Celebrating Christmas and Hanukah in a Life and Work of Joy

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortes. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

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personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five. It's working

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on Purpose. Now Here is your
host, Elise Cortes. I'm your host,

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Elise Cortes. Join you live from
Dallas, Texas, which is home

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base for me. If you've been
tuning in for a while, you know

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this program is all about helping people
create more meaningful and productive personal and work

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lives and equipping leaders insight organizations to
cultivate meaning and purpose to elicit passion inspired

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contribution, innovation, and persevering performance. I talk with my guests to throughout

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their experience and share my own experience
consulting, speaking and developing workforces across the

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globe. In these weekly conversations,
it is my intention that you derive value

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you can immediately apply to your personal
and work lives. So I invite you

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to listen in from that vantage point, and it is my fervent hope that

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you come alive with the possibility of
living with passion, working on purpose and

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seeing just how big and fulfilling your
life and work can be. And if

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you do catch fire, as I
like to say, I don't want to

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leave you hanging without a support line. Your call to action is to contact

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me via email. Might as well
write it down now. It's a lease

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at a least coortes dot com or
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at least coortes dot com to message
me and then tell me how I can

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help you. Whether you want to
join the distribution list to stay informed with

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these radio show topics, you want
to learn about joining a catch fire online

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inspiration accountability or a mastermind community,
or you want information on my purpose driven

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leadership programs for individuals and companies will
get you taken care of. Back to

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the content with us this week is
Sherry Schwartz, co owner of the Carpet

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Maven in Woodbridge and Metchuchin, New
Jersey with her husband Leon. Sherry is

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the author of Are You Love,
a book now available in kindle and paperback

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formats on Amazon. In this special
holiday program, we'll be talking about her

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unique spin and celebration of Christmas and
Honikah, her work as a decorator in

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window dressing and flooring and just what
she loves about it, and her recently

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released book Are You Love Shoes?
Today? From Woodbridge, New Jersey,

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Sherry, welcome to Working on Purpose. Thank you very much. I am

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so excited to be with you.
Well, I'm so glad that I was

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able to find you in the universe
brought you to me, thanks to thanks

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to Marissa and this show for me
because it's airing on Christmas Day, it's

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meant to be a celebration of the
holidays as well as still how does it

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connect with the rest of our life? So I think we have a lot

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to talk about here, and it's
the season to be joy, joy,

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joyous and jolly, and I think
that's totally you, Sherry. You are

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a joyous and jolly person. So
let's start by talking about the holidays,

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how you celebrate them, what they
mean to you, and in your particular

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case, you have a very unique
take on holidays because of your unique family

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dynamic that anchors you into both holidays. Tell us what I mean by that.

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I know what it means that you
tell us, Well, thank you.

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I'm married to a wonderful Jewish man
who on Sunday will be thirty four

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years. So you know, it's
not fair to just celebrate one holiday.

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We need to celebrate both holidays,
and we celebrate Hanukah and we celebrate Christmas.

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I you know, I'm very very
much into decorating and for the holidays

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outside, inside everything else. And
probably about twenty years ago, I went

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shopping and I bought a second Christmas
tree and my husband goes, you know,

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what is that and run away.
I had to think really quickly,

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and I said, it's a honka
trade. And I went and I started

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decorating with Christmas ornaments, and he
said, he goes, wh whoa,

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whoa, whohoa. I thought it
was supposed to be a Christmas tree.

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Well, I took the Christmas tree
ornaments off and I started to come up

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with some Honkkah stuff. Except twenty
years ago, I couldn't find Honica ornaments.

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So I had to make things,
and about fifty things on the fifty

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percent of the things on the tree
are homemade by me, because you know,

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I said Hana Katrick, and I
had to come up with honicle ornaments

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for him. Okay, now back
up a little bit here. This is

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such a great dynamic and as a
person who loves diversity and inclusion. So

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you told me on the phone when
we first spoke that you're Catholic, your

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husband's Jewish. Do you each attend
your own respective services? Still? Uh,

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you know what I wish I could
say we do? Now, No,

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we we we are spiritually, but
we don't. We don't you know,

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practice the every week thing. We
just we're both happy with with living

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our life and treating everybody, you
know, just in the way that we

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are treated, and you know,
we learn to live our life. You

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know, we we thank you and
which I think that that you know,

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that kind of we gave that that
thought to our daughter. Also, Oh,

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I think that's beautiful. I think
that's gorgeous. What a great way

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to start this conversation, especially around
the holidays. Yeah, okay, so

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let's talk about both the holidays,
Sherry. So first, what does Christmas

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mean to you? Oh? My
god, Christmas to me is the lights,

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is the decorations. It's the preparation
all year for me. You know,

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Sherry's making callmade Christmas cards all throughout
the year, Sherry's making decorations,

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reef. I mean, you know, this is what my life, you

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know, revolves around. I like
decorating. I like to show it.

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I you know, before Thanksgiving,
I'm preparing so that my house is decorated

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for Thanksgiving, with the Christmas dishes, with the trees up and everything else.

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It's just it's a super super time
of the year. Oh my gosh.

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So it's no surprise to me,
as I said in the beginning,

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that you would be pretty much celebrating
throughout the year by making cards. Now

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for me, Funny you say cards, Sherry, that's my thing. I'd

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say that's the one thing that anchors
me and Christmas is every year I write

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an annual catch up a note letter, if you will, to everyone that's

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on my list, and include that
with a card. Now and then I

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write a little bit of handwritten something
on that particular card to that person.

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Now, the bad news is my
handwriting is terrible, and I'll usually get

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a few phone calls towards the end
of the year saying, Haley's thanks very

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much, I got your card.
What did it say? Well, I

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have to be honest with you.
I do the letters and sometimes they think,

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like, really, who cares about
you know what's going on in our

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life? But do you know how
many people throughout the year say that they

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wait to get that. And I
started getting my Christmas cards already and people

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are writing on there. I can't
wait to hear what's going on all year

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so I can catch up on Marissa
and you and Land and the business and

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you know, whatever else is going
on. So people do want to know

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what's going on. I think it's
great. I do too, And that's

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exactly what I hear too. People
say you write the best Christmas updates.

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I'm like, great, I'll keep
them coming. Okay, well, now

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it is fun. It's fun.
It's a labor of love too, so

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thinks back on your whole year.
I do absolutely. In fact, I

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make a note of what all do
I want to say and what do I

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want to share and all that good
stuff. So absolutely that's my focus for

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Christmas. Now what about Honkut for
you? What does that mean to you?

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Well? For Hanukkah we go.
We have the Hanaka tree which is

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about five and a half feet and
you know it's all lit up. I

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have all white lights on the tree
and I have blue and silver balls.

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I have all homemade bows. I
have dradles that I that I've actually am

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very talented with a glue gun,
and I'm putting bows on the dradles.

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Everything gets hung because you know,
they don't have things like this in the

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store. So you really have to
be creative when you want to do a

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Honica tree that's you know, over
five feet tall. I have found things

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that have been very creative. I
had my needle point ladies in the class

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about No. Twenty twenty years ago, nineteen years ago, where I said

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I need help, how do I
make a Star David needle point? They

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came together, they wound up coming
up with patterns for me. And my

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tree is loaded with the Star David
needle points. So you know, if

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there's a will, there's a way
Sherry can get it done. I got

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that out to you, my dear. I'm going to take just about a

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quarter of your energy and add that
to mine and I can do anything.

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It's okay, just you know,
you know what, to be honest with

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you, I just I like to
make people happy, you know, Honikah.

