Food, Photography, and Life | A Podcast Interview with Emilie Baltz

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emilie baltz

Today’s Private Practice Podcast resource:

I finished this book in January 2015 and it is helping me focus on my ONE THING in each life area.

Private Practice: To grow referrals for my counselors.

Practice of the Practice: Increase my consulting clients.

Life: To find balance through healthy habits.

 Have a question for the show? Leave me a message on Speakpipe

Practice Nation, Meet Emilie Baltz

 

Emilie Baltz is an artist, entrepreneur and educator whose work uses food as a means of transforming the everyday into the exceptional. She has omnivorously trained in diverse mediums of storytelling, from Modern Dance to Screenwriting, Photography and Industrial Design. She holds a B.A. in Film Studies from Vassar College and an M.I.D from Pratt Institute.

Baltz is based in New York City and is part of the founding faculty of the School of Visual Arts Products of Design program as well as the founder of the Food Design Studio at Pratt Institute. Her work has been commissioned by EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center), The Vitra Design Museum, The Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, New Media Scotland, Trienal of Portugal, Eyebeam, New Zealand Food Institute, Yale University and The Museum of Art and Design. She is the former Creative Director of the Museum of Sex, New York, and has collaborated with Chefs Albert Adria, Alain Passard, Celler de Can Roca, artist David Byrne, Droog Design, Cheval Blanc and Limoges Porcelain. Her corporate clients include LVMH, Microsoft, AOL, Ebay, F&W Media, Bombay Sapphire, Ketel One, Dupont, Panasonic and PUMA.

Emilie is the author of the award-winning “L.O.V.E FOODBOOK“, recipient of Best First Cookbook in the World at the Prix Gourmand held annually in the Louvre, Paris; as well as the nationally featured cookbook, “Junk Foodie: 51 Delicious Recipes for the Lowbrow Gourmand“. She lectures internationally on the transformational power of food experience in the lives of creators and consumers.

Her speaking engagements include appearances at TEDx, DLD, PSFK Conference, Ignite Conference, Creative Mornings, TODAY Show, NBC, Wall Street Journal, D-CRIT and more.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What you’ll discover in this podcast

  • 12:01 How to turn a passion into a profession
  • 16:43 How food is exercise
  • 21:34 How intentional eating leads to happiness
  • 32:00 How to grow in story telling and why local theater will help you grow
  • 35:57 What every counselor needs to know

Resources/Actions from this podcast

Emilie Baltz’s website.

More info on the How to Become a Consultant Podcast 

Music from the Podcast

Silence is Sexy

Mome

 

 

SCULPTURE & ART

private practice consultant headshot

 Joseph R. Sanok, MA, LLP, LPC, NCC

Joe Sanok is an expert on achieving ambitious results! He is a private practice business consultant and counselor that helps small businesses and counselors in private practice that are starting a private practice. He helps owners with website design, vision, growth, and using their time to create income through being a private practice consultant. Joe was frustrated with his lack of business and marketing skills when he left graduate school. He loved helping people through counseling, but felt that often people couldn’t find him. Over the past few years he has grown his skills, income, and ability to lead others, while still maintaining an active private practice in Traverse City, MI. To link to Joe’s Google+ .

Photo by Emilie Baltz

 

Here is the Transcription of This Podcast

Food Photography and Life An Interview with Emilie Baltz

This is the Practice of the Practice Podcast with Joe Sanok, Session 64. Welcome, welcome, welcome. If you have never listened before, you are in for a ride. I’m so excited, you’re here if it’s your first time. Welcome. You’ll be hearing my voice more hopefully, and if you’ve been around a while, you’ve heard my voice more hopefully. I’m Joe Sanok. I’m your host of the Practice of the Practice Podcast, where we are seeking innovative and ambitious results for your private practice. I hope that you are doing awesome this week. I hope that you’re meeting your goals and going after them.

This week, the resource I want to give you is a book that I am been reading right now. I am in the home stretch. It’s probably, I bet I have 20 pages left, and it’s called The One Thing and I heard about it from Pat Flynn. He actually talked about it on the podcast interview and I picked it up and I see why it’s so important.

