Episode 39 - Falling in Love with Your Superpower with Jade Coultman

[Intro] [00:23] LA: Welcome welcome to another episode of Positively Charged. I am your host, Lindsay, and listeners, I have a treat for you not unlike any other podcast that you have heard from me. LA: I have a wonderful guest, and this guest is a client. Usually I don't have current clients come on the show, but we arranged this prior to her becoming a client. So we're just kinda going with the flow. That's fine. LA: I have the beautiful, the wonderful, Jade Coultman here on the podcast and Jade, I am just so grateful that you joined us today that you are gracing us with your presence and your beautiful, unique genius and I just cannot wait to share you with all the listeners. I think they are going to just love everything that comes out of your mouth. LA: So Jade, start by telling us a bit about yourself. Why did you say yes to coming onto Positively Charged? And what is your secret sauce, my girl? JC: Oh, okay, well, thank you for the introduction. So a little bit about me. I have been a licensed real estate agent since 2005, going over 17 years now, and I also opened up a property management company in 2012. I started a camp for deaf and hard of hearing kids and went back to school. JC: And now I ventured into expanding into coaching, where I've noticed that over the years, you know, for myself that I don't tend to disclose my disability right off the bat because I want people to understand who I am and what I am, but I live with a hearing loss. JC: So I have a bilateral hearing loss in the severe to profound frequency, and I rely on tools, accessibility tools to get by in my day to day and one of the things that kind of started, you know Jade's camp, was because I never had that opportunity growing up to go to camp to be with kids just like me and I wanna just have a community where they could have a sense of belonging that they're not alone. JC: And that kind of gave me the idea with coaching is to coach individuals that live with a invisible disability to have the confidence and empowerment that they can go out in the world and advocate themselves in different situations. JC: Whether it's the day to day, whether it's them, you know, with family members, friends, and as well as their employer, and in different situations, in the doctor's office or in, you know, going to the theater or whatever the case may be. JC: Then I want to empower them that they can start their own business or be in business for themselves, to be able to think that their disability is more of a superpower than a deficit. JC: So it's how do we take their interests, their passions, and really showcase it in such a way that their owning and standing in their true power. LA: Oh my God! What a beautiful... Like I'm sure the listeners are like holy shit, what does this girl not do? Because that's exactly what I said when we had coffee, whenever, a long time ago, it was I was like holy shit, Jade. You're doing a lot. You're doing a lot of stuff and I love what you said about disability being a superpower. LA: Disability is a weird word I find. The "dis" part feels disempowering to me, and I can honestly say, in my very, very limited experience with dealing with people who do have either visible or invisible disabilities. [5:00] LA: I can say from just from the able-bodied eye, that I am in awe and inspired and floored, to be quite honest, with the abilities that people who are experiencing disabilities, quote unquote, have. LA: And I just like, you're no exception. I think that it's not surprising that you're doing all these amazing things at all, because like, if you've ever met Jade, which of course listeners you're doing now, she is pretty outstanding. And like obviously, would go like trail blaze and take on the world. If you just know her for 5 minutes you would know that. LA: And how do you find, Jade, that advocating for especially the deaf and hard of hearing community? How is that advocating informed your career, your life? How does advocating for these people kind of fit into your purview of how you show up in the world? JC: So I'm just gonna take you back to like when I was in elementary, I had a hearing strategist and I learned a lot about advocacy through my parents. Especially my mom, where you know every meeting with the teachers, everything that had to deal with my hearing loss quote. It was just showing people that, okay, I may look able, I may look normal, I may look, you know, you can think of a million other words. JC: But behind the scenes I'm struggling and behind the scenes I'm playing catch up. I had a hearing strategist say, like, you know, you're so good for speaking for yourself. And I was like, "yeah". She said you know you should be an audiologist. And I was like, "what?! why would I be an audiologist? I live with a hearing loss. Why would I want to do it for work? It's painful as it is." JC: But I had a moment when my my nona passed away, and up to that point I always played myself in a victim role. JC: Of "Why me? You know, why do I have this disability? Why can't I be normal?" Cause I was teased and taunted when I was in elementary. JC: And then at the point