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We just went through the eight day
you know, the eight nights of

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celebrating I made sure I had my
Honica plates, my Honica napkins. You

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know, we we lit the manura. We have many the manura, which

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which is a you know, cutesy
version Manura. It's just it's fun and

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every night there's a little different present. It's it's this is what life's about.

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Yes, let's let's talk really quick
about some of the things that you

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talked about that might have some significance. I know, I think what a

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dradal is, but I don't understand
its significance. It's actually to play a

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game with Okay, it's actually it's
actually to play a game that with the

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children, you know, used to
play a game. But I actually took

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the dradl's and I and I put
bows on them and I actually put them

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on the tree and stuff. So
anything you know that that signifies Hanukkah,

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like they have guilt, which is
just coin. Usually it's a chocolate coin.

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You have ones that are you know, just little tin, ones that

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are blue minor blue. You know, I've done that with the blue gun,

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put little bows on that, got
that on the tree also, So

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whatever you know, anything that I
could find and I will tell you back,

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like twenty years ago, they didn't
really have you know, teddy bears

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and little cutesy things like they have
now with little yamakas on. I used

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to use caps from the milk containers
and make little yamicas on, little teddy

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bears and different things for the tree. So you know, crafty I had

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to be over the years just to
make my hubby happy. Oh, I

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think that's so beautiful. Okay,
one more question about Hankah. Why silver

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and blue? Why are those colors? What did they mean those? Honestly,

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those are their colors. I don't
really know you know what it signifies,

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but I just figured let me keep
the tradition going. Every time I

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post the pictures, I get all
the lights, you know, from the

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Jewish friends, from the Catholic friends. I'm okay, I'm doing everything right.

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You know. I don't want to
show anything that it's Christmas. No

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reds, no greens. We're keeping
the silver in the blue. I got

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that. That's so gorgeous. I
love that. Okay. I want to

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talk a bit about how you celebrate
the season. And I loved the story

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and I want you to tell it
again if you will, about your husband

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hanging lights. But how do you
all celebrate the season, Well, we

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decorate a lot. We really do
decorate a lot. You have to understand

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when you marry somebody who never celebrated
Christmas before, they get very excited.

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You know this Christmas tree, Christmas
lights on the house and stuff. And

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my poor husband, he didn't come
from a family that hung lights on the

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house, so he didn't really know
how to do it. So he got

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the ladder, he got onto the
roof, and then he hung off the

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roof to put the lights on the
house. And I got a call at

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the store saying, Shari, I
think Land's gonna wind up killing himself because

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he's hanging off the roof to put
the Christmas legs on the house. And

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I just thought, well, I
can't close the store, so I hope

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he's going to be okay. And
I hope those lights light when I get

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home. You know, that's so
great, How great that you can each

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contribut to each other's life like that
in a way that lights the other.

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I think that is as good as
it gets, Sherry. I think it's

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beautiful, absolutely, it really is. But you know what, not only

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that our daughter did attend Catholic school. Believe it or not with the last

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name Schwartz. And my husband was
there to wrap Christmas gifts. I mean,

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so it was you name it.
He was always there to do things.

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So everything has been a two way
street in our relationship, which which

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you know. I think that's why
it works. And I think we can

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all learn so much from you in
that way. Sherry, thank you for

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that. Another reason I wanted to
have you on the show for this special

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program. So thank you. Now. In addition to what we've been talking

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about so far about decorating, I
think you told me that you decorate your

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window there at Carpet Carpet Maven,
and that you've won awards. Yeah,

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you want awards for this. We've
won awards. I don't even know how

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many years. We've done trains in
the windows. That was like the greatest

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thing where we would go into Pennsylvania, go to Hershey pick up a new

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train each year. We've done so
many different displays, so we had for

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the most beautiful, the most creative. We've won different different things, and

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it does. It becomes an obsession. And you you know, we're very

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where we were very competitive, I
guess you'd say, but we enjoy and

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it's it's always, you know,
for the community. They would come,

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they would see the train in the
window. So that was in our Whoodpridge

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store in the Touche and we went
and I actually started with a train in

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Mtouche and as well. I just
think it's nice. You know, there's

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nothing more than seeing children with their
parents or children with their grandparents come to

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the window and look at the train
going around. I mean, what could

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be better than that? Well,
and I think it's beautiful that a big

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part of what you do is to
give that joy to others share. I

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just think that's just you. Well, thank you, thank you. I

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I I absolutely I love what I
do. And you know, I'm fifth

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generation in Woodbridge. I love to
give back to the community. I really

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honestly do. It's it's you know, it's who I am. It's my

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town. Hm. I got that
now. Speaking of that, the last

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thing I wanted to talk about with
regard to the holidays is you told me

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that you and your husband Leon have
started a holiday stroll, fire and ice

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and you bring an ice ring onto
the street. I'd love to hear how

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in the world's idea came about and
what it's like to be part of.

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Well, this is going to be
the first year with the with the ice

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ring, and actually the town now
is taking over to do this. So

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it has grown to that, you
know, to that magnitude. But when

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we had first started, it was
something as a way to say thank you

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to our customers and thank you to
the community for patronizing. And it was

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you know, we had mister and
Missus Claus and we had girl scouts and

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Brownie troops caroling up and down and
share leaders, you know. And then

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then it took the next step where
the street got closed and it was a

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horse and buggy. Then we had
it was a game truck that came on

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and a photo booth, and it
grew. It just kept growing and growing

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and growing. Now twenty years later, the town is actually running the event

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that my husband and I we still
go to and you know, they have

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our input and everything. But now
it's becoming fire and ice. It's called

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this is the first year where they're
bringing an ice ring onto the street and

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they're going to have the fire pits
you can toast marshmallows. They'll still have

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the horse and buggy, mister and
Missus Claus Victorian style but you know what

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pride we have. That's something that
we started that where I used to bake

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for this event, it turned into
something you know, so big, it's

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I mean, it's just a fantastic
thing. I love everything about that,

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Sherry, I love everything about that. Now, how many people do you

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think normally show up? Any idea? I will tell you that there are

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so many people that do come that. I that I know. My husband

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and I are like, you can't
stop the horse and buggy ride one year

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because there were so many people in
line, and they were like, you

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know, but time running out,
and would like, just just keep it

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going, keep it going. We
get a lot of people for that,

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We really honestly do. And it's
a wonderful way to kick off the holiday

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season. It's just, you know, it's again you're seeing all the generations,

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You're seeing everybody, You're bringing them
to the community. You know,

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it's just a wonderful way. I
usually get teary eyed with that event too.

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It's amazing, it really honestly is
Isn't it wonderful when life moves us

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like that? Absolutely, and when
you think that somebody it doesn't matter to

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somebody. I would bake year after
year after year for the for the holiday

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stroll, and one year I said
to my husband, I said, I'm

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going to take an easy way out. I'm just going to buy everything.

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Really nobody cares about my baking.
And I had the brownie troops come in

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and I overheard one of the little
girls say to the other little girl,

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you know, this is the lady
that always has homemade goodies, fresh,

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she has cupcakes, blah blah blah. And I got like so upset.

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I'm thinking, Oh, why did
I go to take the easy way out?

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You know that changed from then on, I continued baking. Oh that's

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so great. Now, what's the
name of this of this event called the

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actual property? It's actually the Holiday
Stroll. It's a holiday stroll in Woodbridge,

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in Woodbridge, and the share of
the event is fire and Ice.

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Okay. And what's the actual date? It's actually the rain date is this

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Saturday the fifteenth. Okay. So
all right, okay, all right,

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well, let's grab our first break, Sherry. It's it just goes so

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fast. I'm your host, Alis
Cortez. We've been on the air with

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Sherry Schwartz, co owner of the
Carpet Maven in Woodbridge and Matchuchin, New

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Jersey with her husband Leon. Sherry
is the author of Are You Love.