It’s just — one of the big things he talked about in it, Gary Keller is, he was talking about when you’re going after your one thing and let me back up a little bit. So he talks about how you know, companies like Apple, you know used to have before Steve Jobs came back, like 200 plus products and he pared it down to like 10, so that they could be known for one thing. You know they launch want one thing at a time. They launch their iPad and then they wait a while and they launch their new Mac Book or their new iPhone or whatever it is.

And that a business that’s known for something and goes after one thing at a time, tends to be higher on the success ladder than those that go after multiple things and go after the shiny new object, and I’m guilty of this. I look at all the things I tried to launch and when I don’t put my whole heart into something and/ or I have a whole hearted idea and it’s super exciting and I go after it, and then I fizzle out and do look for the next thing new, like a half done project’s still not done. So one thing that he was talking about was this idea of you know, the things, the core things in your life that you’re juggling them.

That you’re juggling your health, you’re juggling your marriage or your partner relationship, you’re juggling your kids, you’re juggling your business, whatever it is that you’re juggling, except that all of those things you’re juggling are like glass balls, except for your career. That’s a rubber ball. A rubber ball, that will fall and bounce back and you can recover from, but if you shatter your relationship with your kids or your partner, or your health, oh man, that’s just like it’s hard to come back from that. It’s just shattered, it’s chipped, it’s got cracks on it.

So I really have been taking that so hard in my last three days. I’m just three days into it. I spend 10 minutes meditating in the morning listening to a meditation video that has been really inspiring to me. That’s been on my YouTube channel. I posted that on there under I think I called it entrepreneur skills morning and then I’ve also been doing a 25-minute yoga regime, which has been really helping my back. A couple of podcasts ago I’ve talked to you how my back was hurting and so between that some chiropractic, I feel like I’m kind of bouncing back. But I, in 2015, I really want to find more balance. I can’t go at a full time pace plus private practice and podcasting in Practice of the Practice and consulting, so really I’ve really kind of drilled into, like what’s my one thing and so let me grab this book from my bag. Hold on a second.

So we’re over here, now over here. All right. This is kind of when I was brainstorming and I don’t if I’m going to stick with this. But here is kind of when I think of what’s my like statement for my career right now? I’d say my purpose is to help people achieve ambitious results through counseling, consulting, and teaching.

And so really in my private practice, counseling is my one thing there. Don’t launch a whole bunch of side products or books or things like that, really with the Practice of the Practice the individual consulting and maybe eventually group consulting, that’s really what I want to go after. And teaching — that kind of captured like the podcast and the other things that just viewing it as like, what’s the one thing in each core area?

So this book, The One Thing, I would highly recommend you pick it up if you want to go after some ambitious results this year. Speaking of which, today’s guest — oh my wordl. I met Emilie Baltz when I was in Spain a little over a year ago for a friend’s wedding. My wife and I traveled there with our almost two-year-old so she get to fly for free which was sweet. We thought we had rented a minivan but we had actually rented a very, very small SUV and somehow fit my in-laws’ luggage, our luggage and the toddler into that and we traveled from Barcelona up to San Sebastian and then down to — where did we go? I don’t remember where we went after that — Madrid, and San Sebastian.

Emilie, who was the photographer at our friend’s wedding and actually a really good friend of our friends, and she was just so much fun to hang out with. We had like three or four nights of just eating tapas and hanging out and she and I had really had a fun moment when it was the night of the wedding. There’s kind of a dance off and she and I sort of dancing and had a really good flow of dancing and then like this other, I think Cristina and some other people were dancing. Cristina is my wife, and it was just like so amazing and you know you sometimes don’t realize the greatness in which you are a part of until afterward.

And so I started looking into kind of like what am Emilie does. I knew a food photographer, bam! I didn’t know what an amazing person she was. So she lives in New York City, and she is one of the founding faculty member of the School of Visual Arts Products of Design program and I mean I just got to pull up her website because there’s just so much stuff that I just want to make sure that I don’t miss.