of her death I kind of had this moment of like, okay, we're on this earth for a reason and there has to be a reason why I am here. And in that moment I was like, you know what I'm gonna tell people what I can and cannot hear. JC: I'm going to tell people what, you know, at that time it was hearing loss all about, and it was not until I got into, after I graduated high school I had the opportunity to go to a deaf leadership youth camp in Ontario, that the world of deaf culture really opened up for me. JC: And I was so impressed with the ability to do things just because of their passion, their drive, and their influence as well, and when I came back from that experience one of the things they told us to do is like go back in the computer, go back to the community and and make a difference or make an impact in the community. JC: So I got involved with the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, Calgary Branch. I got involved with the Calgary Association of the Deaf. I ended up raising service dogs for Pacific Assistant Dog Society. I did what I could to contribute to. And in that I've noticed there were barriers. There was obstacles, things were.. there were gaps in things. And that's when I noticed that there was not a lot of services offered for kids. So I was like "lightbulb" moment. I started the camp. JC: So a lot of what I do stemmed from that. I look at my environment. I look at things that are happening. And then I think of a way to try to bridge the gap, try to mend the fences, try to show people like, hey, we're still here, you know. JC: And it's not out of ignorance, it's not being rude. It's not that we just don't care. It's like, well, if you really have empathy and understanding and compassion for another human being, you will notice that everybody is fighting their own battle. [10:00] JC: And, you know, with any point that's things kind of, you know, lights me up on fire. I take it upon myself to write letters to my Member of Parliament, my MP, to different leaders in the community just to showcase again, hey, I'm here. JC: So an instance, when I was in high school, there was Ralph Klein in the province of Alberta, so Ralph Klein was Premier at the time. And he went on saying, "hey, there's a surplus in the budget" and I took it upon myself to write him a letter, and I said "where's that money going? I'm not seeing a dime of it." JC: And through communication and not that time, the School Board received $66,000 for me as a coded student designated for hearing loss. And out of that money is supposed to go for supporting services and things that will help me help me learn and help me get by and as well as level the playing field to allow me to be, you know, as close as I can be with my peers. JC: I found out that the school made a vote on that money, and thankfully that money stayed with the student services, but that money didn't go to me. JC: So they just pooled the money and then they decided, I found out that one year the school did a whole brand new gymnasium floor, and I'm like this is the stuff that's happening like that they're not asking individuals for their input. And after I was, you know, I even went to the school superintendent and I went to the mayor and I was so fired up at the fact that this is taxpayer dollars supposedly going to the right resources but are not. JC: And just a recent experience with the pandemic. I had an opportunity where I was noticing that things were, you know, were gonna come down the pipe. Mandating and masks and social distancing and all of these additional barriers that for a person with hearing loss or, you know, whether the deaf or culturally deaf or hard of hearing, They're already isolated as it. And then you add these additional obstacles and barriers for them. Then that's where I fear for mental health for these individuals, because there isn't a support system we have. JC: And you know we noticed that through the pandemic that our health care system is not the greatest. It wasn't great before. Then you add this, and then it just becomes a much, much bigger. JC: I wrote a letter to Dr. Hinshaw as she was making the announcement of the masking mandate and I said, you know, you can take it upon yourself to encourage manufacturers, encourage the public to wear clear mask, because it will allow people with English as a second language, seniors, people with hearing loss, or even going a step further, which is not my expertise, but people that are not able to have, they have sensitivity to touch. JC: Look at those solutions to those individuals that can't wear, you know, a mask. And then you have, you know, the plexiglass. That's an additional, you know, barrier and sound travel goes down 10 decibels each time that there is a barrier replaced. JC: So if you can imagine, if you have good hearing, how much of a deficit that you're experiencing. And I found myself in a whole new like, I'm gonna say, the fight for advocacy, the fight to raise an awareness and education for people JC: I've been doing it all my life and it's just because it not only will benefit me, but I think it can benefit everyone, regardless of their abilities. And now we see that we're noticing