No More Excuses: Pivoting at Age 50 to Claim Your Authenticity

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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 Cortez. 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 Cortez. Welcome back to

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the Working on Purpose Show. Thanks
for tuning again this week. I'm your

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host, Elise Cortez, joining your
life from Dallas, Texas, which is

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

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know this program is all about helping
people create more meaningful and purposeful lives and

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equipping leaders, insight organizations to cultivate
meaning and purpose unless it's passion inspired contribution,

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innovation, and persevering performance. I
talk with my guests to draw on

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their expertise and share my own experience
consulting speaking developing forces across the globe.

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Before we get into the program,
let me thank my sponsor rent with right

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It's a great option if your credit
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or if you're in transition such as
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the new area, or checking out
a new opportunity to see if it aligns

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with your purpose. Each week in
these conversations, I hope you walk away

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with something you can immediately use in
your life or your work, and if

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I can do anything to help you
along your journey, go to my website

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at a least cortez dot com and
use the contact me feature to message me.

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Let's open a conversation and explore what's
going on for you and how I

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might be able to help. Whether
you want to learn more about how to

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develop purpose inspired leadership and meeting infused
culture in your organization, you want to

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see about joining a catch fire online
inspiration, accountability or mastermind community to nurture

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your own passion and purpose, or
you'd like me to speak for your company

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or conference atting a rate. I'm
glad we're connected, and thanks for listening.

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Now onto this week's program with us
today is Michelle Collins, an entrepreneur,

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comedian, and inspirational corporate speaker.
She's changing the way motivation is motivating

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people. We'll be talking about how
she decided and prepared to transition at age

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fifty to a totally different career,
the steps she took to do so,

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and what she's doing today and why
it's so important to her. She joins

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today from Houston, Texas. Michelle, Welcome to Working on Purpose. Thank

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you. Yeah, I'm glad to
be here. It's so great to find

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you. And I got to give
a shout out to Scott Wilson if you're

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listening. He's the one who has
been on my show before and loves what

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we're up to here. And he's
the one that said, do you know

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Michelle Collins? And I'm so glad
that I do. Michelle, Thanks for

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joining us. What you're going through
is so important because so many people that

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I run into have an idea of
what they want to do in their lives,

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but they're afraid to take the step
they think they can't change. I'm

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too old, too many years in
this industry, so I wanted to have

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you on the show because you can
help show us the way that one it's

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not just possible, and you did
it, but to give us some steps

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to actually help along the way.
So you're ready, I'm reading bring It.

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So I thought what we could do. I love that she's ready.

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Let's do this thing. I thought
what we could do is kind of work

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kind of backwards, so starting at
present day and then talking back about where

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you came from. So you know
you've made a transition. Many people say

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they want to, but they just
somehow don't quite manage to start or even

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pull off. They don't want to
leave corporate America or their current industry to

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pursus something different. And you did
it nearly at age fifty. So before

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we talk about the transition, let's
get a little oriented to your current world.

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You're an entrepreneur, comedian, corporate
inspirational speaker. This is quite a

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basket of talents, by the way, So share with us a little bit

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about what got you here at present
day, and then I want to work

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backwards from there. Sure, so
yeah, talents, that's quite a compliment.

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Thank you for that, by the
way. But the way that I'll

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look at it is very different.
I see it as I finally found who

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I am, and there's been I
don't think that many people find at until

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later in life. And from my
experience, that's not what happened, because

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I was trying to do this early
on in my life and it just,

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you know, it just never happened. So today what I'm doing is,

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or before what I was doing is
I was an outside sales rep and I

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was really doing well. When I
first started. It was in the nineties,

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so zig Ziglar was my h was
my teacher back then, and I

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would listen to his tapes in my
car, and I taught myself how to

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sell. And then I became a
President's Club winner in sales in my second

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year. And for many many years, I've just you know, really rock

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and rolled in the in the seals
industry. I've been one of the few

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female on my team, mostly the
only female on my team. And then

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you know, with the computers and
everything changing and digital selling, I knew

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I had to make some changes.
So I started taking classes and that's kind

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of how it started. But you
know, that's where I began the shift.

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Okay, so you know we're gonna
talk a little bit later about just

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what you're up to in your current
role. I want to finish the last

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segment with that. But you know, you're a comedian, you are an

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entrepreneur, you're an inspirational corporate speaker. Just first let me just say hats

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off for that, and before we
get into you know, we're gonna talking

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a little bit more about that.
But now I want you, if you

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will, to presence for our listeners
because people don't maybe recognize that nudge or

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itch that you and I have both
gone through. So in those nineteen years

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you work for Corporate America, help
us understand what would the last few years

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were like for you? What did
they feel like? Okay, so you

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know, I sales became like a
thing I could do in my sleep,

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and and you know I had I've
had a lot of talent my whole life

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and and always been a person that
learned more than anyone else because I had

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a learning I have a learning disorder. And at the end, I was

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changing roles in the company that I
was last working for, and you know

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it was it was just that they
were making changes within their company. And

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here's what happened actually is just one
day I was I was in my apartment

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and I knew that everything was changing
so drastically and I was just so upset,

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thinking why am I still miserable in
my life? And it was just

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at that moment that I was like, why am I so miserable? Why

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why I haven't been through so many
things in my life? And then I

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realized that all of that prepared me
for where I needed to go next.

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It was so real that I could
not deny it. It was just this

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moment of clarity that everything in my
life stacked up for me to get where

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I am today, and it just
all unfolded. And it scared me to

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death to be honest at first,
but you know, I just couldn't deny

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that this was my life. And
you know, going from a suit and

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showing up in corporate America and thinking, you know that I'm I'm this industry

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person and I did really well to
finding out who I really was. I

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can't tell you that relief. Oh
my gosh. I had a very similar

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sort of experience, and it was
You're right, it was just it became

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undeniable. The thing that I want
to make sure that our listeners here from

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you, Michelle, is that thing
where you could see in a moment that

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all these experiences and all the adversity
and all the stuff that you've gone through,

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it actually prepared you for this new
life. That is so important that

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they hear that it's not that the
universe has been bad to you, that

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it's been helping you prepare for this
next juncture and maybe is part of your

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purpose. And that's so gorgeous.
Yeah. So here's what happened is I

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was always trying to get another plaque, okay, which I don't understand what

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the importance of that is. Now. I'm like, I can abud myself

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a plaque, you know, or
or get another award were be seen,

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you know, higher up. And
I was always trying to get something better.

