit them and we put them online. You know, if you feel like you want to be on this podcast, you can reach out to us or reach out to me. And, you know, let's get you on this podcast. This is why we exist. Are we going to be putting out another book? Well, let's get through this book. And then we'll make some decisions. But I'm coming to the end of this media tour. And I do feel really grateful for everyone who has followed along everyone who has supported me and supported the movement and support and just supported and held space for me with all of the trauma that I've experienced and am experiencing while building this huge movement. Words cannot describe what it means to me. My grandma, my Baba Leah, she's 88 She facetimes me which I love. And I was in the bathroom so I couldn't answer. So I called her when I got back to my hotel room. And my auntie Susan showed her the billboard. She was so proud of me and I cried and like I couldn't share this experience with my parents with me. But so to have my grandma who was a very maternal figure, tell me how proud she was with me and crying. She just kept saying, well, Blair, you've just, you've come so far, you've just come so far.

Blair Kaplan Venables: 00:17:01

And it was just so funny because I just think about who I used to be in my drinking life. And, you know, I was doing things to make the world a better place, but not in this capacity. And my sobriety has really played a big role in this and who I've become and doing all this while going through losing my parents has been just its own experience, but having that call with my grandma on FaceTime, like a the fact that she facetimes and that she's still with us, and that she got to see me because of technology on a billboard in Times Square and her excitement and proudness of me was so important. And I know that you guys out there feel the same way because everything I'm doing is for you. All of this that I'm doing is for the movement, like I don't make money from the global Resilience Project. I find it from my business. So I just want you to know that this is all for you because I believe in you. I know that you are resilient I know that you're gonna get through the hard times there is a light at the end of the tunnel like tell me let me tell you like sometimes the tunnel is is very long, but there is a light and you know you don't have to go through it alone. I just want to say that I am wrapping up this trip with a girls trip and two of my best friends who are my chosen family. Heather and Rhonda are coming from Winnipeg all the way from Manitoba, Canada to New York, and they get here on Friday. So today, the day this episode drops, to check out my billboard, to explore New York and to celebrate all of my blood, sweat and many, many, many tears. Just know that I'm here for you friends, it's okay to not be okay. And thank you are listening. Thanks for tuning in to another episode.