the consequences of some of those actions. And now, you know, experiencing with, you know, for myself, accessing those resources and requesting captioning, requesting accessibility. I've been met with huge resistance and the lack of understanding from the medical professionals. [15:00] JC: From, you know, different institutions that well, I look fine. I look able so therefore... LA: I was just gonna say, Jade, I hate to like cut you off, but I feel like there's there's something there's something there that's like, well, because I can't see it it's not there. This kind of, I don't know, resistance... I wonder how it would be if you could see your disability. Would that resistance be as big like, I wonder? I'm just curious what you think about that? JC: I think if my disability was more visible, I think it would be, I think it would be more ignorance. JC: You know, as much as like, because there's not a lot of people who understand what incumbrance of that. Right? The struggles, the... JC: Just to get up in the morning, or just like, and I can't speak for other people in other different, you know, forms of disabilities. But being able, because I wear hearing aids so most of the time, I wear my hair up so I would think, oh, hello! This is evident enough. LA: You can see this, you can see this! JC: Yeah. But I think a lot of it is... some of it is stigma. Some of it is the old societal views of some of the wording around hearing loss and especially with, you know, I'm gonna give an example that people would assume that everyone that's hard of hearing knows sign language. LA: Right. JC: That's not the case. So, instead of acting, instead of saying, "oh you're hard of hearing? Okay, I'll get an ASL interpreter. You should ask the person what the mode of communication is, what is their preferred communication. LA: You just stole my question. You just stole my next question, which was, gonna be like, what do you us able people, what can we do to... I almost want to ask the question, accommodate, but I don't even want to hear that, because, like, we can figure that out on our own, we don't need you to tell us, we can search, we can Google, we can whatever. And that's not your job to tell us what we can do. LA: And like, I want to follow you down the path that you're going right now. Is to... what are some of the little pieces that it's, like, don't assume. That's a great piece of advice for us, as able-bodied people, and like is even the term like able-body versus disabled like is that appropriate like school us, Jade. Tell us what the heck is up. JC: I think I think the biggest thing is asking an individual how they identify. Because when I was growing up, I for the most part I felt I was more hearing that I couldn't hear as opposed to being deaf. Locate that I can't hear, and I only learned sign language when I started high school, and the reason for that is because my hearing loss was going down. So I wanted a means of communication in the event that I lose my hearing completely. JC: And so that was just for myself. Another tool in my toolbox that will allow me to get by, so that's the biggest thing. JC: Now I say hard of hearing, deaf. Because in some situations I have to be very blatant, for lack of a better word. Like hey! I'm deaf, these are the things I need, because hard of hearing is a very unusual spectrum. Because hearing loss can be mild, moderate, moderate to severe, to profound to profoundly deaf. [20:00] JC: So a lot of times when, you know, you see individuals wearing a hearing aid that just goes, that they don't have a mold that fitted in their ear, but it's just that little wire going into their ear. Typically they just have minor loss or a moderate loss, and, you know, it can come from, you know, a work accident, or it could come from, you know, being sick of some sort, or with age. LA: Or like genetics like maybe just born that way kind of thing? JC: Yeah, yeah, so a lot of times, it's raising that awareness in that. And I think a lot of time, too, is hearing loss has been a medical approach; let's fix the individual. JC: And when I got more involved in the deaf community I realized well, they don't need fixing, you know. LA: Yeah. JC: They're quite capable of embracing their culture, their language, their history, and they're good with that. And they thrive on that. And there are individuals that want the best of both worlds, too. Right? JC: So it's really up to the person, and because it comes down to their experience and what they've been exposed to, who they've been exposed to, and then their own decision and making of how they identify. JC: I usually ask that question of that when I go to, when I host my camps for deaf and hard of hearing kids, I say, you know, how do you identify? And I would think hard of hearing or I would think oh, I have a CI, the Cochlear Implant, or Baha, which is a bone conduction hearing aid. JC: And then they surprise me and and say something completely different. And I'm like, yeah, you're right. You're right, because that's how you are and that's how you formulated your identity at that point in your life. Right, so... LA: Yeah, Jade, that is such a beautiful way to put it that