Meet Deb Billiet

She/Her. Fierce Mama Bear. Seeker. Artist. Visual Storyteller. Wanderer. Journaler. Ally

Life truly is a work in progress isn’t it? Chapters unfolding, miles traveled filled with forks and switchbacks, some light and sunny, some joy-filled, some dark and stormy filled with anguish, all beautifully imperfect, and necessary. And if we are lucky, we are learning and growing every step of the way.

It has been a bit of challenge trying to decide where to begin my story of getting my groove back, or perhaps in my case, finding my groove. It’s been a slow unfolding with many twists and turns, happiness and pain. And it has been a parallel journey of personal and professional growth.

When I was around the age of 41-42, I realized I could book end my life. I could see backwards to my earliest memories and I could also see forward through a reasonable amount of years, to an ending; and I could no longer ignore that soft little voice that had long whispered to me that I was unfinished. I just knew that in order to become the me I was meant to be, I would have to bring about change.

I was not happy and had not been for an awfully long time. I sensed a hole in me. Part of it I knew was a lack of faith and spiritual belief, the other part, I somehow knew, was a need to grow, I was stagnating. I was stuck. And I knew that it had to be done on my own.

And so I ended my 25 year marriage. I was dying inside and had to leave to save myself and to grow. It was the hardest decision I have ever made, I had two young kids and it was blowing up their lives as well. I had hoped I could at least hold out until our youngest graduated from high school, but six years was just too long.

It was after I left that I realized I had been living with depression for years. I always thought the heavy weight, the darkness and the lethargy were normal, that it was just my personality. And it quickly spiraled into even darker places, I was dancing so close to the edge, and the abyss was looking so good at times. I am so grateful that throughout it all, I was able to hang onto thoughts of my kids, they were the light in my life and kept me alive.

During this dark time, I started searching for answers on my own. I read self-help books and books on spirituality. I found a spiritual belief that is a blending of Eastern philosophy, nature, and science. It filled part of the hole.

By now, I had also been exposed to coaching and believed in the process. I did not feel the need to delve into the past but I knew I needed help and tools to move into my present and future. So when my thoughts became so dark and obsessive that a lobotomy sounded good, the Universe worked it’s magic and a coach crossed my path in an incredible quirk of fate. I knew I had to take the leap.

We worked together for about 6 months and fortunately the lessons and tools she gave me worked, and they have stayed with me. I have had minor episodes of situational depression but now I know how to get out the darkness.

And in the process, I found myself, my voice, my worth. Always shy, I lost my hesitation in speaking up, my worry about what people would think about me and what I had to say. I discovered that I am not boring, that I have a lot to give and to say. And that there is value to me beyond the physical package. I became comfortable with myself, free to be me. I found my groove. And I am grateful every day for the journey that I have been on, it has been so worth it!

I said this was a parallel journey. Throughout my years of depression, I always worked. I fell into a career that I love and that I am good at, although I struggled more often than not. Coaching helped me to find the answer to this as well. Today I know what I bring to the table and where that table should be!

A few of my truths…

• A daily practice of walking in nature and writing is essential to my health and well-being…physical, mental, emotional.
• My kids are my light and my inspiration. They make me want to be the best I can be, always.
• I have learned to see and acknowledge even the smallest blessings in my life, an essential practice.
• People and events are brought into our lives for a reason. We may not see the lesson or the reason at the time, but sooner or later they are revealed if we just pay attention.
• My two favorite quotes completely illustrate how I see the journey through life…

“The soul unfolds itself like a lotus of countless petals.” ~Khalil Gibran

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” ~Anais Nin

• Time in nature taking pictures, reflecting, writing all fuel my creativity. I get lost in creatively editing photos, turning them into reimagined images that tell a story or are just beautiful. I believe if it is created out of love, someone will enjoy it. This is my flow.
• Freedom is a recurring theme in my life. Travel is everything to me, it is my education, my creativity, my love. When I hit the road, I feel everything open within me and I breathe a sigh of relief.
• I feel deeply. I see beauty around me. #ifeelthebeautythatisee.

There’s Katy Perry’s Roar, which is probably every woman’s song, but also anything about freedom, a recurring theme in my life.

Currently Jerry Jeff Walker’s LA Freeway…

More About Deb:

I am every woman. I am unique. I am a work in progress. Some might say I blew my life up in the 25th year of my marriage. I say I started down the road to finding myself, to finding my voice, to taking responsibility for me. And what a journey it has been.