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She joined us today from Woodbridge,
New Jersey. We've been talking a bit

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about Christmas and Hanukkah, what they
mean to her and how she celebrates.

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After the break, we're going to
talk about her joy of the work that

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she does and how she's connected to
it and brings everything she has into that

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life as well. Stay with us, We'll be right back. Elise Cortes

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00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:06.519
is a speaker and engagement and development
catalyst. She designs and delivers professional development,

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00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:11.519
leadership and engagement workshops and can bring
her expertise to your organization. She

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00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:17.119
will help ignite meaningful development within your
workforce that will increase employee engagement, performance

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and retention. To learn more or
to invite Elise to speak to your organization,

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please visit her at www dot Elisecortes
dot com. She would welcome the

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opportunity to help get your employees working
on purpose. This is working on Purpose

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with Elise Cortes. To reach our
program today, send an email to a

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00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:51.480
lease Aliic at Alisecortes dot com.
Now back to working on purpose. If

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you're just joining us, my guest
is Sherry Schwartz, co owner of the

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Carpet Maven in Woodbridge and the Chuchen, New Jersey with her husband Leon.

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Cherry is the author of a book
called You Love, which we'll talk more

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about a little bit later in the
program. I'm your host Alas Cortes.

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So Sherry, before the breaker,
you know, we were talking about Christmas

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and Hanukah, and now I want
to talk about work. This is a

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show that's really anchored in how it
is that we create meaning and connection to

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our work. And you are just
an embodiment of somebody who is in love

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with your overall life, including its
work. So you're the co owner of

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Carpet Maven and who I don't know
if Leon is the co owner or if

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it's somebody else, but we'll get
to that. And you do window dressing,

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carpeting and our decorator. So first, how did you get into this

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line of work? What's the story
there? Well, actually, my husband

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got me into this line of work. I first went to college to become

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a para lebel. I worked in
a large corporation, international corporation. I

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did all their little research and I
would come to the store, you know,

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half the you know, part time
coming to the store, and finally

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got to the point where the business
became so successful that my husband said,

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I think it's time to I'm on
a board full time. It took me

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eight months to finally pull the trigger, because you know, I thought I

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had what I wanted to do in
life. I came aboard and I have

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never looked back. I am thrilled
with what I do for a living.

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It's my life, and honestly,
sometimes I feel guilty because I am so

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happy doing it. Yes, okay, so how many years have you been

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in that business? It's almost thirty
years doing this now? So great?

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And is it wonderful? Sherry?
I meet so many people in my work

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and just about the course of my
life who when I ask them, how's

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it going, how are you today? They say, is it Friday yet?

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And I just think that it's such
a waste of a precious life.

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And so the fact that you literally
are joyously dancing through your days and love

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your work. I so applaud that. And it's another reason I wanted to

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have you on the show, because
it's important for people to hear that people

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are out there do exist, and
this is something that they too can have.

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So you are a wonderful, inspiring
example. Thank you. I actually

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really have a passion for decorating.
You know, if it's not my own

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home, you know, it's it's
somebody else's. I mean, this is

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truly what I enjoy doing. My
weekend was spent doing house tours for the

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holidays, and you know, I'm
my wonderful husband and my wonderful daughter came

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with me, and this is what
I love to do. It's wonderful.

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And you can tell see when somebody, when somebody's living a purposeful and fulfilled

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life, it just emanates from them
like it does you share. You're just

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a great example of that. And
I was so taken that when we spoke

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on the phone, you just said, very matter of factly that you only

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take one one week of vacation a
year because you don't want to miss out

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on seeing any customers who might come
by in your absence. How delightful that

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we take the you know, from
Christmas to New Year's that's the only time

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we take off. And you know, I think people think when you own

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your own business, you can take
off whenever you want. You can come

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in late, leave early, that's
not how it goes. In fact,

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you work a lot more where before
the after, you know, after the

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store hours and stuff. But I
love what I do. It doesn't feel

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like work to me. Well,
let's talk about that. I one of

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the things that you said about what
you love about your work, and I

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want to see if you can presence
as much as you can in any other

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factors. Is this social connection it
gives you? Okay, Well, I

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will be honest with you that I
have met some of my best friends started

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out as customers and they have become
friends. This is also our social life.

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So I mean this when I tell
you this, this is our life.

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You know, my husband and I
get the wonderful life of working together.

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We raised our daughter in our business. You know, I mean what

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could be better? I mean,
you make friends, you socialize, this

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is this is your world, this
is your life. Well, and I

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think I think that's beautiful. And
so what I I've been a researcher in

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meaning and work for quite so many
years as well as identity, and so

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that social connection is a big,
big part of work for a lot of

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people. I'm not surprised given just
how I've met you and the energy that

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you bring, that that would be
an anchor for you. And I loved

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it when you said, well,
what if we were gone and somebody came

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in and wanted to talk to us
and we weren't there. That actually did

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happen to us. One year we
did close for vacation and there was somebody

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that actually did say, well,
I couldn't wait and I went and I'm

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like, oh my gosh, you
know we were coming back, and I

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don't ever want to hear that again. So, you know, we tell

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people you know, we're going to
be going on vacation. If you need

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anything, you know, I'll even
if there's people that are thinking, well,

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maybe I'm going to want it in
the next you know, month or

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something, I'm already letting them know. You know, we will be closed

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for this amount of time. If
there's anything anything I can help you with,

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that's just what we do. That's
the advantage I think of dealing with

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the owners, the mom and pop
of the business. Mm hmm. Well,

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and to your point, I can. I can also tell you that

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I have made some beautiful friendships from
my clients as well. It's a you

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get to know them and you you
do some important work together and you're connected.

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Absolutely absolutely. I mean if it's
it's not just making the friends,

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even the business contexts, you know, the socialization with the different events,

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if it's networking events, if it's
chamber events. You know, we just

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have this this I don't know,
this family that goes on because you know

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who you meet in everything. My
husband and I we run a car show

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for twenty three years now for Woodbridge. We've been doing that and what we

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do, what our priority is with
that, the proceeds go to a different

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charity or different organization in the town. For the past six years, we've

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been giving out six scholarships to the
three local high schools. From that,

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you meet other people, you know, to have parents come up to you

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saying thank you, thank you for
not only you know, running the show,

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but then to turn around and give
the scholarships. That's what it's all

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about. I really get that,
Sherry, and I really what I appreciate

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too and wanted to share about your
story is it occurs to me that you

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have created, you've threaded together all
of these no pun intended by the way

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you've threaded together all of these elements
in your life that just make for a

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beautiful fabric that all fits well.
Thank you. And it's absolutely true.

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Sometimes I wonder what I did so
well in life to get blessed by the

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life that I have. I'm very, very fortunate. I'm very happy.

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I do feel bad when people have, you know, a job that they're

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not happy with, their career that
they're not happy with, because honestly,

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we're very happy together working, you
know, raising our daughter. She has

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her business sense because of you know, being raised in the business. I

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couldn't imagine having a different life,
to be honest with you, it's so

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great. And speaking of that,
I know that today you were given a

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00:24:41.079 --> 00:24:45.240
very important award, so tell us
about it. Yes, we we were

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given a Chamber award for being the
Chamber Member of the Quarter. And it

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was at the holiday luncheon today.
And I have to tell you that as

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I was sitting there and I was
looking around this probably like three hundred guests

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there, you know, business owners, the mayor, you know, politicians,

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00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:07.759
everybody was there, and my eyes
did fill with a little bit of

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tears. As you can tell,
I'm very emotional. They had the local

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high school choir commit and saying and
I just thought, wow, you know,

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to have like my grandmother or something, you know, she passed away

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a long time ago. But to
see to see how this is giving back

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to the community, being acknowledged in
the community you know that I've that I

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lived in and live in you know, I mean, what could be better?