She is the author of the award winning, Love Food Book and the recipient of the Best First Cookbook in the world at the Prix Gourmand held annually in Louvre, Paris. She was also featured in Junk Foodie: 51 Delicious Recipes. She lectures all the time, but let me just tell you like some of her clients. You may have heard of them. Tell me if you have heard of them. AOL, Ebay, the Museum of Sex, New York City, the New York Parks Department, Microsoft, Panasonic, Bombay Sapphire, Vogue Magazine, So Good Magazine which I love, oh my gosh! So Good Magazine a friend of mine it’s the magazine for people that give a damn. I got a subscription for that for being at somebody’s wedding and just love that magazine. Wall Street Journal, so those are some of the things — the companies that work with her.

Now let’s look at a few of the speaking and press. So, she has done TED talks, she’s been interviewed by the New York Times on Food Design. She has been in France Magazine. She — oh man, there’s just so many things. You have to go to her website. It’s just emiliebaltz.com. I’ll link to it in the show notes and you will see why she is just so amazing. This interview, you know initially you’ll think, okay food photographer. What does that have to do with counseling or psychology? You are going to be blown away. I don’t want to set her up so high that she can’t achieve it, but this is a situation where she has done so many amazing things, but she hasn’t been on the Practice of the Practice Podcast.

So without any further ado, please welcome my friend, an amazing woman that’s changing the world, Emilie Baltz.

Joe Sanok: Emilie Baltz, welcome to the Practice of the Practice Podcast.

EB: Thank you so much, Joe. I’m excited to be here.

Joe Sanok: Yes! It’s been a while. We haven’t talked in a while since I think Spain. You know we’ve talked back and forth over Facebook, but you’re doing some pretty awesome things and having you on the show is going to be just a great asset for the listeners.

EB: Yeah, I can’t wait. It’s nice to see you virtually.

Joe Sanok: Yes! It’s nice to see you again. So why don’t we start with just a little bit of who you are and kind of why you’re passionate about your work and then we’ll just go from there.

EB: Yeah, I think the fundamental passion that I have is creativity and probably balanced creativity at that, which I think a lot of humans have. But I have a pretty plural practice in terms of the different mediums that I work in. So I work in photography, I publish books, I also do events and I teach and sometimes I even make objects and specifically all of that is within the industry of food. And I’ve been fascinated by food just because of its cultural meaning and cultural power and I think that it will bring people together regardless of age, or class or sex and have some sort of universal communication and so the work that I do is really explore as how can we put a lens, and how can kind of retell the stories of our lives through new stories and food.

Joe Sanok: Wow! So was this something you kind of had a vision for like when you’re doing schooling or starting as a photographer or like what was your path to land on that because I think that sounds awesome. How did you get to that point?

EB: I took a spaceship to the [? 9:59] No, I actually have also a diverse background. I studied screen writing, and modern dance while in college. And then I ended up as a sort of bullheaded 20 something year old, not really wanting to work for anyone else and so I also picked up photography skills along the way. So I left school and started freelancing as photographer and assisting and discovering that kind of movement was the key to my happiness, to be able to have like lots of different projects lined up and actually a physical way to move through my work what was really important to me. And from then I was also waitressing and while doing that I discovered, “Oh, wait you could make these spaces that people move in.” So this image that I am photographing in two dimensions comes from this space that’s three and four dimensions.

Ooh, I want to learn how to make that. So I went back to school and I got a Master’s Degree in Industrial Design so I could learn how to make things and through that process once again, I was just enamored with the idea of being able to create and also to create collaboratively and kind of grow into this place of the solo show of photography was enough. I wanted to have a theme. And industrial design was a great way to enter into that. And also discover things like empathy. Empathy for a user and how do we design a system for someone else? How do we design a product for someone else based on their constraints and their needs? So it was really not only a new skill to learn but also a new philosophy of life and yeah and that as I developed nice skills, got a lot of different jobs and then really started to think about where am I in all of these? And the material that always affected me the most in my life had been food. And still is food. So, it seemed like a natural thing to use.

How to turn a passion into a Profession

Joe Sanok: So around food, so you start to dive more and more into food and you’re bringing that into all these design elements, in different dimensions and how do you then start to launch that business or just those creative endeavors?