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And then when I realized that all
of the things that I was running

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from from my past that had happened
twenty seven years ago had happened twenty seven

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years ago, and that I had
already been a success in the world at

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the by the world's definition, then
I realized, Hey, this stuff that

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I have learned is powerful and and
I can help people. And that that

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made a difference for me because I've
always been a person that has wanted to

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help people through the pain and not
have to experience the same pain. As

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me, and here was my chance, and it was it was I didn't

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even see it. It just showed
up, and I couldn't believe that it

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was there the whole time. Okay, And that's the other great thing that

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that is so great for a teaching
moment for our listeners, is it is

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there the whole time. It's just
that we didn't get present to it.

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So now I want to ask you, when did you start you notice that

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something wasn't right, that you weren't
happy, that you were miserable. How

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long ago was that before you made
the change. Well, I've been miserable

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my whole life, so so yeah. I didn't realize until on comedy that

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I, you know, that my
whole life was a joke and I was

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the punchline. And when I finally
figured that out, I was like,

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Hello, this stuff is funny.
I mean, the things that I went

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through are hilarious. And and whenever
I finally realized it, because I was

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still like carrying it on like a
backpack on the back, you know,

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carrying it around instead of saying,
hey, this this is no longer happening.

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I'm free and I'm I'm doing things
that other people can't do that.

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Haven't had the backpack on their back
that you know, this was the This

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was the defining moment. And it
was all of the years of therapy that

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I had worked on myself, all
of the years of you know, thinking

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that I wasn't good enough. I
realized I was the whole entire time.

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I mean, I don't know that
I can be any clearer. It's it's

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very hard to put into words.
I got that, and so I wanted

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to be able to for our listener's
sake, Michelle, because again, I

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want these shows to be a place
where listeners can come and they get answers,

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they get inspired, they see a
new direction for themselves. And I'm

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going to guess that there's a for
a number of people who are listening to

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this going you know, I'm not
so bad. Thinks we're not so bad

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in my life, It's all right, you know. And that's so I

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wanted you to be able to share
and kind of paint a picture of what

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it was like to be in that
space when you were so miserable. So

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here you are, you're going to
therapy. Why don't were you questioning yourself?

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Where you're thinking exists all there is
or yeah, well, I was

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always trying to move up more in
life. And what I really didn't understand

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the reasoning behind that was I was
trying to cover up who I really was.

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If I could just get higher and
higher in the corporate ladder, I

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could just cover up the person that
and deep down inside I was hiding.

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And that was the person behind the
suit, That was the person that that

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moved out when I was a teenager
that you know, got into addiction,

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that did all of these things.
And every time somebody would ask me something

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about my personal life, I would
I wouldn't be able to answer it because

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it was so different than everyone else, Like all the whole spotlight would be

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on me. I had to keep
all these secrets I felt because it was

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so different than everyone else's life.
And I just I to live like that

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was a nightmare. To not be
able to be who I am and to

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honor who I am, but to
hide parts of me and to live like

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that, because we all do that, okay, by the way, And

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I just put my on LinkedIn and
told everybody what I'm doing, and and

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you know, it makes people uncomfortable, but it doesn't make me uncomfortable.

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It's I'm very transparent and have no
regrets, So what the things would What

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I was doing was I was hiding
from myself and I wasn't feeling good about

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who I was and not accepting the
things that made me who I was.

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And on paper, if you saw
it, people would be like, oh

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my god, how could you'd be
proud of that? I'm very proud of

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it now because no, I don't
see a lot of success stories like I

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went through. It blows me away
living it every day. I mean,

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that's why I'm doing it for a
living now, because it's it's going to

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make such an impact on people.
Oh I'm Michelle. A couple of things,

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one beautiful rendition, great way to
really give us access to what it

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felt like to be in your shoes. And I Am going to guess a

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lot of our listeners are going,
oh my gosh, that's me. I

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didn't really think there was anything wrong
with that. I've got so used to

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putting a mask on I didn't know
differently, And that's exactly what I wanted

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to service in this conversation, is
because we tend to accept what our experiences

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as normal or healthy, and it
isn't necessarily so, and so it's so

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great for you to be able to
let usten to your world where we can

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recognize how inauthentically you were living and
working in order to be successful to fit

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in, and then when you started
to recognize that you just had what a

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job that was for you, how
much effort that was as and started to

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recognize that maybe you wanted to let
that go. It's part of the space

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that I want to open for our
listeners. Yeah, so I think I

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hear I'm hearing what you're saying.
So you want so as far as like

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how it started happening or how I
was finally okay with showing that side.

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Yeah, I want to know how
it is you were finally okay with showing

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that side. Okay. So whenever
this came to me one day, I'm

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in my apartment and I'm like,
okay, I have everything that I want.

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I'm looking around in my apartment.
I'm like, I have everything that

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I want and I'm trying to look
for more. And then I had this

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flashback of every traumatic event that happened
in my life and how I came out

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of it, not just surviving,
but thriving. Where people would die to

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go. And then I realized that
that happened a lot of that stuff happened

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twenty something years ago, and it
was still affecting my life, and I

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was still living and operating as I
was this person that did did some horrible

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things. And and I finally forgave
myself and and and I realized that that's

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again while I was going up and
trying to win more awards so that so

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that I would feel better, and
I prove to people that I wasn't the

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person that I thought I was.
And it was so crazy how at that

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moment I realized that I'm the one
that was lying to myself and it wasn't

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everyone else. I thought it was
the job. I thought it was the

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boyfriend. I thought it was not
the no boyfriend, you know, my

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husband, you know, no husband. It was just all of this stuff.

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And I was realizing that I was
withholding for myself. I was lying

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to myself and I and then I
thought thought about all of the things that

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had happened. When my friends come
to me for you know, advice,

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and everybody does that, but they
don't allow it to come out, and

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it affects your entire life. I
can't tell you it almost killed me.

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I for many years when I was
young, I was suicidal and it almost

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killed me. And it was about
to kill me again because I got to

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that point where I couldn't live with
myself again and I just wanted to die.

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And I'm in I'm a person that
has to deal with addiction every day,

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and I knew that I was going
there again and it just opened up

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that I have the ability to transform
lives. How incredible is that? And

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at first when I found that out, when it first came to me,

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I was like, there's no way
I'm going on a stage. There's no

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way I'm being this transparent. There's
I mean, I was always so closed

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off and was so private. I
was having to be in the Witness Protection

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program, you know, like not
formally, but I always felt that way.