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Honestly, it was just a beautiful, beautiful a day. And to

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have your peers, your peers,
you know, stand there and aploude you

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as you're getting an award is the
one. It really was a really,

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00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:45.680
really wonderful luncheon today. Well congratulations, well deserved, well deserved. And

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I want to also comment very quickly
in the emotion thing, Sherry, especially

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in the work that I do around
passion, purpose, inspiration. What I

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00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:56.519
know is that the more you have
access to your array of emotions and you

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can you can use them well and
why is and with intelligence, the more

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fulfilled life that you have and oftentimes
the more inspiring you are to others.

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So I applaud you forever access and
using your emotions the way that you do

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00:26:10.559 --> 00:26:11.799
well, Thank you, And I
do wear my emotions on my sleeve,

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00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:15.359
so believe me, a Lisa,
I mean, everybody knows, you know,

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00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:17.839
Scherry's going to you want to know
an answer, Cherry's going to give

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00:26:17.880 --> 00:26:22.400
it to you. You know it's
it's straightforward answer. It's great and you

407
00:26:22.440 --> 00:26:27.119
know it works for me. It
definitely works for me. Well. As

408
00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:30.039
I said before, I love that
East Coast accent. I'm from Oregon.

409
00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:33.200
We don't have accents and Oregon.
So I'm just gonna live vicariously through you

410
00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:37.400
and everything that you're up to.
All Right, sounds good to me.

411
00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:38.880
And I don't hear an accent with
me. But okay, I know,

412
00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:41.839
I know we're going to go with
it. Dude. Just trust me on

413
00:26:41.880 --> 00:26:45.599
this one, Cherry. Okay.
Also in our earlier conversation, you said

414
00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:48.839
something that just tickled me. Pink. I'm already pink, so I got

415
00:26:48.839 --> 00:26:52.680
pinker. So you said that when
your daughter was born, you were back

416
00:26:52.720 --> 00:26:56.200
in the store, as you say, throwing samples, juggling a lot.

417
00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:57.680
I think you said a week later
and you said, my wife is my

418
00:26:57.720 --> 00:27:00.400
life is not just about working and
being a mom. I can do it

419
00:27:00.440 --> 00:27:07.279
all. See more about that.
Well, my daughter was a surprise to

420
00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:11.240
me. Actually, I was told
that I wouldn't be able to have any

421
00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:15.079
children, and lull in surprise after
ten years of marriage. I wound up

422
00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:19.599
becoming pregnant. Yay, so my
daughter, you know, there I am

423
00:27:19.640 --> 00:27:22.759
with the store and everything. It
was the busy time. It was October.

424
00:27:23.720 --> 00:27:26.960
I was back in work a week
after she was born, baby in

425
00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:32.799
arms, throwing samples down. You
know, honestly, it was the greatest

426
00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:36.720
thing. Because she was raised in
the store. Everybody asks about her all

427
00:27:36.759 --> 00:27:38.440
the time. You know, what
is MRCA doing, how is she blah

428
00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:44.000
blah blah. It's the greatest thing. I think that's so wonderful. I

429
00:27:44.039 --> 00:27:48.160
love the dynamic element of that and
this notion of just living fully into your

430
00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:49.839
life and embracing your life. I
have a girlfriend, I'll just call her

431
00:27:49.880 --> 00:27:52.720
out. Her name is Debbie Glenn. She lives in Conrod, Texas,

432
00:27:52.759 --> 00:27:56.440
just north of Houston. Similar things. She has an insurance agency, and

433
00:27:56.480 --> 00:28:00.000
she was back in her insurance agency
baby in arma, week out from having

434
00:28:00.039 --> 00:28:03.799
a child, and a couple of
the other ones were in tow as she

435
00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:06.799
took care of her, of her
of her clients. You know, it's

436
00:28:06.839 --> 00:28:11.279
amazing what we can do when we
just lean into life absolutely. And I

437
00:28:11.319 --> 00:28:14.799
have to tell you a really cute
story when Marissa was little, because you're

438
00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:18.920
saying about you know, Hanaker Christmas. She she would went through a stage

439
00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:21.960
where she would run up to every
customer that would come in and she'd go,

440
00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:26.440
I'm Jewish and Catholic, and you
know, to watch the expression on

441
00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:30.599
the person's face. You know,
but but that's that's that's our family,

442
00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:33.759
and that who that's who she is. So you know, it was actually

443
00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:38.319
very entertaining. I think it's wonderful. I'm so glad you came in and

444
00:28:38.359 --> 00:28:41.720
you agree to come on the show, Sharry and share share yourself with us.

445
00:28:42.119 --> 00:28:45.720
Well, thank you. I'm having
a lot of fun, I really

446
00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:48.200
am. I'm glad it should be
like that. Well, and to that

447
00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:52.279
end, one of the other things
we talked about it was that you said

448
00:28:52.279 --> 00:28:56.200
that you don't plan to retire.
Why not? But well, first of

449
00:28:56.200 --> 00:28:59.440
all, my daughter said, Mom, don't ever retire because I don't know

450
00:28:59.480 --> 00:29:03.240
what you would do with all your
time. I don't want to retire.

451
00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:07.880
I honestly enjoy what I do and
I couldn't imagine, you know, going

452
00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:11.680
to the store every day. Like
I said, this is my my social

453
00:29:11.720 --> 00:29:15.000
life, this is my my work, this is everything. You know,

454
00:29:15.079 --> 00:29:18.839
our whole week is planned and I'm
so excited because I have all my outfits

455
00:29:18.839 --> 00:29:22.519
picked out. If it's not something
in Woodbridge, it's something at from them

456
00:29:22.680 --> 00:29:26.680
Touch and Store. You know,
there's chamber events. We just keep going.

457
00:29:26.759 --> 00:29:30.119
And you could tell I probably I'm
hyper. I don't get a lot

458
00:29:30.119 --> 00:29:32.759
of sleep either, Yeah, I
got that. How much sleep do you

459
00:29:32.839 --> 00:29:37.759
get? Probably averaging about five hours
a night. Oh I wish I could

460
00:29:37.799 --> 00:29:38.960
do that. Sure, I could
get so much more done in the day.

461
00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:44.079
Okay, well, my laundry is
done before I go into the stores.

462
00:29:44.599 --> 00:29:48.839
Oh wow, wow, that sounds
really really elegant to me and like

463
00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:52.119
almost vacation. But okay, now
I will also tell you, as we

464
00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:56.759
said, I have no plans to
retire either. And it's my thinking is

465
00:29:56.839 --> 00:30:00.640
if I'm able to impact and improve
lives and help people live passion and work

466
00:30:00.680 --> 00:30:03.240
on a purpose, that's my way
of life too. Why would I want

467
00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:04.799
to quit that? Someday? I
just want to day to stop doing that.

468
00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:11.079
I quit. I can't imagine that. And when customers come in and

469
00:30:11.079 --> 00:30:14.359
they say, like, you know, Sherry, I want to redo whatever

470
00:30:14.480 --> 00:30:15.920
room and you know, fix the
house up because I want to retire,

471
00:30:17.079 --> 00:30:19.880
my first question is where are you
going? Why are you going, really,

472
00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:22.799
you're you're gonna You're gonna leave us
around here? You know, I

473
00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:26.039
just I don't know. To me, that's not That's not what I see

474
00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:29.839
in my life. There's just so
much that I want to do and so

475
00:30:29.960 --> 00:30:32.000
much that I want to, you
know, to give to people. And

476
00:30:32.279 --> 00:30:34.119
you know, twenty three years running
a car show, I can't imagine stopping

477
00:30:34.119 --> 00:30:38.240
that, right, I got that. Now I'm gonna I'm speaking of that.