Today, I am more certain of who I am. Rich in ideas, low on funds, in many ways more content than I have ever been. I know there is something waiting for me, something big and right. And so I keep on looking, moving closer to combining my personal passions and interests with my professional experience and skills…I am thinking together they create the path to my future.

Product design and development has been my career for the last twenty years, a career that I fell into and love. Naturally curious and creative, understanding the technical aspects of how something is made makes it possible for me to push the design envelope. Where others say it cannot be done, I question “why not”. I am passionate about supporting entrepreneurs, small business owners, small retailers in bringing their product ideas and businesses to life.

Follow Deb:

• Deb Billiet in the Village
• Instagram – Deb
• Instagram – Sacred Gypsy Art
• Linkedin
• Facebook
• Facebook Sacred Gypsy Art

Meet Fadumo Osman

Fadumo Osman. Entrepreneur. Coffee Connoisseur. #womanintech

Growing up as a young Somali-American Muslim the only thing I wanted to do was blend in. I pronounced my name differently, didn’t talk too much about my Somali heritage, and even asked my mom to pack ‘normal’ food for my lunches. It was a post-9/11 world and I wanted everyone to know I wasn’t like the people who carried out such an evil and horrible attack.

In retrospect, I wish I’d known how to respond to snide remarks from classmates or be proud of my upbringing, but even the negative experiences helped shape who I am today. As an escape I loved doing anything on the computer, whether it be just typing up my own fictional stories or playing Space Cadet. This would later come in handy when I chose my major for college – I didn’t know exactly which industry I wanted to work in, but I knew the skillset of programming would come in handy.Soon enough, I was able to not only pursue a major I was really enjoying, but I started to join extracurricular activities that embraced my upbringing rather than shame it. As a part of College Democrats I was able to debate others with different political stances in productive environments, pursue my own version of building civic tech with the creation of a tool that helped people learn about different issues without shame, and share my cultural food and experiences with friends & vice versa.

I knew in my gut that I always wanted to have both politics and technology in my life, but had to make the decision to leave that once it came to finding a job post-grad. I love my parents, but they weren’t too fond of my activism during undergrad and I felt the pressure to join a well known company like the rest of my classmates. Soon enough I was working less on issues that I was passionate about, and just became another SF programmer working in big tech.
I was grateful to be so privileged and to have the ability to work and make a great living as a first-generation college graduate and supporting my family that it was easy to forget about the dreams I had for a post-graduate life. It was nearly a year and a half later during December 2019 that I made the decision that it was time to pursue my own venture, not knowing how things would end up.

Getting My Groove Back

Getting my groove back happened due to several things. Over the years, I had met amazing mentors that not only shared their successes, but failures with me. This gave me an honest understanding of entrepreneurship and what I should be expecting. I upped my networking game and became a lot less scared of cold-emailing or tweeting, but in a way that I could also offer something to the person I was reaching out to, Lastly, I worked on my own self-confidence so that when I made the decision, I was able to approach my loved ones in a rational way that wasn’t really asking for permission, as much as it was telling them what I wanted to do next.

This leap of faith caused me to become comfortable with different opinions and feedback of which I will always accept, but also allowed me to make up my own mind for what’s best for me at the end of the day.
Fadumo

Fadumo‘s song is Nice for what by Drake

More about Fadumo

Fadumo Osman is a 24 year old programmer currently living in Minneapolis. She’s from the SF Bay Area and graduated in 2018 from New York University with a dual degree in Computer Science & Political Science.    As a daughter of former Somali refugees, she has always been passionate in how technology could be used as a solution to problems stemming from issues like voter suppression & immigration.

Post-graduation Fadumo worked at Google & Coursera where she was able to solidify her passion in these issues and most recently took the step to start her own venture.

She relocated to the Minneapolis area to take advantage of the budding entrepreneurship scene and in addition to building her company she’s also working at the Impact Hub in Minneapolis-Saint Paul to continue to grow their amazing social impact focused community of entrepreneurs.

She hopes her venture will help larger media platforms work in collaboration with lawmakers to ensure that both sides are heard on the issue of misinformation & the solutions created will help promote a safer, truer, online world.