EB: Yeah, there was, I think it’s the idea of transforming a passion into a profession, I think is what this story is about, and passion serves for long hours late at night. It allows you to do kind of crazy wacky things just to get the thing done that you’re really passionate about. So it serves as fuel. I think the practical way then that I went about it was meeting a lot of people, through a lot of networking. I live in New York City, so it’s kind of impossible to not confront people every day, but it’s also essential for a business and people hire who they know and who they like, as well. So I think that there’s number one, building a professional practice is about creating a network of people, of colleagues and then also consumers, people who need what you offer. And what I offer is a different and unique way of looking at something that we do three times a day.

And so that has application in places like restaurants, in places like schools and homes through the lens of cookbooks, through images, magazines, all these things so there’s like a host of different services that are available. And once you forgot what your services are, then it’s about talking about them and sometimes also marketing them. And I think marketing them is always more interesting if it’s something that’s also a passion. So for a while I did events. I would throw dinner parties or cocktail parties with different fellow designers or people from the industry, chefs and bartenders. And that really started to not only draw a crowd but also communicate what my unique point of view was and I think any profession where you differentiate yourself is by being able to tell your own story.

Joe Sanok:  Well I think about how intimate of an environment having a dinner party is versus, “Hey, I’m hosting a meet-up at this bar on this date.” It’s like inviting people either into your home or into your space like whatever that looks like. I think about if I invited a bunch of counselors over for a dinner party, I would guess the collaboration and the intimacy of that environment would then be reflected in the then intimacy of those connections and our ability to collaborate with each other.

EB: Yeah. Absolutely. I think you’ve hit it right on the head is that also the form that you choose. So a dinner party versus like a basketball game, you know are  really different, really different relationships are created and kind of the nature of those relationships and the nature of the context, then echoes the nature of what is to come. So if the goal is to create more intimacy with the people that you know and create longer lasting relationships, I think, things like dinner parties are amazing, because they allow time and space to actually talk one-on-one, to be in a convivial setting which means you’re usually surrounded by pleasure and happiness, you are more open and more receptive and you’re also being fed. So you feel… that you…

Joe Sanok: Our basic human needs are being met.

EB: Yeah are all met.

Joe Sanok: So you had said that, you know framing food around like schools or home, this thing we do three times a day. Like what are you learning about food that’s kind of compelling your story to move forward?

EB: Yeah, I see that it’s a transformative material in our lives. I think from the simple place of looking at it through the lens of health, so when you start changing your diet, you really change your mind. Food is medicine. I also see it from a social and a behavioral point of view is that when we eat together, just as we talked about now, we also bond together. And that’s definitely a basic human need in terms of needing to belong to something. We’re social creatures. So I see it on both sides and kind of a very robust way to start thinking about health is to think about not just calories and chemicals but also to think about the experience of how we eat and where we eat with whom we eat.

Joe Sanok: Wow, eat. Just like what you just said, that I just thought, “Oh, my gosh like so many clients that are dealing with depression, anxiety like initially I think that someone might see this podcast and be like, “What’s a foodie have to do with therapy?” And you just nailed it that it’s like that bonding that happens around the table can be so therapeutic and can kind of heal a lot of our internal wounds.

How food is Exercise

EB: Absolutely. And I think that’s the first place to start when we think about healing that I think one of the hardest things to do is to change behavior and to change behavior, I think of it like going to gym. You know, the more you go to the gym, the more muscle memory you get in place of doing the right exercise instead of the wrong exercise and “food is this exercise” that we do three times a day.

So, if there is conscious thought attached to it or if there is a new form that’s attached to it, suddenly, we’re practicing that intention three times a day. We’re changing behaviors and when we do it with other people, it’s a lot easier. We start to feel supported, we feel healthy, we feel safe. I’ve only seen food transform lives in positive ways when chosen in positive [17:07] I’ve also seen it destroy lives. I think that’s when from personal experience, from seeing people around me from my own life, just understanding how quickly psychology can change and how quickly outlook can change simply based on what you put in your mouth. It’s not easy.