there's like always default to that person's experience as the truth. So we don't decide able-bodied or not, we do not decide how someone shows up how they label themselves, how they experience their life like, that's not for us to decide. LA: And being brave, what I'm hearing you say to the listeners and to me is, be brave, be vulnerable. And say, what is it that you identify as? What would make you comfortable with how I address you? Not unlike gender, sexuality, etc. Pronouns, names, all of those pieces are part of our identity, when we're talking about ability, that's just as important, just as much a part of our identity. LA: And it's important to, yeah. Ask. Ask, be brave and vulnerable, and ask the question. LA: So Jade, thank goodness you're doing the work that you're doing in the sense of Jade's Camp, and in the sense of becoming a coach. Can you tell us a bit more about how can we pay you to help us with this? What is your role in creating more inclusive spaces? Places? And any insert whatever description here. JC: Yeah. So if you are a business or a service base or a product base, and you want to, I'm gonna say, level up and be a little bit ahead of the curve in providing accessibility in your environment or in the way that you service your clients, over you know Zoom, or whatever the case may be, I do do audits. So I provide a service where I do an audit of the business, and then provide you some recommendations and strategies and tools that you can make your place more accessible. JC: So in 2019 the Federal Government just passed the legislation for Accessibility Act of Canada. Now, that's great, but we have so far more to go. And with that legislation, it only covers federally regulated institutions. Like way regulated industries across the country. [25:00] JC: And it's up for the province to have their own provincial legislation in place to cover things that fall under the provincial level. JC: So, for example, in Alberta would be education, health care... LA: Or any business. Like me, like me as a coach, you as a coach, realtors, any business that's operating with a license to operate. JC: Yes. LA: We don't fall under, don't necessarily fall under, the legislated federal legislation, and it's because there is no Alberta accessibility legislation that no one is holding anyone to any sort of like recognizable accountability here. LA: And this is an invitation for you, dear listener, to just, I'll say assess, if you're a business owner, if you're even an employee working for a company just to assess your workspace like look at your desk, look at the walls, look at the emergency exits, and just have like just a little bit of a thought about if you were not fully abled. How you're experience might look. LA: And you know, Jade, if you're okay with it, I'd love to share my experience with getting audited. If you're okay with that? JC: Yep. LA: Feel free to say no, thank you. But I did hire you to audit specifically my yoga class, because I was really curious as yoga is an interesting vocation in the sense of accessibility, because it's a dark room first of all, it's quite dark. LA: You're not always able to see the teacher. If you have seeing eyes, you're not always able to see, and then likewise hearing. If you have a hearing disability, or hard of hearing, or identify as deaf, you might not be able to hear the cues of the teacher. Where in other workout classes and you would know better, there's a little bit more light, a little bit more moving around, or a little bit, and you're always staying on your mat in yoga as well where you can't necessarily see the whole room, what the whole room is doing if you have seeing eyes. So I'm saying a lot of things here. LA: But what I did was invited Jade to my yoga class and had her kind of just experience me as a teacher, and do the class as a normal student, as you are a normal student. LA: So there was no like asking you to do there was no accommodations required of you to show up, and then I just acted as I would normally act, and then you gave me a beautiful report as to what that experience looked like for you, what accessibility could be better in the space, in the teaching. Especially with yoga, I'll just get on my soapbox for a minute, like, yoga is for everybody, and yoga means union, yoga means togetherness, and the whole root system of the 8 limb path that is brought to us from South Asian Indian culture is based on everybody participating, and it not being for a certain type of person. LA: And so, okay, off of soapbox now. So that was an important concept for me. So, yeah, so I won't say more than that in the sense that you gave me this report, you walked me through it. You walked me through the Accessibility Act, and like the kind of the thresholds that I should be trying to meet or could be meeting where I definitely wasn't meeting, where I was doing great. LA: And there was kind of this kind of marriage of all of those elements, and then I can incorporate whatever feels like most in-service of me, to create an experience in an environment where it is inclusive and accessible. LA: And so I could have just asked you to explain what you do but I felt like from me to you