478
00:30:38.279 --> 00:30:41.519
I'm going to ask you. This
is gonna be really tough, Shrey,

479
00:30:41.559 --> 00:30:44.200
because I'm going to ask you to
be really hypothetical, hear and very

480
00:30:44.240 --> 00:30:48.319
abstract. So if you weren't working, what do you suppose you would do

481
00:30:48.359 --> 00:30:52.480
with all that energy and zest?
If I wasn't working, that's that's that's

482
00:30:52.519 --> 00:30:56.359
a good question. I don't know, probably driving my husband crazy, But

483
00:30:56.440 --> 00:31:00.799
I do I do something that I
started to do with the time that I

484
00:31:00.839 --> 00:31:06.920
do have. I started to get
back into my crafts more than ever,

485
00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:11.640
and my aunt and I actually started
entering back into contest. So I probably

486
00:31:11.880 --> 00:31:17.680
spend more time doing that. But
okay, you know that's that one and

487
00:31:17.799 --> 00:31:22.359
take up all my Now I'm now
say I really can't even give you a

488
00:31:22.359 --> 00:31:26.160
good answer. Well, I mean, I'm going to focus just on working

489
00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:29.960
well. And here's I want to
celebrate that. Speaking of celebratying the holidays

490
00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:33.440
that celebrate that, I come from
a family that are very successful entrepreneurs.

491
00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:37.039
They were farmers first and then restaurant
tours, and work is a way of

492
00:31:37.079 --> 00:31:41.359
life. They're now both retired.
They don't actually work there get they're much

493
00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:45.920
much older these days. But work
was an important way of life, not

494
00:31:45.079 --> 00:31:48.839
just something that you did to make
a living. It's how you move through

495
00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:51.960
life. And so I see it
that way too, which is why I

496
00:31:51.960 --> 00:31:55.079
want to make it more of a
playground for people as many as I can

497
00:31:55.160 --> 00:31:57.440
across the globe. For as long
as I live. You have a playground,

498
00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:01.359
I have a playground. It's one
full place to live. Yeah.

499
00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:07.240
Absolutely, And I admire anyone that
is older. When I'm seeing people,

500
00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:12.000
you know, in their eighties and
late eighties that are still working, they

501
00:32:12.039 --> 00:32:15.480
are a role model for me.
They really are. Because oh, he

502
00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:19.119
don't plan on stopping exactly. Well, let me tell you really quick before

503
00:32:19.119 --> 00:32:22.480
we catch our next break. Speaking
of eighties, my dear beloved boss who

504
00:32:22.519 --> 00:32:25.200
fired me when I was nineteen years
old because he thought I should have a

505
00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:29.400
better life and do something more with
myself. He's now eighty two. I

506
00:32:29.480 --> 00:32:32.079
keep in touch with him. He's
been my dear friend for years. I

507
00:32:32.200 --> 00:32:35.759
go and see him each each year
when I go through Portland, Oregon.

508
00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:39.880
He has just put on the market
his newest invention. It's a traveling folding

509
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.440
chair. It's called the Interlude.
I'm so proud of him. I could

510
00:32:44.519 --> 00:32:49.720
bust. I'm sharing the video with
people. It's just the funnest little invention.

511
00:32:49.799 --> 00:32:52.000
It's ninety nine dollars and it's just
it's amazing. I'm so proud of

512
00:32:52.039 --> 00:32:54.799
him, and he's He's like,
I'm not working at least I'm playing,

513
00:32:57.519 --> 00:33:00.400
But he's doing something he loves and
he's doing something useful and helpful to others.

514
00:33:00.440 --> 00:33:05.000
So I'm very proud of him.
So yes, for the listeners that

515
00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:09.960
are thinking about retiring at fifty five
sixty five, why rethink it? Absolutely

516
00:33:10.920 --> 00:33:14.839
all right, let's grab our last
break here. I'm Elise Cortez, your

517
00:33:14.839 --> 00:33:16.880
host We on the Ear. Sherry
Schwartz, co owner of the Carpet Maven

518
00:33:16.920 --> 00:33:21.799
and Woodbridge in the Chuchen, New
Jersey with her husband Leon. Cherry is

519
00:33:21.799 --> 00:33:23.640
the author of Are You Love?
She joins us today from Woodbridge, New

520
00:33:23.720 --> 00:33:28.039
Jersey. After the break, we're
going to get into her book and the

521
00:33:28.079 --> 00:33:44.279
loves in her life. Stay with
us. We'll be right back. Alise

522
00:33:44.359 --> 00:33:49.720
Cortes is a speaker and engagement and
development catalyst. She designs and delivers professional

523
00:33:49.799 --> 00:33:53.960
development, leadership and engagement workshops and
can bring her expertise to your organization.

524
00:33:54.240 --> 00:34:00.000
She will help ignite meaningful development within
your workforce that will increase employee engage,

525
00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:04.559
performance and retention. To learn more
or to invite Elise to speak to your

526
00:34:04.680 --> 00:34:09.079
organization, please visit her at www
dot Elise Coortes dot com. She would

527
00:34:09.159 --> 00:34:21.519
welcome the opportunity to help get your
employees working on purpose. This is working

528
00:34:21.559 --> 00:34:25.400
on Purpose with Elise Cortes. To
reach our program today, send an email

529
00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:32.960
to a lease Alise at Aleasecortes dot
com. Now back to working on purpose.

530
00:34:35.199 --> 00:34:37.760
If you're just tuning in, My
guest is Sherry Schwartz, co owner

531
00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:40.440
of The Carpet Maven and Woodbridge and
Michuchen, New Jersey with her husband Leon

532
00:34:40.840 --> 00:34:45.400
Chery is the author of Are You
Love. I'm your host Elise Cortes,

533
00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:50.280
So for this last segment, here
given again that I like how you've threaded

534
00:34:50.320 --> 00:34:52.280
your life together. Here it's the
holidays. Where celebrating the holidays, we're

535
00:34:52.280 --> 00:34:55.559
solvating life and work. The last
part I want to talk about is your

536
00:34:55.599 --> 00:35:00.039
book that you've just recently written and
released and the in your Life. So

537
00:35:00.320 --> 00:35:05.280
first, the book, it's called
Are You Love? And the authors listed

538
00:35:05.280 --> 00:35:07.800
on Amazon are Bernie Schwartz, your
dog, and you, Sherry Schwartz.

539
00:35:08.360 --> 00:35:12.480
So I love that. So first, who's Bernie and how did you come

540
00:35:12.519 --> 00:35:19.039
into your life? Bernie is my
little adopted, little four legged son that

541
00:35:19.079 --> 00:35:22.840
we adopted on February twenty fourth,
and he's the sweetest little guy. And

542
00:35:23.079 --> 00:35:27.639
the book, he had to be
listed as the first person on the book

543
00:35:27.679 --> 00:35:30.519
because the book's about him and it's
his story of how he came from Texas

544
00:35:30.639 --> 00:35:37.599
to New Jersey and he didn't know, he didn't know what love was.

545
00:35:37.400 --> 00:35:43.159
He was petrified to be held and
you know, everything his journey along the

546
00:35:43.159 --> 00:35:46.039
way, what he had to learn. You know, he was a rescue

547
00:35:46.559 --> 00:35:51.840
and let me tell you something,
he brings joy to this family like we've

548
00:35:51.920 --> 00:35:58.119
never felt before. And how was
it that you arranged to adoption from Texas?