Joe Sanok: Well, it’s like I even think about I was diagnosed with type I diabetes probably like five or six years ago and my body like when that kind of got under control and I had crazy blood sugar issues going on and my pancreas just stopped working. I cut out all sort of pop like right away and there’s this one day, I still remember it where I was on the road. I got subway. I was like Oh, I want to a cherry coke and I drank it and like my body like reacted. It was like just stabbing pain and it’s amazing how when you do make those shifts to whether it’s like I mostly just drink water and coffee, but away from some of the unhealthier habits and you make those conscious choices you’re then not just making that choice with food but you’re making that choice with your entire lifestyle which is kind of what counselors are all in the business of is changing your lifestyle to have life be better.

EB: Yeah, exactly. I couldn’t say it better and I think it starts — I’ve always thought of food as our most fundamental form of consumption and consumption the most abstract of definitions. If we think of it that way, we think of these patterns are in place with such repetition like I said, every day, those patterns of eating also are also reflected in patterns of other types of consumption — how we consume relationships with other people, how we consume our cities, our education, our social structures and financial institutions, you know, all of these behaviors really start to trickle out and so I think that’s — for me, that’s a really fascinating place to be and to say what if we look at these behaviors that are most basically human, that we need for life and in observing that path and that strata it can impact our life in greater ways that I think we even think about.

Joe Sanok: Yeah. So, when you talk to people that are in schools or business or restaurants or home about food, are there any like tips you give them like here’s what I think you should do or is it more of these kind of observations and letting them figure it out?

EB: Yeah. Well, I’m definitely not a counselor or therapist.

Joe Sanok: Sure.

EB: I think my observations are that of a lay person and nowhere creative but I think the simplest — my mother has this wonderful life. My mom’s French, my dad’s American and my mom would always say this line (French Language) so everything in moderation. And to me, that’s the key to life is balance. So, every now, like there’s no reason to be super, super, super strict unless there’s some sort of medical issue at hand but the idea of being able to balance life by saying, “Every now and then I can have a little bit of this, not a lot of that because I know it’s not great for me, but a little bit.” You know, it then allows us to keep sort of a flow in our lives and a flow in our emotional state and our personality and I think that makes more flexible humans which is a good thing so we can all merge together. But I think three simple rules are everything in moderation, eat more plants than animals, and maybe I’ll add some more rules even.

Joe Sanok: All right, do it.

EB: Tons of water like this has changed my life personally and also, eat in beautiful places with beautiful people. And that doesn’t just mean aesthetically. It means being with people who support you, being in spaces that make you feel wonderful, that the taste is actually a perception and so much of how we taste and how we enjoy is based on the environment that we’re in. So, the things that are surrounding us, the sounds that are surrounding us actually affect our nervous system. The smells that are there start to create memories or trigger memories due to the way they pass [? 21:17] system.

How intentional eating leads to Happiness

There are all sorts of other information and data that’s influencing us when we eat. And so it’s not just like finding the nice organic carrot and putting it in our mouths but it’s also thinking intentionally about how we’re doing it, where we’re doing it and with whom we’re doing it. Because that for me is probably the greatest well-balanced meal.

Joe Sanok: I love that line: eat in beautiful places with beautiful people like I just think about the typical American that’s like you know, busy, has their kids running through the drive-through like eat while you’re driving, like you’re with beautiful people, your family but being on the road and eating is almost always stressful and it’s because you’re like so crunched for time. I mean, you’re in New York City saying this. So, I mean, if anyone should say, “Well, you should just grab fast food, it would someone I think that lives in a busy town like New York.

How do you implement that in like a huge city like New York?

EB: Yeah. Well, I think of this. I actually make my own food [22:16] a lot and I take my lunches with me and it’s a pretty fast regime. There’s nothing incredibly superbly going there. But making your own food and then having — I travel with my own set of cutlery so I try not to use plastic. I try to reuse these things and then if there’s a beautiful space like there are amazing benches on the streets of New York City. There are really wonderful little corners in my [22:43] there are all of these places and spaces that are kind of intermediate places that also allow it if I’m wanting to pause and stop and look and you call a friend over and there are ears have been there together and it’s great but just making a clear intention even if you’re in the car, how much nicer is it if you have to for example, like go through a drive-through. It’s the only thing that you will be able to eat, pull over, find a parking spot, sit, turn, open your door, put your knees outside, travel with a beautiful little napkin pseudo like lap table cloth and sit there and eat and think about what you’re eating and taste what you’re eating instead of just like force-feeding ourselves. A lot of the issues of overeating are the speed at which we eat. So, we don’t actually end up tasting anything. So, we don’t feel as satiated as we could. It takes us about 20 minutes to fill satiated, for our brain to understand that food is actually in our stomach and feeding us.