like that was a really great experience to be able to see myself through the eyes of someone who I can't be. I cannot be. I can try, like, I can try to be empathetic and accommodating, as I should be. But the lived experience of someone who isn't completely able-bodied. LA: Able-bodied people, please just like stop assuming you know. Let's ask the people who have the answers. Let's pay the people who have the answers to be able to level, so that we, the people who are able-bodied, can level the playing field in a way that's in service of the entire community. [30:00] LA: And I also like, okay, back on the soapbox for a second, like, I truly believe, like in my heart and in my soul, that if the playing field isn't level, and I mean that in the truest of biggest of senses like in all areas, that, is the goal that is the fucking goal, that we need to work towards is levelling the playing field so we're all equal. If one of us is not equal, none of us are equal. LA: And so this is my little invitation to look. Again, like, just next time you show up into your office, or into your workplace, just look around and see what's maybe not working, because you would never notice it, because you are able-bodied. So anyway, I'll stop talking here Jade. LA: What did I say wrong? What did I say right? What happened there? JC: No, and the thing I was just going to add to that is that this will impact your business in a great way. It will set you apart from your competitors, it will set you apart from the people that were like, yeah, I'm following the standard, or it puts you above the status quo and say, you know what I'm more than that, I'm better than that. JC: And the biggest thing is is that you have to think of individuals that have a short term disability in the sense of like, oh, I sprained my ankle, I'm in a cast, or I broke my leg, I broke my wrist. Or something like that. Or you're on crutches for so many weeks. JC: And then that's when you realize like, oh, well, that's a barrier. But that's okay, I'm gonna get better soon, and then you can get better. JC: Well, people that live with a disability can't get better, that's their life, that's their reality. And my goal and my wish in my lifetime is that I would be able to go into any building, any place, and it would be a universal design, you know, an ease of pathway flow that I can get the information in the way that works for me and for everyone. JC: And that there isn't a barrier. It's up to the individuals and businesses to take it upon themselves, to be better and do better for everyone, not just, for you know, a minority of the population. LA: Hell, yeah. Hell, yeah. Like, thank you so much for adding that because yes, it makes you better... I shake my head in disgust because I'm like, how could you not? How could you not want to be accommodating? LA: Just like we're all the same. We're all the same, except a huge proportion of us are completely unobstructed. So why are we getting it made easier for us? I hate to be so crass, but I think that there is a real invitation here to observe what we've done just to be make it easier for the people who it's already easiest for. LA: There's an invitation to up-level your organization. Your offering to be accommodating, like, I hate to be so broad and so trite, but it's like, just try to be more accommodating is like a huge step forward. So if someone like, I know I'm speaking out of turn here, but if someone comes to you and asking for an accommodation like you have a legal duty to accommodate, first of all, and to the point of undue hardship. LA: And so what does that really mean? Like the point of undue hardship? And how we define undue hardship is really low like that's a really low threshold, maybe not in legal terms, but in like how we think of it, absolutely. So like, go above that. If someone's asking you for closed captioning, and you have a reasonable ability to provide it or get creative and figure out a way, do it. Do it. LA: This is an invitation to not just say, "oh, you know what we can't do that", and kind of switch it on its head and say, "oh, no, we maybe", and maybe they can't like maybe they's a point where it's like, well, we cannot modify this building to accommodate someone in a wheelchair, for instance. LA: What comes to mind is my office has that spiral staircase. You've been there. And it's like this I can't do anything about it. I don't own that building, I'm leasing it. There's no reasonable augmentation I can do structurally to that area of the building. So what then? What next? [35:00] LA: Like so you just kind of go down the list of okay, well, I need to make sure that I have a meeting space in the lower area of the building, because there's going to be people that cannot achieve going upstairs, plain and simple. Or don't want to. Maybe just don't want to use their precious energy on getting upstairs. JC: Well, yeah, like, there are individuals out there that live with chronic pain. LA: Yeah. JC: They can walk, but stairs they can't do because of vertigo, balance, and like those are the things that people need to understand is that they may appear able. LA: Yes, yes. JC: But we don't know what they're going