Aug 7, 2019
Welcome to She Leads Podcast Season 4, Episode 15! This episode of She Leads Podcast features Stephanie McNeal founder of SMB LLC. Stephanie McNeal is an Author, Podcast Host, and Speaker who leads her life like the Boss she is. To hear Stephanie McNeal’s take on leadership, listen to her interview as she discusses overcoming adversity, the importance of forgiveness, and the power of words.
Stephanie McNeal’s Bio
When a woman’s partner is unfaithful, it is not uncommon for their entire life to unravel. Stephanie McNeal’s passion and pleasure is to see women bounce back from this stressful experience, forgive everyone who hurt them and live out their God given purpose. She helps women go from heartbreak to happy after infidelity so that ultimately they have the power to live their best life.
Through her 7-year forgiveness coaching journey, Stephanie discovered that it takes three things for a women to recover from infidelity. Process, accountability and community. A three braided cord is not easily broken and she invites affected women to join our community on Facebook.
Her education and training includes a MBA in Marketing; Certification in P.R.E.P. - a scientifically-based, empirically-tested method of teaching relationship education sponsored by the National Institutes of Health; a licensed facilitator of Identity and Destiny which provides a step-by-step guide to help you find, know and live your God given purpose. She also has certifications to teach entrepreneurship to adults and children. Previously, she served as Women’s’ Ministry leader and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
She is the mother of four - Lean -15, Nyah- 16, Solomon -18 and recent college graduate Harry -23 and recently divorced. She loves reading, writing, learning and the adventure of travel. To connect with Stephanie please visit her website at freed2love.com or if you would like to schedule some time to talk to her, visit talk2stephanie.com.
Nicole Walker’s Interview Commentary
I really enjoyed this interview with Stephanie and I hope you did as well!
I agree with Stephanie’s viewpoint on the importance of self-forgiveness. Self-forgiveness improves our productivity as well as our emotional and mental well-being. If we aim to move forward in life then self-forgiveness is essential for the journey. We will not always do things the “right” way. Thankfully, self-forgiveness is our safety net to ensure we do not get stuck on what didn’t work. According to Stephanie, “It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you say to yourself about what happens to you”. We have to treat ourselves with compassion as often as needed, while we continually work to improve in our weak areas.
I admire Stephanie’s commitment and dedication to improving herself so she could be a better mother. Stephanie attributes the experiences from being a stay at home mom to increasing her leadership capacity. In order to do anything we need some type of motivation. In this instance Stephanie’s children motivated her to eliminate negative behaviors from her life in an effort to set a positive example. When aiming for the higher mark, we must find our motivation so we can continue to improve.
A quote by George Bernard Shaw reads, “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
I can relate to Stephanie’s previous struggles with being optimistic to a fault, as I have experienced the same. Being optimistic to a fault consists of holding onto something that isn’t working with the undying hope of success. Ironically, having this pleasant nature can make life more difficult. Successful leaders know when to call the game, as they say. Although I would not trade my optimism for the world, I now also realize that when the writing is on the wall, the writing is on the wall. To avoid being optimistic to a fault, we must be okay with walking away from anything that is not bringing out the best in us.
A quote by Tony Morgan reads, “You get to decide where your time goes. You can either spend it moving forward, or you can spend it putting out fires. You decide. And if you don’t decide, others will decide for you.”
Nicole Walker’s Takeaway of the Week
Stephanie mentioned how important it is to maintain our power. When we maintain our power, we do not allow ourselves to be taken out of character by anyone at any time. According to Stephanie “Once you learn how to master yourself you have got the power!” I will make it my business to master myself, by continually exploring my strengths, weaknesses, and triggers so that I establish and maintain my power. Having power over my life is important to me, so I will do what is required to achieve this goal.
A quote by Sanhita Baruah reads, “It is not as much about who you used to be, as it is about who you choose to be.”
Nicole Walker’s Leadership Challenge
My leadership challenge for you would be to think about the one thing you can take away from this episode and adopt into your life. I know it’s hard to absorb too much information at one time and it’s even harder to try and implement too many changes at once. When I attend a training or listen to podcasts I aim to walk away with a least one thing that stuck out to me and one way that I can change as a result. I challenge you to do the same! If you decide to take me up on my challenge I would love to know about your key take way. If you care to share please go to the She Leads Podcast Discussion Group on Facebook and leave your comment under the Takeaway Thursday post for Season 4 Episode 15.
Don’t forget to subscribe to She Leads Podcast for First access to future episodes. And, like and share this episode of She Leads Podcast entitled “Forgive Yourself with Stephanie McNeal”.
Thanks and until next time “Be Empowered and Empower On”!