549
00:35:58.679 --> 00:36:04.199
That's my stake. Well, it
wound up being we first adopted Mo

550
00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:10.800
back in October and Mo was actually
from uh where was Mo was from?

551
00:36:10.800 --> 00:36:15.440
Georgia? And my daughter then was
buying a house, she was moving out,

552
00:36:15.599 --> 00:36:19.480
and like that wasn't bad enough for
an only child like myself, for

553
00:36:19.639 --> 00:36:22.199
my one and only to tell me
she was moving out and buying a house.

554
00:36:22.360 --> 00:36:24.360
But when she said she was taking
Mo, it was like, you

555
00:36:24.440 --> 00:36:28.559
got to be kidding me. The
tears just you know, we're flowing like

556
00:36:28.559 --> 00:36:31.320
a river over here. And it
was actually my husband Lean's idea. He

557
00:36:31.320 --> 00:36:35.039
said, I think you need a
new baby in the house. And the

558
00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:39.599
new baby was a four legged baby. And we contacted the rescue place where

559
00:36:39.599 --> 00:36:44.119
we where we got Mo from,
and they said to us, we have

560
00:36:44.679 --> 00:36:47.679
a little baby that's you know,
from Texas, and you know he might

561
00:36:47.719 --> 00:36:50.760
be great with your family. And
I said, but here's the thing.

562
00:36:50.960 --> 00:36:53.639
He has to be little Mo is
five pounds and they said, oh,

563
00:36:53.719 --> 00:36:57.400
he's going to be great. And
Bernie's like double the size them, but

564
00:36:57.440 --> 00:37:01.360
they get along beautifully. Oh my
god, yes, well sorry, go

565
00:37:01.360 --> 00:37:07.719
ahead, Marissa. Actually every day
we bring Bernie to Marissa's house so he

566
00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:10.159
can spend the day with Orsa and
Bernie, because Mursa works from home,

567
00:37:10.360 --> 00:37:14.920
and this way, you know he's
not alone. That is brilliant. Now,

568
00:37:15.559 --> 00:37:17.280
I think given everything we've talked about
so far, what you're up to

569
00:37:17.320 --> 00:37:21.559
in life, I think it's amazing
that you managed to birth this book this

570
00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:24.599
year. It sounds like, yes, okay, okay, well and that's

571
00:37:24.639 --> 00:37:27.800
all there is. I'm going to
take some of your energy and put it

572
00:37:27.840 --> 00:37:30.719
in my pocket and go okay.
So tell us a bit about the book

573
00:37:30.760 --> 00:37:34.920
and why you wrote it. So
it's written from Bernie's vantage point. So

574
00:37:36.519 --> 00:37:39.239
because because you know from from here, this little boy that you know,

575
00:37:39.360 --> 00:37:43.199
my four legged boy. When I
say my little boy, I don't like

576
00:37:43.280 --> 00:37:45.519
using the word dog. You know, we saw one picture of him.

577
00:37:45.800 --> 00:37:49.800
We had no idea what he was
going to be like. But no matter

578
00:37:49.840 --> 00:37:52.159
what he was going to be like, we were going to love him just

579
00:37:52.199 --> 00:37:55.199
the same. And when they opened
up the doors on the van and we

580
00:37:55.280 --> 00:37:59.800
saw somebody howling, and it was
Bernie. And my first reaction was,

581
00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:01.800
oh my god, he's bigger than
mo. I mean, you know,

582
00:38:02.760 --> 00:38:06.639
I'm used to little, tiny ones, and you know here then there's Bernie.

583
00:38:06.760 --> 00:38:12.199
He's bigger. He's a little gentle
giant. He doesn't realize he's bigger,

584
00:38:12.599 --> 00:38:15.039
and he just wants to be held
and loved and cuddled. And I

585
00:38:15.159 --> 00:38:20.519
just thought his story, how they
told us how he traveled from Texas to

586
00:38:20.639 --> 00:38:22.639
Jersey, and you know, it
was two days straight of him just howling

587
00:38:22.840 --> 00:38:25.800
the whole time. And he does
talk. He doesn't like to be left

588
00:38:25.800 --> 00:38:30.559
alone, so we never leave him
alone. That's brilliant. I love that

589
00:38:30.599 --> 00:38:32.400
he spends the whole day with Marissa
and mo. I think that's just what

590
00:38:32.880 --> 00:38:39.320
great parents you are. Oh absolutely
so. Are there a couple of lines

591
00:38:39.360 --> 00:38:43.320
at all from the book that you
remember that are especially fond for you?

592
00:38:45.360 --> 00:38:47.320
Yes, the fact that when they
put him in my arms and I said,

593
00:38:47.400 --> 00:38:51.519
I whispered to him, and I
didn't realize it actually was captured on

594
00:38:52.239 --> 00:38:54.239
you know, on film. My
husband actually was filming it that I said,

595
00:38:54.280 --> 00:38:58.480
you never have to worry again.
Your Mommy has you, and you'll

596
00:38:58.480 --> 00:39:01.440
be safe, because you know,
he didn't know, he didn't know what

597
00:39:01.480 --> 00:39:04.639
it was like to have food when
he when we first got him here,

598
00:39:04.639 --> 00:39:07.679
and how he just you know,
he eat the food so fast and stuff

599
00:39:07.960 --> 00:39:10.440
to how he is now and how
lovable and how he couldn't, you know,

600
00:39:10.440 --> 00:39:13.920
go up and down the stairs.
So you know, you're still such

601
00:39:13.960 --> 00:39:17.199
a transformation with him, you know, I can't. I just he's a

602
00:39:17.280 --> 00:39:22.840
doll, he really honestly is.
And why the name are you love?

603
00:39:23.800 --> 00:39:30.320
Because he was so uncertain of us
and I don't think he really ever had

604
00:39:30.400 --> 00:39:32.360
human contact before, you know,
from what they told us, you know,

605
00:39:32.440 --> 00:39:37.239
how they found him. And I
think that now he knows what love

606
00:39:37.320 --> 00:39:39.440
is, he knows this family is
just you know, so in awe with

607
00:39:39.519 --> 00:39:43.760
him, and he doesn't have to
worry about a thing. He's spoiled.

608
00:39:44.440 --> 00:39:46.199
I think it's a gift for each
of you all the way around. I

609
00:39:46.239 --> 00:39:50.960
think that's just beautiful. I can't
wait to read the book. Thank you

610
00:39:51.920 --> 00:39:54.199
well. It's an inspirational book,
it really honestly is. It's a it's

611
00:39:54.239 --> 00:39:59.159
a very uplifting, you know,
inspirational book. And if anybody ever thought

612
00:39:59.159 --> 00:40:02.960
about, you know, rescuing a
puppy a dog, you know, it's

613
00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:06.920
honestly it's the way to go.
I mean, they just seem like they

614
00:40:06.960 --> 00:40:10.239
appreciate you so much what you do
for them. You know, how could

615
00:40:10.239 --> 00:40:14.360
you how could you not give them
a great life? Hmm, that's so

616
00:40:14.519 --> 00:40:16.239
great, Sherry, that's so great, and we'll definitely mention that when we're

617
00:40:16.239 --> 00:40:22.079
talking about this episode, about the
rescue part of it. Yeah, so

618
00:40:22.079 --> 00:40:24.159
so to that end along those lines, when I have me met you and

619
00:40:24.199 --> 00:40:28.079
I'm so glad you came into my
path, and I'm definitely looking you up

620
00:40:28.119 --> 00:40:30.360
when I come to your neck of
the woods and I'm coming to your store.