through, right? JC: So I have been in different situations, where I sat on the Accessibility Committee for the YYC airport when they were doing the new terminal. So it was great that I was there at the beginning of the initial stages of that and to see it come to light, and to to see that project unfold. JC: And there were some things that we suggested they couldn't do, and we held the premise as a group like, find the way, who cares. Then after the fact, you're gonna be spending money to retrofitting it, right? JC: And I had a situation at my university, where they built a new building, and then they had an open house tour, and I was very like blunt, and I'm like I will never have the class in this room. And one of the individuals was so like "what?! It's gorgeous! It's this, it's that." JC: I'm like, "do you hear the acoustic in here? The tile floor, the this the that. Was someone in the accessibility realm consulted on this project?" JC: "No." I'm like, "oh, okay". And then that's where it started that, you know, we created the Accessibility Committee for the University, so that at any time the day to day operation, or any new building, new infrastructure or retrofitting I think has accessibility in mind. JC: Because that's where I think a lot of the problems happen is that we are an after thought. We are at the end of the line, and then when we come up and say, "Oh, wait a minute, this is not right," then we're met with resistance, because you know the person too proud, or they're too happy for what they created, which is great. JC: It is great, however, they haven't considered everyone in the community, and it shouldn't be left to 'I'm just gonna wait until it is asked,' you know? Like in your instance too, with the stairs right? LA: Yes, yes, hmm. JC: Even in my own office we had to change locations, and everybody's raving about it, and I was like oh, in the meeting room, what if our client can't walk with two legs? And it was just like uh oh, we didn't think of that. JC: And that is something that I would like to say is common sense, you know, but it's not, you know, and it those are the little things... LA: That's right. It's not. It's not common sense. But let's change that. That's our opportunity here. LA: Like your, Jade, I'm not getting like well, of course I, as you said, like your dream is to walk into any building and have, be able to participate in it. Without asking, just you know, being considered. Like that's your dream. LA: And I think that's that's a fucking, like, let's make that happen. But what I hear you say is just don't think of it last. Just don't think of it last like, ask someone who knows. LA: Engage in conversation, engage in conversation, not unlike any of the protected grounds that we have that are in our human rights legislation. Like, let's not think of these things as last considerations. Let's think of them first. Let's ask let's ask the hard questions, and see and do the best we can. LA: You're not saying to everyone, okay, go retrofit your whole buildings and figure it out. We can't change what's in the past, but what we can do is change our perspective. [40:00] LA: Change our first thought, or our process for doing new things, changing and moving the needle forward when it comes to inclusivity, and I think that's the invitation that you're offering to us is to just look around, ask the questions before. As a first thought, not a last thought. LA: Is there any other, like, "do this", "do this people" that you want to give us? JC: I think the biggest thing is asking the individual what accommodations they need. And they, you know, they'll tell you. And sometimes I find there's a lot of individuals, that say, they leave high school, they go into post-secondary and they're not aware of their rights. And they're, you know, and the things they are allowed to have access to, so it's just a matter of... JC: You know, even for a person with disabilities or living with a disability, to say, "well what can you offer?" Let's start there too. And then formulate something that will work for the individual that has a disability. JC: So then that way they can thrive in that environment. That they're learning, working, playing. Whatever it is they're doing in your space. LA: Yeah, like, the minimum should be everyone thriving like, like, I'm rolling my eyes because it's like, yeah, duh! Thank you for that. Like we all need to thrive. You know, if I could like sum up what all you said in a little ball, it's like, ask the hard questions. LA: Think of accessibility first instead of last, and really just point your mind's eye towards thriving. Like what does thriving look like? That's the little ball of awesome that I just heard you say Jade. LA: And obviously you're so passionate about this. And like PS, she's a realtor, she's a property manager, she's a coach, she's a this, she's that, she's getting married! You're getting married! JC: Yes! LA: You're planning a wedding right now! So Jade I would be remiss to let you go without hearing a little more about you. I've heard a lot about what you stand for, so Jade before we say goodbye I would love to hear what is it like to stand in your power for you? What is