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And when the Internet came out,
everybody was finding me. I was

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always still hiding, and for the
first time I realized, there's nothing hide

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about I'm an awesome person and despite
any of that and that everything that I

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was hiding was breaking me down.
Oh my gosh, Michelle, that is

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great. Hold that thought. We
got to grab a quick break. But

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that is exactly what I wanted you
to help share with their listeners, because

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that's so powerful, so visceral.
So hold that thought. We'll be right

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back. I'm your host, Alice
Cortez. We've been on the air with

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Michelle Collins, an entrepreneur, comedian, and inspirational corporate speaker. She's changing

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the way motivation is motivating people.
She joins thisist to day from Houston,

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Texas. We've been talking about her
previous life in corporate America and now her

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present day. What she's up to, really, what she got through to

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get to to come to the other
side. Stay with us after the rake,

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We're going to talk about how she
managed that transition. Elise Cortez is

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a speaker and engagement and development catalyst. She designs and delivers professional development,

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leadership and engagement workshops and can bring
her expertise to your organization. She will

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help ignite meaningful development within your workforce
that will increase employee engagement, performance and

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

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please visit her at www dot Elise
Cortez 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 Cortez. To reach our
program today, send an email to Elise

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ali se at Elise Cortez dot com. Now back to working on purpose.

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Thanks for saying with us, and
welcome back to working on purpose if you're

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just joining us. My guest is
Michelle Collins, an entrepreneur, comedian,

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and inspirational corporate speaker. She's changing
the way motivation is motivating people. Her

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speaking topics include overcoming adversity, addiction, recovery, teenage pregnancy, learning with

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a learning disorder, surviving abuse,
loss, grief, being a widow,

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mental health, how to be a
successful businesswoman, working in the business environment,

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and leading with you. I'm your
host, Elise Cortez. I thought

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is a list of topics, My
dear, My goodness. All right,

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So what I want to go back
to from the last the last segment is

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just really celebrating that you got to
the place where you just really recognize there

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was no way but through. You
have to accept this, You've got to

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grab this opportunity. You have the
channel to transform lives and just allowing yourself

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to step into that space and you
know, claim it for yourself. That

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light is really afraid. It's really
frightening for a lot of people, as

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you were starting to say, and
you did it. Yeah, Well what

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happened was, whenever I first realized
it, I would Yeah, I was

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saying I would never go on stage, I would never be this transparent all

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of this, and there was no
other way to do it. So so

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what I did when I first found
this out is I had already been in

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toastmasters for eight years, and I
thought, oh, I'm just gonna be

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able to do this. But then
when I started doing comedy and doing open

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mics at the Houston Improv and and
also I would go to Dallas because I'm

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from Dallas and do them at some
comedy places there, I realized that I

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was having some problems on stage being
that transparent. Which, okay, that's

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no, that's not surprising, right, I mean that that's a lot.

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That's a big load to just unload
on people. And and what I did

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was I worked with an acting coach
that helped me to tap in to you

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know, what was going on.
And I worked with a lot of coaches,

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and because I knew that I had
some skills. Look, don't just

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go from corporate to entertainment. I
mean, most people never do that.

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That's like, it's like so opposite. And that I had to, you

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know, seek out and find the
right people to help me. And every

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time that I knew I needed a
skill set, I would find the right

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person that was just perfect for me. And they were and not only that,

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but they believed in what I was
doing too, so they were thrilled

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to be a part of my process. It was amazing. That is the

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way to do it. And ruling
people who see your vision and even sometimes

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see more of you than you could
see for yourself. Okay, so take

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it back to this, Michelle.
You are standing in one day. You've

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got this job in corporate America,
You're making probably some decent money, and

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you're now going to just stop and
go do something else? Or was their

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transition process? Tell us about how
it is that you transition and left the

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corporate world. Well, I mean
it was it was everything kind of aligned

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really because you know, I was
I was thinking this already when I was,

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you know, doing the comedy and
and I was thinking, how,

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how, you know, could I
do this full time? And that's when

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I realized this was bigger than just
the comedy and and so I I just

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took so the company that I was
working for was going through a lot of

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changes, and it just kind of
worked where we parted ways. And and

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I always knew I was going to
start my own company one day. And

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I always knew that, and I
took business classes later and graduated the business

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degree, but I never thought that
I would actually be, you know,

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the company. I didn't know that
I was going to be the products.

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Okay, So I always knew that, and then I and then I realized

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that I'm getting older, this is
this is the time where it's not and

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that if I don't do it now, it's not going to happen. Then

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it just it just made it such
an easy decision for me. And and

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then and then I just again took
the you know, took the coaching and

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did what I did. But it
has not been easy. You know,

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it's not been simple. It sounds
eloquent in the way I'm saying it,

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but I've had to detour many times. Uh, you know, I had

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this great idea, I'm I'm you
know, I did a business plan.

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But when you're the business plan,
if someone, if an entrepreneur wants to

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be the business then I would suggest
to really leave room for Look, I've

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I've grown through this, I've evolved
through this, and I didn't equate that

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in there and in the business plan. So that was that was the struggle,

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right there was okay, Well I
had to be okay with that part

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of it, and that was not
easy because I also was mourning at you

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know, a career that I had
my entire life and and I didn't have

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anyone to go to except for the
coaches that I worked with, no no

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friends or anything. This is not
an entertainment city, okay, rights Houston

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doesn't doesn't have a lot of you
know, it's not set up for comedy

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and it's not set up for entertainment. So I've I've really had to figure

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out a lot by myself and really
struggle and and just keep on going.

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And I think my background really helped
at this point because I was used to

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the struggle, okay, absolutely,
and that's what made me just say,

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okay, just get up and do
it again when it when I think it

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wasn't working, I just follow the
path. So this is so great,

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Michelle, because in fact, I'm
going to just share right now, I

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am curating an anthology which is going
to showcase twenty five women who have discovered

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their purpose and are persevering mightily to
live it. And there they'll be.

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They'll be drawn from across the globe. And the reason I want to do

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this anthology, Michelle, is because
it's quite one thing to discover your purpose.

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It's a totally different thing to operationalize
it. And then let's just add

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this other word, monetize it.
There's this thing called eating and having a

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roof over our head that you know, kind of changes the whole landscape.