So the speed at which we eat that old ridiculous thing of like chew your food, finish your… It’s more about just paying attention. Yeah.

Joe Sanok: Now, what have you found like when you are intentional of sitting on a bench or pulling over and eating in your car in a way that’s beautiful, like how does that affect you personally compared to when you’re just running and just throwing food in your mouth?

EB: Oh, 500 times better. I’m a person who’s smiling. I’m able to have clear communication with whoever I’m meeting with or interacting with. And there’s also like occasionally I think we all feel is right we get these spikes like these ups and down during our days like oh my gosh, I’m crashing. I got to have coffee but just a simple time of sitting there and literally it pretty much takes 10 to 15 minutes to eat something. You give yourself a glorious 20 minutes. Nothing much has happened within 10 minutes that you missed in your life. But for the rest of the day, like I can feel it like the bottom of stomach feels settled. It doesn’t get that like spiky weird like um I kind of feel right. That then goes into my face, if you could see my face all right, it would be like eh um I got all these like uh who wants to talk to someone like that?

Joe Sanok: Right. So, it’s interesting that probably, the more that you take that time to slow down I would guess it would affect your mood which would then affect your ability to grow your business which would, I mean, I just think, like I knew you were a superstar before and then I looked on your website to see all your media appearances and I was like, “Holy cow! Like Today’s Show and New York Times, I mean, doing TED talks like but you take time to slow down and you’re highly successful like how does that happen because I think people have this fallacy in their head that they have to go full tilt forward in order to be successful? But it sounds like you’re saying slow down, enjoy the food and that will probably be more the key to success.

EB: Yeah. You know, the only reason I mean, I know how to slow down because of two things. One is that I grew up that way so there’s definitely behavior in place. Two is that for a while, I didn’t slow down and what that did to my life and also what that did to my success was not great and there was no — I was like rushing to get to the red light, instead of realizing that it all goes by quite fast and success comes from diligence and success comes from showing up every day and doing what you want to do and what you’re passionate about doing. Even on days where you’re questioning yourself and your path, you still show up.

So, stopping and eating is really going to do no good. It’s not really going to affect your success one way or another and all that I think it does is it creates greater happiness because when we have these moments of pause throughout the day, they’re actually wonderful like who doesn’t want to sit and have a great lunch or a wonderful dinner with your friends or family and happiness creates positivity and I think positivity as we all know is one of I think the great psychological tools and have that energy come out into the world, it really it helps every single relationship that you have from friends to lovers to business. You know, everyone wants to be around that because we all kind of crave it in ourselves. So the people who do that and to feel fed something that I have often talked about is feed yourself so you can feed others and be fed and that whole loop is one of the greatest business practices I think. And I think America lacks quite a lot of that in the speed of our workday but we’re not as we know from data, we’re not more efficient as a culture and culture is that stuff and we eat and take time and have vacations and Wednesdays off from school.

Joe Sanok: So how are you, beyond just maybe slowing down to eat, how are you implementing some of the food practices that you’re learning?

EB: Yeah. A lot of it is also what I’ve also learned is that having moments of creativity every day, pure creativity, autonomous creativity like this is for me. Yes! That’s incredibly wonderful and essential and the idea of having sort of a little treat every day is also totally child-like motivation but it still works.

Joe Sanok: Yeah.

EB: So, the idea like looking at dinner, for example, dinner is a time and a space that hopefully we have and we carve it out even if it’s 40 minutes or something like but to think what is one thing that I can do that’s slightly different that is a little bit more creative than what I would normally do becomes exciting and the brain starts to move. My brain is then “Oh, wait. I get to do this exciting little thing like um” use this amazing new paprika that I got, some of the other pepper I get… You know, anything like that but one tiny thing because I think the fear is that all here, all these things I have to change to become a better human being when really this little incremental intentions every day even if it’s just buying like a new topping for your salad, something that starts the process and then opens the door to more creativity and food is a place that there’s no judgment on it. There’s no — even if you fail, people still like to eat, you know. We’ll eat the weirdest things as human beings.