illuminating your power right now? JC: I think mostly that I, just, you know, it's that I love myself and I accept myself. You know I've done the hard work of healing in different modalities and whether it is the traumas I've experienced, you know, generational and that. JC: And there are things that I am not ready to share. The courage to share that, but also to show up in a more compassionate and unconditional way in my approach to things. JC: So I love dancing and I love reading books. I love having the conversation just to, you know, if I can leave a conversation and really impact the person then that makes me feel good too inside. JC: Yeah, and I've just been... Just building relationships and that. And I really do care for peoples' stories and what they're all about. And then I'm a big problem solver, so it's like... LA: Thank god! Thank goodness you're a problem solver, girl. Thank goodness! JC: Yeah. So when someone's like "oh, I can't do this," I'm like here's ten things where you can do, you know. Cause I don't think of things having excuses, you know, and it's just... And don't get me wrong, I've had down days and bad days and that myself, but overall my approach has been very positive, optimistic. JC: And I'm a huge dreamer! LA: And a trail-blazer! You're a trail-blazer! JC: Yeah. LA: You are the first. You do things the first. Like, you know, and I think we're just so lucky, we're so lucky to have you doing that. [45:00] LA: And if you could describe your signature essence... if you could boil down everything... who is Jade when she's at her best and living her passion work? How would you describe yourself? What is your core essence? JC: My core essence has always been unconditional love with no limits. No restrictions, no barriers. It's just offering that kindness and compassion and empathy for others. Because that's what I would like to receive back, right? JC: And like I get it. We're not for everyone, but if you can just... And that's what I show up every day with that feeling, because we don't know what people are going through. JC: And having gone through some things myself it's like, wow, you know. And it's not to say that it's - I just think of like, I can do what I can do but I can't imagine someone worse off than me. And what they have to go through and then it's just being more aware of that. And asking the questions. JC: So for me, as much as I've been preaching all these things that you can do, I'm a living example of that myself. Cause I'm doing that work myself. I'm showing up myself. And then I can inspire others to do that as well. LA: Well everyone who hears this is gonna be inspired by you. I know. Well I am, so check, one. The first person to hear this will be me, so check. Jade, you're so cool, you're so cool and you're doing such beautiful work in the world and, you know, serving your community and showing the fuck up, like... It's just so amazing when people stand in their unique and beautiful genius and I think you just do it without even thinking. LA: And I think that's a blessing. That is the real, real blessing. And to know you is a gift. So thank you so much for being here, for doing this work. And if you could give one, any piece of advice to the listeners moving forward after listening to this conversation, what is it? JC: I think it would be to be brave and have the courage to ask. LA: Hmmm. That hit me in the heart. That hit me in the heart. Be brave and have the courage to ask. That is so beautiful. LA: And so what happened in our time today, Jade? What was this conversation like for you and yeah, what did you take out of our time today? JC: Well every time I get to talk to you and be in your space, I'm so grounded so relaxed, so like channeled in. And I honestly feel like I was able to speak from the heart. Speak from my true self. And I hope that comes across, you know, to the listeners - LA: It does. It does. I can confirm it does. JC: The thing is, being hard of hearing is I can't hear some of the things coming out of my words, or my mouth, and that. You know, sometimes I joke, you know, there's gotta be a reason why I can't hear. Cause I don't hear the naysayers, I just do it. LA: BOOM! Mic drop baby! There's a reason you can't hear, it's cause you can't hear the bullshit! That's right. What a beautiful way to end our time. Ditto, ditto, I'm so grateful that you're here, grateful to have you as a client, grateful to have you as a friend. LA: And you are changing the world. You are trail-blazing as per normal. And everyone listening to this, take a page out of Jade's book and just go do some good work in the world. Go do something good, go see something wrong and fix it. Because I think being a little problem solver to make the world a better place isn't a bad thing. LA: So I'm going to leave our listeners with that. Jade, thank you so much again for coming on the show. I'm so grateful, I will link everything in the show notes; how we find you, your website, your Instagram, everything. And the listeners - watch out, because they're going to be calling because this was just that good. LA: Okay lady thank you so much for your time. And listeners, we'll see you next week! [50:00] [Outro]