Follow Fadumo:

• Fadumo Osman in the Village
• Twitter
• Instagram

Meet Monica The Creative Beast

Multi-passionate artist. Deeply connected to my Creative Instincts. Loves trees, dogs & popcorn, in equal measure. A book reader, binder and eventually writer.

Community + Creativity + Connection =
Cure for Uncertainty and Isolation

Uncertainty

Uncertainty is such a challenging thing to cope with.

It’s definitely unhelpful with feeling groovy!

Many years ago, I experienced a period of great uncertainty in my life, and it was not fun, I can tell you.

I was frustrated, I was angry, I was upset.

My frustration, anger and upset became compounded when I would express my feelings to others, only to be met with people telling me I should ‘be grateful for my circumstances’.

That kind of response is dismissive, it is patronizing, it is unhelpful.

It’s definitely unhelpful with feeling groovy!

You see, the situation I was dealing with was a horrible office job, and I was unable to find a better opportunity because the economy had tanked (this was around 2008/2009) so there were few jobs available that were close to home, that fit my values, that offered better pay, which is why some people thought it was okay to dismiss my feelings of upset at my circumstances with the order to ‘be grateful I have a job’.

I was carrying a huge workload that eventually gave me burnout and a nervous breakdown, compounded with a pay cut under the disguise of ‘state budget issues’.

Yep, overworked and underpaid.

Definitely NOT conducive to feeling groovy!

To add insult to injury, our office was moved to a location that put me in ISOLATION and my misery was multiplied.

Uncertainty + Isolation = MISERY to the Nth degree.

NOT a good formula for feeling groovy!

I’m not sure how I was supposed to be grateful about ANY of that. How should I be grateful for a pay cut, grateful for being burned out, grateful for being isolated? So I learned to keep my feelings to myself, which was not a great idea, as it built up a lot of anger and resentment.

The uncertainty of when I would be able to remove myself from this situation was a large part of my troubles, and being isolated from others, all day, nearly every day, was more than I could take.

I’ll be honest – there were days I was literally screaming at this work situation…I may even have done a little damage to my vocal cords with my screaming in frustration, but I’m not a professional singer, so I’ll live with that. 😉

I KNOW it’s not easy to keep up one’s spirits when facing a challenging situation that is beyond your control with no firm end date in sight. Facing the uncertainty of when my horrible job would be over, multiplied with the isolation I endured nearly every day, was one of the most challenging things I have ever dealt with, and it went on for two years.

Creativity

But this is where my Creativity came into play, to help me work through my frustration, my anger, my upset, in the form of an art book.

While I continued searching for a new job, I began to create an art book that I refer to as my “Office Art Book.” I created it as a way to turn my cubicle inspiration board into something portable, should I happen to find a new job. I could just grab the book and GO!

But how did I cope with the ISOLATION?

I began a blog, and an online creative community was forged…

I connected with artful creatives from places as far as England and Australia. I occasionally shared about my office woes and got support and camaraderie and sympathy in return.

Though many bloggers I connected with were located far away, their connection and energy was real, the sympathy was helpful and the support lifted my spirits.

Then one fine day, I got the news the program I worked for was going to be permanently closed…which meant I would no longer be working under the horrible circumstances…and there would be unemployment if I was unable to find another job before the last day of work.

There were only four months between me and FREEDOM!

I Can See Clearly Now

I had an end date! The uncertainty was OVER!

I hinted at the good news on my blog by sharing the song “I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash since I couldn’t share the final end date publicly until the actual announcement was made…and I had a hand in writing up that announcement, oh the irony!

Through the last months of employment, elements of the isolation continued but I now had an online support network of creative bloggers, which helped.

But I began to wonder how I would cope with the last weeks and days of work. I sensed I would get agitated waiting for that final day, and I needed a way to keep my spirits up during those final weeks.

I hit upon a creative idea…

I would put out a call to my online blog community and ask for some MAIL ART to be sent to the office address, with a firm deadline, to ensure I would receive every single piece of mail before my final day of employment.

It worked!

As the last weeks and days of my employment unfolded, I received wonderful postcards, and little gifts, much of it I still have to this day.

I was so happy with each piece of mail art that arrived, happy to know that people in my blog community were rallying behind me to pass the ‘finish line’ of that last day at the horrible workplace.

I began to feel groovy again! It wasn’t so hard to go to the office knowing there just might be a surprise waiting for me. There usually was.

I continued to add to my Office Art Book, which also became a record of the awful days of employment. I still have it though it’s been over 10 years since those events occurred.

