A Passion for Cookies

I have a passion for eating cookies. So it’s not a big surprise that I found myself at DessertFest, a recent Saturday afternoon gathering featuring cookies, cupcakes, frozen treats and live music.

I came to this dessert party for delicious HeartSong Cookies and I also found myself enjoying a great local band, Chevy Van Gogh. They belted out original ballads and traditional Rock standards with a smooth Southern sound. The band added a great soundtrack to DessertFest, but Kathy’s cookies were the star of the show.

Kathy (founder of HeartSong Cookies) works a full-time job, but still finds time to bake cookies on nights and weekends. She hand makes each cookie with fresh ingredients for the love of dough…cookie dough.

Kathy’s known for three things--her big smile, her warm hugs and her melt-in-your-mouth sweet cookies. You really can’t eat just one HeartSong cookie! It’s clear that Kathy is passionate about creating distinctive cookies that leave a smile on your face and a song in your heart.

In his new book, “Life Code,” television psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw talks about how to be the star of your life. Dr. Phil says a star is someone who is doing something they’re passionate about, something that makes them light up and nurtures them (mind, body and spirit).

Yes, it only takes one bite of a HeartSong cookie to know that Kathy has found the key to Dr. Phil’s “Life Code” (rules for winning in the real world). She’s passionate about baking cookies, creating each chewy treat lights up her life, and her cookies nurture your mind, body and spirit. If you want to enjoy a HeartSong Cookie, look for Kathy’s Moo Truck at the Maitland Farmers Market. I have a soft spot in my heart for cookies, but I think there’s a cookie monster lurking in all of us!

Teaching Me More Than Music

Growing up in New Haven, CT during the 1920s my mother had only one dream. She always wanted to be a teacher. She can still remember gathering her four best friends in the back yard to play school. Little Helen was always the teacher. And her dream came true. She was the first member of her family to graduate from college and earn a master’s degree.

For more than 50 years children came to our home in Baton Rouge, LA to take piano lessons from her. And she taught hundreds of college students how to be teachers as a music education professor at Southern University from 1960 to 1995. Yes, my mother lived her childhood dream in the classroom, at her living room piano and as a role model for her three children.

 She taught me, my brother and my sister lessons every day. If my mother had a lifeclass on the Oprah Winfrey Network viewers would learn these five lessons:

·         HONESTY – Always tell the truth. Helen Morton Gist is brutally honest. She never shies away from telling it like it is.

·         FAITH – If you want something bad enough, you can find a way to make it happen.

·         PROFESSIONALISM – Keep your professional skills up-to-date.

·         CARING – Take care of friends and family (your children, nieces, nephews, cousins). She never forgets them on birthdays, holidays, graduations and always.

·         SERVICE – As one of the first Head Start teachers in the state of Louisiana in the 1960s, she is a living example of the importance of community service. In 2006, the Southern University chapter of the Professional Association for Educators gave her a “Service to Education” award for using music as an educational tool to help children displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

My mother is known for being direct, no-nonsense and hard-working. Although her communications style is more like Iyanla Vanzant than Oprah Winfrey, she shares Oprah’s love of education. It’s part of her DNA and mine. Thank you, mom, for always teaching me more than music.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Speaking of Youth...

I’ve evaluated many speeches in my 10 years as a member of Toastmasters International, but few speakers have taught me as many lessons as the 10 elementary and middle school students I judged last month in the Orange County 4-H Tropicana Public Speaking Contest.

The fresh-faced fourth, fifth and sixth graders—three boys and seven girls—spoke on a wide range of topics, from war and peace to basketball and Australia. Connor explained what it’s like to be a twin, Taylor revealed how it feels to be the natural-born child in a family who cares for foster children and Marisol shared the joys of being a hearing child with deaf parents.

The teachers, family members and volunteers in the audience were impressed. They laughed, were in awe and were proud of the youth who gave voice to their hopes, dreams and family values. As one of the contest judges, I evaluated each speaker on their use of language, speech delivery and choice of topic. In turn, each speaker gave me a pearl of their wisdom.

Brooke Sheaf, who won the middle school contest, delivered one of the most powerful messages—the best way to overcome your fear is to jump in with both feet! Brooke overcame her fear of swimming by jumping into the deep end of the pool. What’s your biggest fear?

Fight Your Fear of Public Speaking

During the 10 years I have been a member of Toastmasters International, I have given many speeches and won a few public speaking awards. I have made presentations at work, appeared on radio and TV talk shows, and coached new speakers through their first few speeches. And I still have to calm my nerves before a speech.

If you sweat like a pig, have butterflies in your stomach and your hands just can’t stop shaking before your presentation, you are not alone. But don’t worry. There are a few things you can do to calm your nerves and ease your fears.

If you have to talk before strangers as a job seeker, committee head at work or community leader, put your listeners first. Instead of thinking about how you feel, focus on how you want your audience to feel at the end of your talk. As a speaker, your only goal is to effectively communicate your message (hire me, accept my committee’s findings, or listen to what my neighborhood wants).

The next time you have to talk to one or more strangers as a speaker, use some of these tips to beat back your fear of public speaking:

1. Memorize your opening and closing lines. If you’re comfortable with how you want to open your talk and how you want to drive home your message in the end, you can focus on your delivery. Connect with your listeners with good eye contact and have a few memorable lines.
2. Make your goal your priority. Keep your eye on the ball, the goal you want to achieve. Make sure your desire to get hired, to win over your audience or explain your point of view is stronger than your fear of failure.
3. Visualize success. Before you enter the room, think about something that makes you feel relaxed and repeat a favorite phrase that pumps you up and makes you feel powerful. Imagine that you’ll have a successful speaking experience.
4. Use your nervous energy to your advantage. Show enthusiasm and energy, instead of fear. To keep your nervous energy in check, inhale deeply and exhale slowly before you begin talking. Try pressing the fingertips of one hand against the fingertips of your other hand, to disperse your nervous energy.
5. Personalize your message. Think of your presentation as a conversation where you are doing most of the talking. Personalize your language. Use the word “you” or the names of people in the audience. If you focus on your audience, not on your nerves, you can be calm, confident and courageous as you communicate your message fearlessly!