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And you know, I've gone through
that journey too of being able to create

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this life that I get to live
my purpose, and I've created products which

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include myself like you, But it
is to be able to keep going because

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you know what, you could easily
go back and say, you know,

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I guess I was just kidding about
this doing yea for myself, I'll just

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go back and get a job again. And you didn't do that. So

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you kept persevering, You kept finding
different ways to do things, you kept

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finding a way forward. Yeah.
Well, I mean for me, I

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didn't. I don't look at it
the same way. I guess as other

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people, because I feel like if
I'm not living who I am and this

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is really who I am, then
that's going to be the death of me

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anyway as it happen before. Yeah, yeah, And I'm not willing to

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go there, So I'm willing to
Other people would see it as a risk,

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but I don't. I'm not a
risk and that's the way that I

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look at it. So if you
look at it like in the real world,

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yeah, this is risky, but
to me, it's more risky not

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to do it. I feel the
exact same way. And definitely, you

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know, I'm just doing me and
I can't be anybody else anyway. Everybody

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else's taken anyhow, right, So
yeah, So but then the next question

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has to be, you know,
you were in sales and corporate American did

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very well at that, but now
you've actually transitioned becoming a comedian and an

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inspirational corporate speaker. So that's a
really big shift. So when did comedy

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show up for you as a as
a mechanism to deliver yourself, your product,

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your message. Well there's a couple
ways, and one is I've I've

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always been a person that wanted to
learn a lot of different things, and

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I always wanted to find what I
was good at, and so I would

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try all these hobbies. I mean, I have a closet full of hobbies

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that that have you know, died
dead soldiers, dead soldiers. Yeah,

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and and so I never gave up
on that. Okay, I never gave

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up on that. But what happened
was I had a really bad breakup.

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It was like the last guy that
was like, I'm this is my last

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heartbreak, okay that I can handle. And I and I was like,

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oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, you know, take this class,

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you know, comedy. And I
had had you know, I had no

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idea. I think that that was
my thinking of subconsciously, oh I'm gonna

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take this class. Maybe that'll cheer
me up. And but really, but

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really, it wasn't about that I
had problems speaking in front of people only

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because of all the secrets I was
hiding. And I thought that it was

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really I needed to be more you
know, I need to be more calm,

379
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or I need to feel more secure
with the way that I that I

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was speaking. And I was thinking
for my job at the time that I

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would be a better speaker if I
had comedy because everybody says that. And

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whenever I took my first class,
it was an improv class, and I

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thought, oh, this will help
me. You know, if I get

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disrupted by technology and I get irritated
like we all do, then I can

385
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pull it off, you know,
by doing learning improv. But when I

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was doing improv, I realized for
the first time that this was really me.

387
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And it's like I found the Holy
Girl to myself and and and it

388
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was it was it was beyond what
I can comprehend. And you know,

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the whole you know, the class
in there didn't know that, but in

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my heart that's what happened. And
then I went to stand So then I

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went to the Houston Improv one night
and I was watching some comedians by myself,

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but my friend came to meet me. And I was watching this comedian

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and I said, you should have
saw that comedian that just went up and

394
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she said I know him, and
I said, really, can you introduce

395
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me? So we met after and
he he he said he would meet with

396
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me and talk with me because I
told him I wanted to do stand up.

397
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And we met and he told me
that I had some talent, some

398
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natural talent, and then he told
me the steps to take. So we

399
00:28:15.319 --> 00:28:21.359
used to do open mics together.
That's how it first started. And you

400
00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:23.359
know, he's mentored me and then
I've had you know, some other people

401
00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:26.880
that have showed up as well,
and he's introduced me to some people.

402
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So that's how I got into stand
up. And then also just my life

403
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stories. It's not I mean,
it's so funny because the jokes are just

404
00:28:36.920 --> 00:28:40.519
my life stories and it's not like
I'm having a change very much. I

405
00:28:40.519 --> 00:28:44.359
don't. I don't ever run out
of material. Okay, it's it's always

406
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joke material. I don't have to, you know, like the young comedians,

407
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they were always trying to think of
something clever, and I just pull

408
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out, you know, something about
my life I could improve it forever.

409
00:28:56.039 --> 00:28:57.119
A couple of things that I want
to give to our listeners that are so

410
00:28:57.319 --> 00:29:00.279
great about this michell. One is, you know, one you kind of

411
00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:04.000
something called you to take a comedy
class, which you did to step into

412
00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:07.400
that. You answered that call and
then when you got there, you know,

413
00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:11.039
you went through the process and so
then you got yourself into a group

414
00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:14.039
of people, you associated with,
a group of people that you wanted to

415
00:29:14.119 --> 00:29:17.680
be like and you wanted to do
work like them, which so already you're

416
00:29:17.720 --> 00:29:21.039
around people who can help you,
and then you ask for the introduction,

417
00:29:21.079 --> 00:29:23.079
You ask for that help. That's
just all that's important for our listeners to

418
00:29:23.160 --> 00:29:26.640
get. So we're gonna talk a
little bit more about you know what you

419
00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:30.759
what you have been able to draw
from from material when we go into the

420
00:29:30.839 --> 00:29:34.000
next segment. But I want to
know at what point and how long after

421
00:29:34.119 --> 00:29:37.319
you left your corporate job do you
feel like you actually started to make some

422
00:29:37.480 --> 00:29:41.759
traction, like this is starting to
work. I'm getting somewhere. Well,

423
00:29:41.960 --> 00:29:47.519
I mean, I think you know
the answer to this, because you know

424
00:29:47.680 --> 00:29:49.960
you've done this before. I'm in
my first year, so you know,

425
00:29:51.079 --> 00:29:56.079
I'm still getting traction. But you
know, and I think that's important for

426
00:29:56.119 --> 00:30:00.319
people to know because I've seen a
lot of young people that that I haven't

427
00:30:00.359 --> 00:30:03.039
had life experience. I think,
oh, I'm just gonna go be famous

428
00:30:03.079 --> 00:30:07.319
because you know somebody is on Instagram. Well it's not that simple, and

429
00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:12.519
I'm just gonna be honest about it. And what happened is I believe in

430
00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:17.599
the process and everyone else believes in
the process, but there was me in

431
00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:21.000
the process. Too, that was
growing at the at you know, a

432
00:30:21.160 --> 00:30:26.480
different rate. So now I'm at
a place that you know, look,

433
00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:30.160
I know this is gonna work.
I have no doubt in my mind.

434
00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:36.640
But I had to get to a
place where I was not trying to figure

435
00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:38.119
out, Okay, I need to
go with this audience or this audience.

436
00:30:38.200 --> 00:30:42.720
I was just still having to let
go. There's a process of letting go.