But I think thinking through that, that’s definitely one of the lessons that I’ve learned over these years is to treat yourselves with a little bit more joy, slight absurdity and increase the pleasure portion. You spend like 5% every day. Life is way better.

Joe Sanok: I love that — increase the pleasure by 5% a day. That’s great. So, let’s talk a little bit about media and engaging with the media, getting the attention of the media because you’ve definitely continued to grow in that area to get more and more exposure with this awesome message. What advice do you have people that may be are on the map of the — whether it’s big time media or even just like medium size like how do you get attention as someone that’s got good work that they’re doing?

EB: Yeah. We think the best — I had a film teacher who always said write what you know and I think that is something to hold dear to when we talk about spaces like the media because the media is a storytelling platform. So, the media is looking for stories to tell and stories that are in the media have the same stories that we see in all sorts of forms. I think of the genre of books, the fantasies of drama as a comedy. So to think about your own story in the most honest and truthful way and to be able to communicate that is probably the essential tool for any sort of media pickup.

I think I’ve been very lucky as well to have grown up in a family of storytellers and of performers. So there’s also that that is a skill that adds to media viability.

Joe Sanok: Sure.

EB: So, there’s a couple of things. One is to rephrase all of that, have a story that’s yours to tell, that’s honest because we can connect to honest stories emotionally as a person and as a creator. Number 2, if you feel scared about presenting or talking in public, get some training. There are so many classes, even things online that just help you get comfortable with talking about that and with connecting to yourself because that’s basically what performance is. Your body becomes your product, your face becomes your product, your voice is your product, whoa, nerve-racking because there’s a lot of vulnerability there.

Joe Sanok: Are there any of those resources? You said there’s some online that you particularly like or books or for people that are like, “I have no idea how to be a storyteller” any favorite authors or websites out there?

How to grow in story telling and why local theater will help you grow

EB: I don’t really have anything off the top of my head but I would say a quick Google is media coaching and also, there are places like second city that’s amazing, improv theatre that also does business coaching and professional coaching so sometimes even local theaters will have things you know. You’re figuring like “Oh, wait. That guy who’s a friend of that girl, oh wait he’s an actor” or “Talk to Joe about how he calms his voice and speaks when he’s on a podcast.”

Joe Sanok: Sure.

EB: You know, even getting tips from people around us and then one thing that I often do is that I have a Mac and I open photo booth and I click it to the video and I record myself presenting whatever it is that I have to present and the few first few times that I did that, it was horrible. It was totally nerve-racking and we all hate to look at ourselves. But it’s a really great way to practice and to start to understand who you are, how you communicate, where you could get some help and it’s a non-judgmental space because you’re basically with yourself.

Joe Sanok: You’re right. So, have a story to tell, get storytelling training, if it’s not coming natural. Use photo booth to video tape kind of your approach and then re-watch it. Those are great tips.

EB: Yeah. And I think, too, another tip is find the people who inspire you and see how they move because a lot of especially with public speaking and any sort of on camera interviewing, more of what’s communicated is actually in the body and in the timber of the voice. So, it’s basically song and dance, literally you know, and we refer to that as sort of a cliché. But really to look at the people that you admire and look at their body language. How do they stand, where are they putting their arms? Do they walk a lot? Do they — how are they being? And then mind that in the front of it and look ridiculous like stand in front of your TV or your laptop, at your desk and like sort of try to mirror that as they do it and then last and final part of that is that all of great speaking comes from great breathing because your voice doesn’t lie. And so to get in a space where you have really deep breath and you have supportive breath calms the nervous system, but it also creates this very soothing voice that people want to listen to because everyone knows what it’s like [? 34:31]

Joe Sanok: I think there are certain TV networks that they prefer that you don’t breathe because that’s their whole stick but for the most part I think yeah. That’s a great tip even just the great breathing you know, the voice doesn’t lie. And something I noticed even in this interview, is you’ve given me sound bites, too, where it’s like, “Now, here are my three things for you know everything in moderation.” You know, just now, four things or sound bites like increase your pleasure by 5% a day, I’ve found that when I can get those kind of short sound bites, then they can take those and make quote cards for social media or it’s a lot easier to then promote you because I have kind of an outline for how to let the audience know what to expect.