621
00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:34.559
But you're a You're a woman who
lives life large and fully. You

622
00:40:34.599 --> 00:40:37.000
love your life, your work,
and the many people you have in your

623
00:40:37.039 --> 00:40:40.000
life. And you seem to me
to have beautifully connected, enriching relationships with

624
00:40:40.039 --> 00:40:45.039
your husband, your daughter, your
whole community. What's your secret having such

625
00:40:45.119 --> 00:40:51.440
rich connections to so many? I
think I think it's it's thinking about people,

626
00:40:52.239 --> 00:40:55.360
you know, listening to people and
giving respect, you know, just

627
00:40:55.599 --> 00:40:59.960
always thinking of other people. You
know, you don't you don't need to

628
00:41:00.159 --> 00:41:04.480
be the person that you know needs
to get the attention, just just doing

629
00:41:04.480 --> 00:41:09.000
for others. I realized a different
emotion this year. I have a wonderful

630
00:41:09.039 --> 00:41:13.920
installer who does a lot for us, and he had mentioned last year I

631
00:41:13.920 --> 00:41:15.760
had brought a train into the Touching
store and he said, oh, my

632
00:41:15.840 --> 00:41:19.400
children would love one of those and
I told him, you know where to

633
00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:22.599
get one, and he, I, guess time, you know, drifted

634
00:41:22.599 --> 00:41:24.280
by, and he didn't. And
this year I bought him a train set

635
00:41:24.280 --> 00:41:30.880
for his children. I never saw
somebody so appreciative of something that I was

636
00:41:30.880 --> 00:41:34.920
in tears and I wrote him a
letter and he was just so appreciative.

637
00:41:34.920 --> 00:41:38.840
So I think, you know,
just realizing be nice to one another,

638
00:41:39.039 --> 00:41:44.159
this is what it's all about.
Yeah, And what I take from that

639
00:41:44.280 --> 00:41:46.639
is it's not that hard, right, I just don't think it's that hard,

640
00:41:46.760 --> 00:41:51.320
And I'm amazed. I love I
have this saying that I'd like to

641
00:41:51.360 --> 00:41:53.400
sprinkle pixie dust through the universe as
I walk. And my one of my

642
00:41:53.440 --> 00:41:57.559
favorite things to do is just as
I'm going anywhere, is I look for

643
00:41:57.679 --> 00:42:01.199
someone that I could recognize and acknowledge
for some thing, And invariably I'll find

644
00:42:01.360 --> 00:42:07.039
a woman and I'll say just something
simple like you are beautiful, and she's

645
00:42:07.119 --> 00:42:10.159
completely taken aback by that, and
if she lights up. It's so easy,

646
00:42:10.199 --> 00:42:14.360
Sherry, It's just so easy.
But clearly people don't do it very

647
00:42:14.360 --> 00:42:16.840
often, or else she wouldn't be
taken aback so much, right, you

648
00:42:16.880 --> 00:42:22.599
know what they don't And unfortunately.
I think people maybe they don't feel comfortable

649
00:42:22.599 --> 00:42:27.000
given compliments. It's funny you said
that because at the luncheon, the awards

650
00:42:27.079 --> 00:42:30.079
luncheon today, there was a waitress
and she was very, very very pretty,

651
00:42:30.280 --> 00:42:32.920
and she had her hair almost like
in a bun. And while she

652
00:42:34.079 --> 00:42:36.480
was you know, putting stuff,
you know, my food and stuff in

653
00:42:36.519 --> 00:42:37.280
front of me, I said to
her, I said, your hair is

654
00:42:37.280 --> 00:42:39.840
beautiful. She said, oh,
she said, it's only like, you

655
00:42:39.880 --> 00:42:42.840
know, in a ponytail thing.
I said, no, it looks like

656
00:42:42.840 --> 00:42:45.760
a bun. It's gorgeous. The
woman lit up and went on to details.

657
00:42:45.800 --> 00:42:50.639
And my husband goes, only you, you know, you always seem

658
00:42:50.679 --> 00:42:54.199
to talk and say things. Who
wouldn't want to compliment exactly. I want

659
00:42:54.199 --> 00:42:59.199
to hear something nice, exactly,
completely great, and it's just so easy.

660
00:42:59.320 --> 00:43:02.880
Oh and you love your pixie dust
comment. That is beautiful. I

661
00:43:02.920 --> 00:43:06.800
really like that. Thank you.
That is really how I roll. And

662
00:43:06.840 --> 00:43:08.239
some people like it and some people
don't, but I'm going with it.

663
00:43:08.239 --> 00:43:15.239
It's me. Well, speaking of
Leon, what's your secret for being married

664
00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:23.679
for thirty four years? I think
respect, I respect, I really honestly

665
00:43:23.719 --> 00:43:28.599
do. Thirty four years of marriage. You know you just you wake up

666
00:43:28.639 --> 00:43:30.880
one day and you go, really, it's that long. I mean,

667
00:43:30.199 --> 00:43:34.480
I've had a crush on my husband
since I was twelve years old. I

668
00:43:34.559 --> 00:43:36.840
used to watch He didn't know I
was alive. I wish it was the

669
00:43:36.880 --> 00:43:38.800
other way, but you know,
I used to watch him walk by a

670
00:43:38.840 --> 00:43:42.960
tree in junior high and he was
two years he is two years older than

671
00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:45.599
me, didn't know why I existed. He was at of college. I

672
00:43:45.639 --> 00:43:47.480
was in college. We met.
I told him on the first date I

673
00:43:47.519 --> 00:43:51.239
had a crush on knew since I
was a little girl, and here we

674
00:43:51.280 --> 00:43:55.559
worked together, married for thirty four
years this Sunday. Respect. Respect is

675
00:43:55.800 --> 00:44:00.159
it's all about the respect, you
know, Sherry, that is probably the

676
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:05.000
most succinct response to that question I've
probably ever received. I've asked a few

677
00:44:05.039 --> 00:44:08.039
people in my time, and I
think that you've really boiled it down to

678
00:44:08.119 --> 00:44:12.199
the to the core. I I
don't think I can agree disagree with you

679
00:44:12.360 --> 00:44:15.920
at all with that. Well,
thank you. It's you know, it's

680
00:44:15.960 --> 00:44:19.840
it's it's tough. I mean,
both of us. You know you're working

681
00:44:19.840 --> 00:44:22.880
in a business, you know your
mom and pop, and you know you're

682
00:44:22.920 --> 00:44:27.400
both dealing with customers, and you
know fast paced, but you need to

683
00:44:27.440 --> 00:44:30.679
have the respect and you know,
think about the other one's feelings. You

684
00:44:30.719 --> 00:44:35.119
know, there's it's long hours.
Sometimes it's six days a week, it's

685
00:44:35.159 --> 00:44:37.559
it's no vacations. But you just
you go. We have we we click,

686
00:44:37.880 --> 00:44:42.719
that's the thing. We click,
We really do. What was it

687
00:44:42.760 --> 00:44:45.199
about him, Sharry? Do you
remember why you had such a crush on

688
00:44:45.280 --> 00:44:51.519
him? His confidence, he had
confident Well he still has confidence, his

689
00:44:51.639 --> 00:44:54.000
confidence, his his moxie, his
attitude where I believe it or not,

690
00:44:54.079 --> 00:45:01.719
I was very shy and quiet,
but not named. He just he had

691
00:45:01.760 --> 00:45:06.800
that confidence and there was something there
was just something that I was attracted to

692
00:45:06.920 --> 00:45:09.320
from you know, from being a
little girl. And honestly, he brought

693
00:45:09.320 --> 00:45:14.719
me out of my shell. And
I'm really happy he did. What a

694
00:45:14.719 --> 00:45:17.840
beautiful partnership, What a beautiful partnership. I really admire that. I was

695
00:45:17.840 --> 00:45:22.440
married for sixteen years and been divorced
for two and a half, and so

696
00:45:22.760 --> 00:45:24.760
from me, it's always curious when
I see couples who have been together like

697
00:45:24.800 --> 00:45:29.199
you, and how did you do
it? And I think that you're right.