Here are some things I’ve learned since that awful office job:

• I’ve learned that COMMUNITY can be created anywhere, at any time, even online!
• I’ve learned that CREATIVITY can go a long way toward lifting the spirits, whether YOU are the one being creative or by watching the creativity of others.
• I’ve learned there is always a way to be CONNECTED, whether it’s being connected to a community of kindred spirits or to your own Creative Instincts.

Let me leave you with a favorite quote from one of my favorite characters in the film The Matrix:

The Oracle, played by Gloria Foster:

“We’re all here to do what we’re all here to do. I’m interested in one thing, Neo, the future. And believe me, I know: the only way to get there is together.”

If you’d like to watch a flip-through video of my Office Art Book, you can view it below and many others on my YouTube channel

This video is longer than most of my usual flip through videos, just under 50 minutes (!) I begin with some explanation of the work circumstances that lead to the burnout, to the isolation, the uncertainty, and the original purpose of the art book along with a few details about the work environment I was dealing with. Then I go through the book with details about nearly every page, and how they related to my whole work situation…including how I was the one to write up the announcement letter informing our department our program was getting shut down!!! 😱🙄😋 ahh, good times!

Monica loves When Can I See You Again from “Wreck It Ralph”!

More about Monica

I am a mixed media, multi-passionate artist who is deeply connected to my Creative Instinct. It is my mission to help adults reconnect and rebuild their creative instincts so they can access more Joy in their lives.

My Creativity ranges from drawing, to knitting, to sewing, to dancing, to painting, to writing and so much more in-between. I love allowing my Creative Instincts room for play in whatever field moves me.

From childhood I have been deeply connected to two things: my Creative Instincts and Story. My connection to Story began with reading at an early age, then expanded as I grew to see Story in many forms such as Dance, Theatre, Music, Song and Performance Art. However, books have a special place in my heart, so it was inevitable that I would one day learn to create books of all kinds, from art books to art journals to altered books.

In my creative world, Art and Story are very real beings, as are Magic and especially Creativity. Every single one of us is born with the Creative Instinct and I help adults reconnect to their Creative Instincts through workshops and creative play.

I love nature, dogs, reading books, making books, altering books, and I love buttered popcorn, not necessarily in that order!

Follow Monica

• Monica Moran in the Village
• The Creative Beast 
• Instagram
• Etsy Shop
• My Courses
• Youtube Channel
• Creative Online Gathering
• My Linktr.ee

Meet Jo Casey

Yellow shoe-loving coach and mentor, tree-hugging lefty feminist who loves nail varnish and thinks nothing is sexier than kindness.

[02:17] “…the first weekend of a training course and we did an icebreaker… This icebreaker was to pair up with someone that we’d never met before and we had to talk about what we did for fun. I couldn’t answer the question.  I remember thinking – almost like having that out-of-body experience – I should be able to answer this – but I had nothing. Nothing. A signpost for you know the fact that things weren’t things weren’t going quite as well as I thought…”

[06:05] “… and then it was at that point I fell apart because I had been doing I was already full up to capacity I had no room for anything else and then my daughter needed me

[06:45] “then I kind of hit the deck emotionally physically just had to take months off my business…”

[09:26] “…and then I also realized that I needed to get a life as well as a business yeah and so I did things like I started doing hobbies again at first it felt really awkward and really clunky… doing something just for fun…”

[Video 14:29]

My song has to be Groove Is In The Heart by Deee-Lite

More about Jo Casey

Jo Casey helps coaches and healers get more clients without sacrificing soul or sanity. She is a certified coach, speaker, trainer and host of The Meaningful Business Podcast.  In addition to being British, Jo is slightly nerdy and determined to help women overcome our feminine conditioning so we can step out, be seen, and thrive.

Jo specializes in helping service-based business owners do the self-development work needed to flourish in the online world, get more clients and build meaningful businesses – all without resorting to the dark arts or sleazy marketing tactics. She believes that we need a new way of doing business – one that allows us to create companies that are sustainable financially, emotionally and energetically.

Founder of jocasey.com and The Meaningful Business Academy, creator and presenter of The Meaningful Business Podcast, speaker, and writer for Coaching Blueprint, Mind Body Green and Tiny Buddha (among others).

Follow Jo

• Jo Casey in the Village
• Jo Casey.com
• Instagram
• Jo on FaceBook