EB: Absolutely. We live in a snacking culture now. So, we want bite-size information, bite-size reminders, anything that’s also like dunden, den, this sort of three rhythms. That is the mind responds to that. People can join to it and you can do three things. Anything more than three is whoa.

Joe Sanok: It’s mind blowing.

EB: Yeah.

What every counselor needs to know

Joe Sanok: Well, Emilie I know that you’re short on time but one question that I always ask people at the end of the interview is if every counselor in America were listening right now, what would you want them to know?

EB: Oh, I would want them to know that their work is probably the most important work. I truly, truly believe in it. I believe in human beings and I think that most of our conflicts and problems come from a lack of communication with ourselves and with others. So, if there’s one thing that I would want everyone to know is that I have a giant enormous thank you.

Joe Sanok: Awesome. Well, Emilie is going to be one of our first 15 consultants for the new podcast, How to Become a Consultant coming in 2015. Emilie, thank you so much for being on the show and taking time out. I think we could talk for hours about this subject but we don’t have time for that. So, thank you so much.

I just want to tell you how much of an honor it is to be able to do this. You know, the fact that we just passed the 36,000 downloads mark just blows me away. I just think about you know, two years ago or so when I thought I should launch a podcast all about private practice. Well will anybody really want to listen? And the fact you’re taking time out of your day when you’re you know, blowing snow or exercising or driving to work or doing the dishes with your kids, boy it’s just so — I’m just so honored that you have invited me into your journey.

I mean, this last week, I bet I got five or six emails from people that were just referencing the podcast and how much it means to them and how they’ve made such changes and I actually had someone that I would say has really shifted into being a friend, named Janeen emailed me and she was saying, “I’m sorry, Joe. I just sound so much like a Joe-info product.” That’s just really an honor and I just want to just thank you so much for being a part of this community, being a part of — sorry. I ate some nuts a minute ago and I didn’t have water. I thought I could get through it. I’m trying to have just like appreciative moment and I’m like getting nuts between my teeth, sorry. That sounds kind of dirty. I didn’t mean that way. No offense.

Anyway, so I just really appreciate this community. I mean, I just think about how you know, 40 minutes ago, I had no show and I could have just gone home, I could have hang out here and did other things or emailed but you know, to be able to have something like this that I can sink my teeth and do that — what is it about teeth, anyway.

That I can just like really — I’m just like throwing myself off. Like I’m trying to be all like sensitive and I’m not trying to be inauthentic but cracking myself up I’m like alone in the office and laughing and it’s dark out and I’m sure people can see me talking into a microphone by myself and anyway, it’s just for you to find your thing, your one thing. What is it that you’re going to sink your teeth into this year? What is it that if somebody no-shows, you are just as excited to work on because if somebody no-shows like yeah, I would have loved to do that counseling if I met that person but also I love doing this podcast and both are moving my career forward and both are helping with me with my one thing and each thing.

So, the podcast, it’s helping me get consulting clients and that’s one of my main goals is to build consulting clients and help more people out and meet my own ambitious results. So, I don’t know. I’m just kind of rambling at this point and sometimes I over verbalize but you’re still listening so thanks a lot for just letting me into your ears and into your brain. I so appreciate you being a part of this community. I would love for you in the show notes to leave a comment. We haven’t had tons of comments but if you go to practiceofthepractice.com/session64, at the very bottom, you can sign up to do comments. And it’s a super easy process and I would just love to hear your thoughts of what you’re going to implement from what Emilie taught us today or just make fun of me for not having water when I’m doing a podcast. That’s fine, too.

So, have an awesome week and keep up the good work.

Special thanks to the bands Silence is Sexy and Mome. We really like your music.

This podcast is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered.  It is given with the understanding that neither the host, the publisher nor the guest is rendering legal, accounting, clinical or other professional information. If you want a professional, you should find one. See you.