Drought, Bacon and Tofurky

Last summer, farmers battled the most severe drought in at least 25 years. The most extensive dry spell since the 1950s left farmers with less corn and soybeans to feed chickens, cows and pigs, so they cut back herds and raised the price consumers pay for beef, pork, poultry and dairy.

So, now is a great time to look for healthier, more cost-effective food choices. If your meal isn’t complete without a side of meat, there are tasty alternatives. Vegetables, beans and soy products cost less than meat and they have less heart-clogging saturated fat.

But you don’t have to go vegan or vegetarian, to save a few extra dollars in the supermarket. You can save money by:

1.     Eating a meatless alternative at lunch or dinner a couple of times a week. It will trim the fat from your budget and possibly your waist.

2.     Serving smaller portions. You don’t need to super-size everything! The right serving size of meat or poultry is about the size of a deck of cards.

3.     Try soy or almond milk, instead of regular dairy milk. I love chocolate-flavored Silk, a lactose and gluten-free soymilk.

4.     Substituting turkey bacon for pork bacon or smoked ham with Hickory Smoked Tofurky (a vegetarian turkey replacement made from tofu, but sliced to look like ham).

5.     Switching from ground beef to ground turkey or Smart Ground (a vegetable protein that tastes just like ground beef).

Don’t look at rising food prices as another assault on your grocery budget. It’s just a great opportunity to cut your intake of beef, pork, chicken and dairy products…and improve your health!

Living with a Millennial

I’m a proud Baby Boomer with a daughter who falls right in the middle of the Millennial Generation (Gen Y). My world view was formed by the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, and major political assassinations (President Kennedy and Martin Luther King).

My daughter, born in 1989, was shaped by September 11 terrorist acts, the war in Iraq, shootings at Columbine, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube videos and the ever-present iPhone (her alarm clock and constant companion).

Although we have different communications preferences and comfort zones, we manage to peacefully co-exist and find common ground. She loves to prepare great-tasting vegan meals (by checking out online vegan recipes or putting her iPhone on the counter and reading the recipe as she cooks). And I enjoy eating her healthy dishes, more than cooking. If I’m forced to cook, I turn to a familiar family recipe that was handwritten on a yellowing and faded index card. And I don’t care what the online reviews are for my Louisiana gumbo recipe!

In high school, in the 1970s, I was a cheerleader. She ran cross-country and played soccer in high school in the early 2000s. We both majored in communications in college. My emphasis was print journalism. Her focus was on online and print media. But we are both members of Toastmasters International. My club meets at night, hers meets in the morning before 8 a.m. … Way too early!

I prefer telephone, face-to-face and email communications, while I always see my 23-year-old daughter texting and Facebook messaging.

But we share common values. We both want to save the world and express ourselves as creative, caring, tree-hugging women! Our next family trip is a wildlife safari in Osceola County!

 

Five Unsung Success Stories

Since March is Women’s History Month, I want to shine the spotlight on five unsung heroines who don’t get a lot of attention in our history books. Have you heard about the success stories of Patricia Roberts Harris, Mae Jemison, Constance Baker Motley, Madame C.J. Walker or Ida B. Wells? Many of these extraordinary ladies were breaking down stereotypes before the terms “glass ceiling” or “feminist” were even coined:

 

• Patricia Roberts Harris (1924-1985) was the first African-American woman to hold a cabinet position, serve as U.S. ambassador and head a law school. She was a politician, lawyer and educator. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson appointed her ambassador to Luxembourg. In 1969, she became dean of the Howard University law school and President Jimmy Carter named her secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 1977.

 

• Mae Jemison (born in 1956) was the first African-American woman to be a U.S. astronaut. In 1988, she became the fifth black astronaut and the first black female astronaut in NASA history. She was the science mission specialist on the Endeavour mission in 1992. She is a chemical engineer, scientist, physician, and a promoter of science education for minorities and girls. In 1999, she founded a medical technology company in Houston, TX.

 

• Constance Baker Motley (1921-2005) became the first African-American female federal judge in 1966. As a Civil Rights attorney, for the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund, she helped draft the complaint for the Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit that led to the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that separate schools for black and white students are unconstitutional. In 1964, she became the first black woman elected to the New York State Senate. One year later, she was elected as the first female president of the borough of Manhattan.  

 

• Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919) was born on a cotton plantation to recently freed slaves. In the 1890s, she developed a scalp disorder, lost most of her hair and began to experiment with home remedies. In 1907, she and her husband traveled in the South and Southeastern U.S. selling her hair pomade formula, hair care products, and the “Walker Method” for African-American hair care. The next year, she opened a factory and beauty school. At the time of her death, the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company was worth over $1 million. She was the first American woman to become a self-made millionaire.

 

• Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) was an African-American journalist who crusaded against lynching in the 1890s. Born a slave in July 1862, she and all slaves were freed about six months after her birth by President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. She wrote articles for black newspapers and periodicals and eventually became a newspaper publisher. In 1893, she published a personal examination of lynchings in America. In 1898, she led an anti-lynching demonstration in Washington, DC. She was a founding member of the NAACP and she fought for voting rights for women.