698
00:45:29.320 --> 00:45:32.119
Respect is a really huge thing.
So going forward, I'll work on

699
00:45:32.159 --> 00:45:37.760
that. Remember Sherry's words in my
ears. But you know what I have

700
00:45:37.840 --> 00:45:42.440
to say too. My husband loves
me for me. You know, it's

701
00:45:42.480 --> 00:45:46.320
not superficial. I've been up and
down with the weight chart everything else,

702
00:45:46.360 --> 00:45:51.920
and my husband loves me for me. First year marriage, I gained sixty

703
00:45:51.920 --> 00:45:54.960
pounds. Didn't bother my husband.
I think most men it might. It

704
00:45:55.039 --> 00:46:00.000
might bother Now I have a nine
Now I'm down ninety pounds. I'm small

705
00:46:00.079 --> 00:46:02.719
or now than I was in junior
high. And my husband's okay with it.

706
00:46:02.760 --> 00:46:06.280
But you know what he would be
okay if I was ninety pounds eavery

707
00:46:06.360 --> 00:46:08.239
or too. I like this part
of my life. I'm healthy. But

708
00:46:08.760 --> 00:46:13.480
that's the thing. There's always been
respect. It's never been you know,

709
00:46:13.599 --> 00:46:15.599
you should do this, you should
do that. We both respect each other.

710
00:46:15.639 --> 00:46:17.960
We truly love each other, you
know, for who we are.

711
00:46:20.480 --> 00:46:22.760
I think that is just stunning,
and that takes my breath away. I

712
00:46:22.800 --> 00:46:27.280
thank you for that. It just
it's wonderful. I think everybody wants that

713
00:46:27.440 --> 00:46:30.159
right. We all want to be
seeing for who we are. And so

714
00:46:30.239 --> 00:46:34.360
two last short questions if I can, since for darn almost out of time

715
00:46:34.400 --> 00:46:38.239
already, since it's the holidays and
we're talking about love and family. What

716
00:46:38.239 --> 00:46:40.800
would you like to lead listeners with
on that? And I'm gonna ask you

717
00:46:40.800 --> 00:46:45.480
one more question after that about work, So maybe thirty seconds on this one.

718
00:46:45.079 --> 00:46:47.880
What would I'd like to leave your
listeners with? You said, yeah,

719
00:46:47.920 --> 00:46:53.599
with regard to the holidays and love, enjoy, remember to tell everybody,

720
00:46:53.679 --> 00:46:58.480
you know, just just something nice
to everybody. You know. I

721
00:46:58.519 --> 00:47:00.960
know it's a hyper time of the
year, but you know, just think,

722
00:47:00.199 --> 00:47:02.360
just just calm down a little bit, because you know what, this

723
00:47:02.559 --> 00:47:05.840
is a beautiful time of the year. This is what it's all about.

724
00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:09.199
We wait all year for this time
of the year. That's a great perspective.

725
00:47:09.239 --> 00:47:13.760
We do wait all year for this, don't we absolutely absolutely, you

726
00:47:13.800 --> 00:47:16.199
know, people getting hyper and stores
and honking and you know, their car

727
00:47:16.239 --> 00:47:20.719
horns and everything else. Just just
enjoy drive by, see the Christmas lights,

728
00:47:20.880 --> 00:47:23.360
you know, look at life through
the kid's eyes right now too,

729
00:47:23.480 --> 00:47:25.920
you know, you see the sand
in the malls, everything else. Just

730
00:47:25.920 --> 00:47:32.480
just enjoy take it all in really
quick. I remember years ago she's fifteen

731
00:47:32.519 --> 00:47:36.880
now, my daughter, and when
she was like two or three, I

732
00:47:36.920 --> 00:47:39.480
took her to see Santa in the
mall and she actually ran up past the

733
00:47:39.519 --> 00:47:42.920
line of all the people waiting in
line to get a photograph, and ran

734
00:47:43.000 --> 00:47:45.360
up and put put her arms around
him and said, Santa, and I

735
00:47:45.400 --> 00:47:47.920
thought there was going to be a
revolt, but everybody laughed because they were

736
00:47:47.960 --> 00:47:52.880
like they saw her. They saw
the whole experience through her eyes, not

737
00:47:52.960 --> 00:47:57.440
through theirs, and that was the
magic in it. So wonderful, wonderful

738
00:47:57.440 --> 00:48:00.960
point. Last question then, since
you know this show is helping people across

739
00:48:00.960 --> 00:48:04.239
the globe more meaningfully and productively connect
with their work, what would you like

740
00:48:04.239 --> 00:48:08.159
to have the listeners with on that
topic. If you have an opportunity to

741
00:48:08.199 --> 00:48:13.840
do something that you enjoy for a
living, do it. Because if you

742
00:48:13.880 --> 00:48:16.079
have thirty or forty years or you
know how many years it is to do

743
00:48:16.159 --> 00:48:21.079
something, it's a long time to
get up every day and not be happy.

744
00:48:21.320 --> 00:48:23.440
You deserve to be happy. I
think everybody deserves to be happy.

745
00:48:23.480 --> 00:48:28.039
Find things that make you happy,
and just keep that positive attitude going.

746
00:48:29.480 --> 00:48:30.639
Great way to finish the show,
Sherry, and I want to thank you

747
00:48:30.760 --> 00:48:35.159
so much for sharing your beautiful soul
and person with us. It has been

748
00:48:35.199 --> 00:48:37.880
wonderful to have you here with this
show airing on Christmas. Thank you,

749
00:48:38.679 --> 00:48:43.079
Thank you very much. For having
me. I enjoyed this very very much.

750
00:48:43.960 --> 00:48:45.960
Me too. If you want to
learn more about Sherry, her book,

751
00:48:46.239 --> 00:48:50.679
or her work at Carbonmaven, visit
her at Carbonmaven dot com. That's

752
00:48:50.880 --> 00:48:55.159
Carpet mavenmave n dot com. Next
week, we'll be on the air with

753
00:48:55.199 --> 00:48:59.800
Brandy Nice. She's an emerging speaker
entering a new chapter of her life.

754
00:48:59.800 --> 00:49:02.960
Now I want a path to help
and encourage struggling individuals. At the age

755
00:49:02.960 --> 00:49:07.119
of eighteen, she experienced a horrific
and traumatic life altering event, spent the

756
00:49:07.159 --> 00:49:12.440
next twenty years facing her fears,
overcoming personal obstacles, and improving her self

757
00:49:12.480 --> 00:49:15.639
image. As a result, she's
now using her passionate experiences to help facilitate

758
00:49:15.679 --> 00:49:20.280
healing and to empower others to overcome
their own fears, shamed, doubt,

759
00:49:20.280 --> 00:49:22.360
and daily trials. See you there, Remember that works at least one third

760
00:49:22.360 --> 00:49:29.000
of our life. So let's work
on Purpose. Well you hope you've enjoyed

761
00:49:29.039 --> 00:49:32.719
this week's program. Be sure to
tune in to Working on Purpose featuring your

762
00:49:32.760 --> 00:49:38.480
host Elise Cortes, each week on
the Voice America Empowerment Channel. This week,

763
00:49:38.719 --> 00:49:42.079
find your life's purpose at work