437
00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:48.079
You you probably talk about this on
your show. Sometimes it doesn't just

438
00:30:48.200 --> 00:30:52.480
happen in one step. I wish
it could, but you know, that's

439
00:30:52.519 --> 00:30:55.599
not the beauty of life, and
that wouldn't I wouldn't have the life I

440
00:30:55.720 --> 00:31:00.359
have that it was that simple.
But that's where the beauty is, as

441
00:31:00.519 --> 00:31:04.160
in all of those phases. And
you know, for me, the traction

442
00:31:04.440 --> 00:31:08.079
is still happening. But I'm writing
a show and it's almost done, and

443
00:31:08.400 --> 00:31:11.319
you know, I have people just
love just want to come see it because

444
00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:15.960
I mean, it is such a
weird thing that this would happen to anyone.

445
00:31:15.400 --> 00:31:18.680
So you know, I think they're
just coming because they're just so like,

446
00:31:18.839 --> 00:31:23.279
this is so bizarre. Let me
check this out. But everything whatever,

447
00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:27.240
tickets, yeah, whatever, sell
tickets, all that kits. Oh

448
00:31:27.359 --> 00:31:30.279
that's so great. Michelle, hold
on, let's grab our last break.

449
00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:33.200
I'm a last Cortez, your host. We've been in the air with Michelle

450
00:31:33.240 --> 00:31:37.799
Collins and entrepreneur, comedian, and
inspirational corporate speaker. She is changing the

451
00:31:37.880 --> 00:31:41.599
way motivation is motivating people. She
joined us a day from Houston, Texas.

452
00:31:41.960 --> 00:31:45.559
After the break, we're going to
hear more about some of the background

453
00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:48.359
that she has been alluding to,
which I think you'll find quite interesting,

454
00:31:48.640 --> 00:31:49.960
and a bit more of the work
she's doing today. Stay with us,

455
00:31:51.000 --> 00:32:04.480
We'll be right back. Elise Cortez
is a speaker and engagement and development catalyst.

456
00:32:04.680 --> 00:32:08.920
She designs and delivers professional development,
leadership and engagement workshops and can bring

457
00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:15.079
her expertise to your organization. She
will help ignite meaningful development within your workforce

458
00:32:15.240 --> 00:32:19.880
that will increase employee engagement, performance
and retention. To learn more or to

459
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.000
invite Elise to speak to your organization, please visit her at www dot Elise

460
00:32:24.119 --> 00:32:30.119
Cortez dot com. She would welcome
the opportunity to help get your employees working

461
00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:40.200
on purpose. This is working on
purpose with Elise Cortez. To reach our

462
00:32:40.279 --> 00:32:46.359
program today, send an email to
Elise Ali se at Elise Cortez dot com.

463
00:32:47.039 --> 00:32:52.319
Now back to Working on Purpose.
Thanks for staying with us, So

464
00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:55.440
welcome back to Working on Purpose.
If you're just tuning in. My guest

465
00:32:55.519 --> 00:33:00.000
is Michelle Collins, an entrepreneur,
comedian, and inspirational corporate speak or speaking

466
00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:05.960
topics include overcoming adversity, addiction,
recovery, teenage pregancy, learning with a

467
00:33:06.039 --> 00:33:08.839
learning disability, surviving of use,
loss and grief, being a widow,

468
00:33:09.319 --> 00:33:13.480
and mental health, along with other
business and leadership topics. I'm your host,

469
00:33:13.559 --> 00:33:16.640
Alice Cortez. So for this part
here, Michelle, I really want

470
00:33:16.680 --> 00:33:22.000
to help our listeners understand just the
well you're drawing from. So I want

471
00:33:22.039 --> 00:33:23.559
to go back to the early times. I told you we would take this

472
00:33:23.640 --> 00:33:28.200
conversation from present day to earlier days, and that's just what we're doing.

473
00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:32.400
So you had a very very challenging
start to adulthood. So help our listeners

474
00:33:32.519 --> 00:33:37.119
understand some of the things you've gone
through and just maybe how that is that

475
00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:39.640
you're using that material to do the
work you're doing today in comedy and in

476
00:33:39.720 --> 00:33:45.400
speaking. Yeah. So, yeah, I had a really rough life.

477
00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:51.079
Okay, I think it really start
well, I don't think I know,

478
00:33:51.319 --> 00:33:55.559
it really started when I was very
young, when when my parents got divorced,

479
00:33:57.160 --> 00:34:00.480
I was six and I'm the oldest
of all the kids, and it

480
00:34:00.759 --> 00:34:07.559
had a traumatic effect on me,
not only how it happened because he left

481
00:34:07.599 --> 00:34:10.519
in the middle of the night,
but back then it wasn't as trendy.

482
00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:14.719
Divorce wasn't as trendy as it is
now, and it's you know it.

483
00:34:15.360 --> 00:34:21.920
And you know, I was living
in a very upper upper class neighborhood and

484
00:34:22.360 --> 00:34:25.559
everybody else's dad was coming home for
dinner and my dad was not. And

485
00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:30.599
I was in private school at the
time, and everything changed when he left.

486
00:34:30.760 --> 00:34:32.760
I mean, he was making a
lot of money and when he left,

487
00:34:34.360 --> 00:34:40.199
you know, we had nothing immediately. And and also I like to

488
00:34:40.519 --> 00:34:45.159
you know, some rolls on as
as the oldest, not knowing that I

489
00:34:45.360 --> 00:34:49.360
was, so I never really got
to be a kid, and that was

490
00:34:49.480 --> 00:34:54.920
really hard for me. And so
what happened was my mom got remarried and

491
00:34:55.199 --> 00:35:01.599
when when I was twelve, my
favorite, my stepdad was abusive to to

492
00:35:02.559 --> 00:35:08.719
to us, but to me especially, and and he would be inappropriate with

493
00:35:08.960 --> 00:35:15.920
the way he touched me and talked
to me, and he wasn't you know,

494
00:35:15.199 --> 00:35:19.519
he abused my my siblings, but
just in a different way with me.

495
00:35:19.800 --> 00:35:22.360
And it was difficult. So in
my teen years, you know,

496
00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:25.480
it's already difficult. So then I
have this on top of it, and

497
00:35:25.760 --> 00:35:30.800
my Dad's not coming around. Uh
so I have no one to talk to,

498
00:35:30.519 --> 00:35:36.039
and and I got into I started
doing drugs when I was twelve,

499
00:35:36.679 --> 00:35:39.199
and I started hanging out bars when
I was fifteen. Back then, the

500
00:35:39.280 --> 00:35:45.039
laws were very different. So I've
always been really tall, and they would

501
00:35:45.039 --> 00:35:47.679
just let in, you know,
I was like profit to them, Okay,

502
00:35:47.719 --> 00:35:51.400
I would I would hang out well, you know, the stock yards.

503
00:35:51.440 --> 00:35:52.920
I was down in the stock yards
at fifteen, and they have they

504
00:35:53.000 --> 00:35:58.119
have cell phones. You couldn't find
me. Uh. I was just never

505
00:35:58.199 --> 00:36:00.199
come home, you know. I
was just in so much turmoil. And

506
00:36:00.840 --> 00:36:06.800
and then I got pregnant at sixteen
and moved out at seventeen. Okay,

507
00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:12.719
so that would be a lot,
you know, a a good show right

508
00:36:12.760 --> 00:36:16.280
there. Okay. You know today
today, you know, people get their

509
00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:20.119
own show doing that. I could
have already been in entertainment, but now

510
00:36:21.559 --> 00:36:29.000
and then I got married when I
was nineteen. But but but after that,

511
00:36:29.960 --> 00:36:32.599
because we didn't stay together long,
I was I didn't know anything about

512
00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:37.360
alcoholism or drug addiction. And and
we me and my first husband, we

513
00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:40.800
met in a bar. I mean, you know, he he had big

514
00:36:40.880 --> 00:36:45.519
blue eyes and no job, which
you know, that was perfect for me

515
00:36:45.719 --> 00:36:49.320
because because you know, I thought
he couldn't leave if he didn't have a

516
00:36:49.440 --> 00:36:52.559
job. I thought I could keep
him around. But no that you know,

517
00:36:52.280 --> 00:36:57.760
I was on there too. I
when he left, that's when things

518
00:36:57.880 --> 00:37:00.639
got really tough. My my son. I lost custody of him. And

519
00:37:00.920 --> 00:37:04.480
at the point I didn't care because
I was drinking a lot. And then

520
00:37:04.519 --> 00:37:07.760
it turned into more drugs and I
was just hanging around some really terrible people.

521
00:37:08.039 --> 00:37:14.920
And and then I in my twenties, I worked at gentleman's clubs and

522
00:37:15.119 --> 00:37:19.679
was a stripper, and it propelled
the abuse that I that I had when

523
00:37:19.719 --> 00:37:23.800
I was young. When I was
young, when I was fifteen, actually

524
00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:30.800
the first time that you know,
I had a sexual experience, I was

525
00:37:30.960 --> 00:37:34.480
raped, and I never told my
parents. They still don't know today,

526
00:37:34.880 --> 00:37:37.519
but they know the work I'm doing, so you know, it may come

527
00:37:37.559 --> 00:37:43.639
out, but well it will come
out, okay. But but the working

528
00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:46.360
in the gentleman's clubs, which is
I don't know why they say gentleman's clubs.

529
00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:52.880
That's not there's nothing dinner belie me
about it. But it is where

530
00:37:52.039 --> 00:37:55.679
a lot of the abuse started propelling. And I just I just got so

531
00:37:58.400 --> 00:38:04.280
it just became my life that I
associated that with with you know, things

532
00:38:04.320 --> 00:38:07.079
that were wrong. I mean,
after I got out of that life and

533
00:38:07.199 --> 00:38:12.960
I and I started getting sober and
off of drugs, what happened was,

534
00:38:14.519 --> 00:38:16.159
you know, I went, I
went to therapy. I would I would

535
00:38:16.239 --> 00:38:21.599
get jobs that would pay for my
therapy. And when when I first got

536
00:38:21.679 --> 00:38:27.159
into therapy, I was in my
I was like twenty six, twenty five

537
00:38:27.239 --> 00:38:31.719
or twenty six. I could I
couldn't even speak to the therapist about uh

538
00:38:31.840 --> 00:38:36.639
certain you know, certain topics.
She would have to read my dreams.

539
00:38:36.639 --> 00:38:38.039
I tell her my dreams. I
mean, I was, I was like

540
00:38:38.360 --> 00:38:44.199
mute person. I was so I
had been abused for so long, and

541
00:38:44.519 --> 00:38:47.159
my parents, you know, they
just gave up on me. Look,

542
00:38:47.199 --> 00:38:51.320
nobody knew what was going on with
me. I didn't know either until I

543
00:38:52.159 --> 00:38:54.360
I mean it's kind of like alcoholism
and drug addiction were like, uh,

544
00:38:54.920 --> 00:39:00.079
you know a good answer, you
know, to what has going on in

545
00:39:00.280 --> 00:39:04.199
my life? Because I didn't know
what was going on. And when I

546
00:39:04.360 --> 00:39:07.599
finally realized that I was an alcoholic
and a drug addict, I was relieved.

547
00:39:08.239 --> 00:39:13.199
I mean, it wasn't like immediate
relief, but you know a part

548
00:39:13.280 --> 00:39:16.079
of me was like, okay,
well this is this is something I you

549
00:39:16.199 --> 00:39:21.159
know that has been avoid of me
trying to figure out what's going on with

550
00:39:21.280 --> 00:39:27.800
me. And so then I just
kept working on myself. And it's taking

551
00:39:28.039 --> 00:39:30.800
years and years and years for me
to get here. Okay, it's taking

552
00:39:30.880 --> 00:39:35.280
twenty five years for me to get
here. But the whole time I was,

553
00:39:36.039 --> 00:39:42.400
I was wanting to get better so
obsessively that I realized that one day

554
00:39:42.480 --> 00:39:45.800
that I had this moment of clarity
that I knew a lot. Okay,

555
00:39:46.440 --> 00:39:52.920
but I experienced a lot of life
and that I started young and where people

556
00:39:52.320 --> 00:39:57.320
are today and some of the things
that I experienced, and you know it's

557
00:39:57.360 --> 00:40:02.679
not gonna be similar maybe, but
that it was you know, they're experiencing

558
00:40:02.719 --> 00:40:08.000
it today at my age, and
that you know that that that's sad and

559
00:40:08.239 --> 00:40:12.559
that I want to make a difference
there, and that's what my shows about.

560
00:40:13.400 --> 00:40:19.559
So that's you know, that's kind
of a quick synopsis, but you

561
00:40:19.639 --> 00:40:23.239
know, that's that's really what happened
to sum it up, and I lost

562
00:40:23.360 --> 00:40:30.159
my husband to drug addiction, to
which was an omare Wow, Michelle,

563
00:40:30.199 --> 00:40:32.639
I mean talk about you know,
definitely you have lived a lot of life

564
00:40:32.679 --> 00:40:36.199
in a short number of years,
and I can certainly see what you say.

565
00:40:36.199 --> 00:40:37.760
You're never going to run out of
content, And now I want to

566
00:40:37.800 --> 00:40:42.920
just acknowledge you for still standing here
with us on the planet and now seeing

567
00:40:43.039 --> 00:40:45.880
that you've got something to to work
from. And and to that end,

568
00:40:46.079 --> 00:40:50.639
what I thought was so fascinating about
our first conversation is you said that part

569
00:40:50.639 --> 00:40:53.239
of the reason that you do comedy
is that you can deliver specific messages that

570
00:40:53.320 --> 00:40:59.119
are easier to receive or here through
this mechanism, and I can I'm starting

571
00:40:59.159 --> 00:41:00.039
to get access to that, but
say a little bit more about that.

572
00:41:00.199 --> 00:41:05.599
Why is that so well? Because
it was things I couldn't laugh at before,

573
00:41:05.679 --> 00:41:08.679
but now it's funny and like,
for instance, I was looking at

574
00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:14.079
some old videos that I had done
over a year ago about drug addiction,

575
00:41:14.159 --> 00:41:17.679
and I'm talking about being in rehab
and one of the funniest jokes have is,

576
00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:22.239
you know, talking to my mom, you know, call my mom,

577
00:41:22.280 --> 00:41:25.280
I'm in rehab and check myself in
rehab, and she would when I

578
00:41:25.320 --> 00:41:29.480
would get out, she'd ask me
how it was. I'm like, oh,

579
00:41:29.559 --> 00:41:32.920
it was great, mom, you
know. And they got great snacks

580
00:41:34.199 --> 00:41:37.679
and you know, just just the
things that that you know, you don't

581
00:41:37.840 --> 00:41:42.519
think about that goes on like and
I would, you know, call her

582
00:41:42.639 --> 00:41:45.719
and say, I'm in rehab,
and we would have no dialogue about it.

583
00:41:45.800 --> 00:41:47.960
But she would drop me off,
like, you know, a whole

584
00:41:49.320 --> 00:41:52.400
like bag of socks, you know, and I would just go pick them

585
00:41:52.480 --> 00:41:57.440
up. But I mean, those
kinds of things that I experienced, they're

586
00:41:57.480 --> 00:42:00.239
just real life. And you know, I would always be in and out

587
00:42:00.280 --> 00:42:05.920
of relationships, and so I would
never have this is real okay, I

588
00:42:05.960 --> 00:42:10.000
would never have I would never have
more items that would fit in two boxes

589
00:42:10.119 --> 00:42:14.679
because I would always have to leave
some guy in the middle of the night

590
00:42:14.840 --> 00:42:16.840
or something, and my mom would
bring the truck and I would always be

591
00:42:16.960 --> 00:42:21.239
just bring the truck. We'd never
have a conversation about it. I'd be

592
00:42:21.280 --> 00:42:23.599
on the curb with my two boxes. So you know, I mean,

593
00:42:23.960 --> 00:42:28.719
those things are not weren't funny then, but they're hilarious now. So now

594
00:42:28.800 --> 00:42:34.719
I can these things people think are
so hard and so tough. I'm making

595
00:42:34.840 --> 00:42:38.199
jokes of them because they are funny
and they don't define who we are,

596
00:42:38.440 --> 00:42:42.880
and we all have to go through
things that are not easy. Oh my

597
00:42:42.960 --> 00:42:45.559
god, Michelle, I just so
got it. I just so got it.

598
00:42:45.679 --> 00:42:49.320
Now I understand you're right. You
know, when you can presence these

599
00:42:49.440 --> 00:42:52.639
kinds of things that you've lived and
others can relate to because they're either living

600
00:42:52.679 --> 00:42:57.360
it or have lived themselves, and
you do it through comedy, it gives

601
00:42:57.400 --> 00:43:00.280
them access to seeing it for themselves, It gets a name to it,

602
00:43:00.519 --> 00:43:02.280
and it gives them a space to
walk through the other side. I finally

603
00:43:02.440 --> 00:43:07.800
get it. Yeah, well,
I mean that's the actually the thing.

604
00:43:07.920 --> 00:43:14.199
When I was writing the comedy,
it was actually getting rid of the parts

605
00:43:14.280 --> 00:43:17.800
of me, so it actually helped
me too. That's why I'm so passionate

606
00:43:17.960 --> 00:43:22.000
about doing with other people. And
we all have things that we hide.

607
00:43:22.519 --> 00:43:25.199
Look, I don't anymore. I
mean, there's not one thing that I'm

608
00:43:25.280 --> 00:43:30.159
secret about, okay, and I
don't care. But what I'm saying is

609
00:43:30.239 --> 00:43:34.079
these things that we hide are the
funniest things. And if we just need

610
00:43:34.199 --> 00:43:37.599
someone to give us the permission to
say that, Hey, I do that

611
00:43:37.719 --> 00:43:42.199
too, you know. That's all
I'm doing. So I'm breaking down barriers

612
00:43:42.719 --> 00:43:46.039
and the things that I've been through. You know, it wasn't about race,

613
00:43:46.159 --> 00:43:50.519
it wasn't about social economics, it
wasn't about any of that stuff.

614
00:43:50.599 --> 00:43:53.679
So I'm saying, let's get rid
of all the excuses because I had every

615
00:43:53.719 --> 00:44:00.360
adversity out there, and I still
got up and I went where I wanted

616
00:44:00.440 --> 00:44:05.159
to go and I got things done
and you can too, Okay, So

617
00:44:05.719 --> 00:44:07.599
that I love that, And what
I want to make sure and a presence

618
00:44:07.599 --> 00:44:10.840
for our listeners is you know what
you're what you're demonstrating, Michelle, is

619
00:44:10.920 --> 00:44:15.000
that there's a couple of ways that
people can generally discover their purpose, and

620
00:44:15.079 --> 00:44:17.719
one is to look for and start
to really get your arms around what have

621
00:44:17.880 --> 00:44:22.760
I struggled with so ardently in my
own life that I'm trying to handle for

622
00:44:22.880 --> 00:44:27.199
myself. That's what years would be. I think that's the mechanism that you're

623
00:44:27.280 --> 00:44:30.719
able to discover your purpose and now
you're able to give access to to others

624
00:44:30.920 --> 00:44:36.320
who are maybe going through some similar
things. So now the next thing I

625
00:44:36.400 --> 00:44:37.159
want you to say, I mean, we're almost at a time, by

626
00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:39.320
the way, so maybe it's just
a minute or so on. This is

627
00:44:39.760 --> 00:44:44.320
you say that you stand for change
in the way motivation is motivating people.

628
00:44:44.760 --> 00:44:49.480
How so, well, because I'm
using real live I'm not using a can

629
00:44:49.639 --> 00:44:52.440
speech. And I also do have
improv experience. I can work with the

630
00:44:52.519 --> 00:44:57.880
audience. I can I have this
intuitive sense where I can pick up what

631
00:44:58.119 --> 00:45:02.679
people are looking for. And also
I'm like I said just a second ago,

632
00:45:02.760 --> 00:45:07.559
that's really what I wanted to say, was I'm breaking barriers. It

633
00:45:07.719 --> 00:45:13.719
has nothing to do with what we
create in society. It's those things are

634
00:45:13.760 --> 00:45:19.039
just excuses. And I had to
learn that, great, great, great

635
00:45:19.079 --> 00:45:22.119
great. Okay, So now what
I want to do is just really leave

636
00:45:22.199 --> 00:45:25.400
our listeners with, you know,
a place of possibility. So I want

637
00:45:25.480 --> 00:45:28.960
you, if you can, is
to paint a picture for us, by

638
00:45:29.000 --> 00:45:30.760
way of contrast, Michelle, of
what your life was like for you in

639
00:45:30.880 --> 00:45:35.199
your previous career when you were going
through those motions of being in sales,

640
00:45:35.639 --> 00:45:42.000
and what it's like for you now. Well, okay, it was me

641
00:45:42.480 --> 00:45:47.599
always trying to get noticed and be
at the top and be recognized and do

642
00:45:47.840 --> 00:45:55.360
everything so that everything had a reason
so that I could get noticed. And

643
00:45:55.559 --> 00:46:02.159
today all I'm doing is just sharing
what I've learned, and then it empowers

644
00:46:02.320 --> 00:46:07.079
people to want to do the same
for themselves. So that's the difference is

645
00:46:07.639 --> 00:46:12.519
before I was just trying to accomplish
something and to fit in, like you

646
00:46:12.559 --> 00:46:15.960
said earlier, in society. Today
I do not fit and I don't want

647
00:46:15.960 --> 00:46:21.639
to fit because we're all different.
And I'm just giving other people that chance

648
00:46:21.760 --> 00:46:24.960
to know that they don't have to
fit. And you're right on the weaknesses.

649
00:46:25.039 --> 00:46:30.880
My weaknesses are my biggest strengths.
And if everybody could just pull out

650
00:46:30.960 --> 00:46:35.880
their weaknesses and say that's what I'm
gonna do. And as long as you're

651
00:46:35.920 --> 00:46:39.519
helping other people, there's no way
it can fall. You're already exiscess in

652
00:46:40.039 --> 00:46:44.760
my point of view. Yeah,
And so what I would say to that

653
00:46:44.880 --> 00:46:46.840
the strengths and weaknesses thing is,
you know, the strengths and weaknesses are

654
00:46:46.920 --> 00:46:52.159
often the same side to a different
side to the same coin. And so

655
00:46:52.280 --> 00:46:54.360
if we can point our strengths to
where we can make a difference and then

656
00:46:54.440 --> 00:46:58.679
manage the weaknesses to where we can't, that's the opportunity, I think.

657
00:46:58.719 --> 00:47:00.800
So and recognizing when is it a
strength and when it is it a weakness?

658
00:47:01.679 --> 00:47:06.559
Right, so here we are almost
at the very end already Michelle goes

659
00:47:06.639 --> 00:47:08.719
so fast. I just want to
give you the chance to be able to

660
00:47:08.800 --> 00:47:12.559
share. Say in thirty seconds,
what do you want to leave our listeners

661
00:47:12.599 --> 00:47:16.440
with today. Well, I would
say the biggest thing that has helped me

662
00:47:16.880 --> 00:47:22.519
is to go in the community and
give back because that's where I've found out.

663
00:47:22.599 --> 00:47:28.920
You know all of this in the
beginning, is that's where I found

664
00:47:28.960 --> 00:47:34.880
my love to help people and also
realize the humanness in life is helping people.

665
00:47:35.039 --> 00:47:37.280
So if you're wanting, if you're
stuck, I would go there first.

666
00:47:38.840 --> 00:47:42.119
So that's a beautiful finish. And
what I'll say to that from my

667
00:47:42.239 --> 00:47:45.840
work that I do in loco therapy
and existential psychology, Michelle, is what

668
00:47:45.039 --> 00:47:50.039
that is. What we call that
is self transcendence and when we step outside

669
00:47:50.079 --> 00:47:52.239
of ourselves so we can see the
world differently, we see ourselves differently and

670
00:47:52.360 --> 00:47:55.960
it opens something. That is a
beautiful way to finish the show. Thank

671
00:47:57.000 --> 00:48:00.199
you for sharing your beautiful heart and
soul and very very open life with us.

672
00:48:00.320 --> 00:48:04.960
It has been a privilege to know
you. Thank you. It's fun

673
00:48:06.119 --> 00:48:08.000
listeners. If you want to learn
more about Michelle Collins, her comedy work

674
00:48:08.159 --> 00:48:13.280
or her speaking visit her at her
website. It's Michelle Let's go dot com

675
00:48:13.519 --> 00:48:16.320
and that's Michelle with one L.
So again, Michelle, Let's go dot

676
00:48:16.400 --> 00:48:20.719
com. Great website. Last week, if you miss the live show,

677
00:48:20.760 --> 00:48:23.639
you can always catch it recorded podcast, we were on the air with Susan

678
00:48:23.679 --> 00:48:29.079
Sokol Blosser, an Oregon icon an
early wine pioneer who co founded sokobloss Or

679
00:48:29.079 --> 00:48:32.000
Winery. We talked about her recent
book and her perspective on vitally aging.

680
00:48:32.480 --> 00:48:36.360
Now in her mid seventies, she
is living a full and vibrant life,

681
00:48:36.400 --> 00:48:39.440
and she and I both want anyone
in retirement and beyond to consider her recipe

682
00:48:39.480 --> 00:48:44.199
to live with emotional well being and
purpose well past the years of having to

683
00:48:44.280 --> 00:48:46.800
earn income. Next week, we'll
be on the air with Jenna Cooper talking

684
00:48:46.840 --> 00:48:52.239
about her incredibly important work combating human
trafficking. See you there. Remember that

685
00:48:52.280 --> 00:48:53.920
work is at least a third of
our lives, So let's work on purpose.

686
00:49:00.199 --> 00:49:02.760
We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to tune in to

687
00:49:02.880 --> 00:49:08.519
Working on Purpose featuring your host Alice
Cortez, each week on the Voice America

688
00:49:08.559 --> 00:49:14.239
Empowerment Channel. This week, find
your life's purpose at work,