Chasing Dreams With Aimee J.

Today’s Chasing Dreams podcast features another of Aimee’s good friends, and a very smart guy, Dr. Oliver J. Myers. Oliver is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University. His story is one of perseverance for the sake of his dream. He worked full time while working to earn three degrees over the course of 7 years. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland Baltimore County for all three degrees of Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering. Today you’re going to hear from a guy who knows what it takes to make things you want to happen, happen. TWEET: Perseverance is required in life. You don’t have another choice ~ Dr. Oliver Myers Disappointment doesn’t have to be a closed door.Dr. Oliver Myers was working hard to get the degrees he wanted, but when he wanted to pursue a fellowship, he was denied the opportunity to even apply for the fellowship. As he was pursuing his PHd, a vital mentor left the program and he had to try to find a way forward without him. He tri

Today’s guest, and one of Aimee’s friends, is Zephan Moses Blaxberg. He’s the host of the http://www.yearofpurpose.com/ (Year Of Purpose Podcast) where he interviews motivators and inspirational humans from all over the world who are living life on their own terms. That sounds like a ton of fun, doesn’t it? But it’s not where he began. He was a typical college grad who was dreaming about the great job he was about to go find. He did find that job, doing what he loved, but after a year or so the company was sold and was laid off. What happened then? You’ll get to hear the entire story on this episode of Chasing Dreams. TWEET: If you’re looking for more, there is definitely a way to find it. Go out and let life surprise you Finding the dream you want to chase isn’t always clearly defined at the beginning.Zephan Moses Blaxberg, today’s guest, has held every job in the book - from pastry chef to working at the Apple Store Genius Bar. But working for other people (even Apple) wasn’t what he was cut out for. When s

Most of the time the Chasing Dreams podcast highlights guests who have interesting journeys toward the fulfillment of their dreams. But for the end of the year Aimee decided to do something a little bit different. She invited her sisters to come on the show to turn the tables. They are interviewing her to give you a bit of the backstory behind, Aimee, the Chief Dream Chaser who keeps the Chasing Dreams podcast and brand rolling. You’ll likely be very surprised at all the things Aimee is skilled at and doing. So sit back, grab a warm drink, and get to know Aimee on this episode of Chasing Dreams. TWEET: I want to leave an impact on the world, so it’s better than when I came into it ~ Aimee J. Do you have a “day job” while chasing your dreams?You’re not alone. In fact, most people start out chasing their dreams on the side while a full time job continues to provide the bulk of their income as the dream builds. Aimee is no different, though her full time job is something she truly loves. She’s working on the Cha

What should you do if you feel like you have so many dreams that you don’t know which to pursue first? Do you give up on some of them? Do you try to do all of them at once? Today’s guest might give you some things to think about when it comes to those difficult questions. Tina C. Williams is an entrepreneur, author, attorney, and educator. Her “day job” is running her company, TCecure LLC, which provides security, intelligence, and critical infrastructure protection services to clients. She is also a recently published author of a book of poetry titled L.I.F.E. (Living is for Eternity). As you can see, she’s pretty busy and has tons of dreams herself. Her perspective on dream chasing is one you’ll want to hear, on this episode. TWEET: Making different dreams happen while you can, on this episode of #ChasingDreams How did Tina’s book of poetry come about?Tina’s been writing her poetry for years and just now it’s all come together in a self-published tome that she says is a dream come true. L.I.F.E. is a p

Dozie Onunkwo, Ph.D. is an entrepreneur and scientist from Riverdale, MD, who obtained a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from http://www.purdue.edu/ (Purdue University) in Dec. 2010. While working 3 years as a biomedical engineer, he pursued his passion for entrepreneurship and fitness by founding BN Shape, a worldwide fitness lifestyle brand that promotes the pursuit and maintenance of a healthy, fit community while encouraging the individuals who thrive within it. He now runs http://www.bnshapeclothing.com/ (BN Shape) full-time and recently joined neurotechnology startup, http://www.neurovig.com/ (Neuro Vigor), as a scientific and business expert. This conversation is about Dozie’s journey from Ph.D. student to entrepreneur and the successes he’s experienced because of his hard work. TWEET: Build your business by learning as you move forward, on this episode of Chasing Dreams Success comes from being willing to do things that others aren’t will to do.That’s what Dozie Onunkwo says of the way he st

Today’s guest is Tony Woodall. Tony is involved in so many different things, it’s really mind boggling. He’s a man of different talents. He’s an Electronic Content Management Specialist, a blogger, a speaker, a podcaster, and author of “The 9 Steps To Successful Goal Achievement: The How To Guide For Goal Setting Success!” One of Tony's first passions is helping people succeed and improve their careers and lives. He created a training program, “GoalGetting, Don't Just Set'em, Get'em” as a way to share the skills needed to set goals effectively, use techniques to change the negative, limiting beliefs and thoughts in the subconscious mind and turn them into goal-achieving, success-oriented, positive beliefs and thoughts that will allow you to Get The Goals You Set! You’ll enjoy this conversation. Tony’s a great guy! TWEET: The 9 steps to achieving any goal, on this episode of #ChasingDreams with Aimee J What are limiting beliefs and why are they so difficult to overcome?Whether you’ve heard the term “limiting b

Today’s guest is Frank J. Sileo, PhD. He’s a NJ licensed psychologist and the Founder and Executive Director of The Center for Psychological Enhancement in Ridgewood. In his practice, Frank works with children, adolescents, families and adults. Since 2010, he has been consistently recognized as one of NJ’s top kids’ doctors. He is an author of five children’s books, including “Sally Sore Loser: A Story about Winning and Losing.” That book was a Gold Medal recipient of the prestigious Mom’s Choice Award. His fifth children’s book,m “Don’t Put Yourself Down in Circus Town: A Story about Self-Confidence” was just released in February of 2015. Dr. Sileo is chasing his dreams by helping people deal with the problems life throws their way - from children to adults. You’ll hear his story on this episode of Chasing Dreams. TWEET: A successful psychologist and children’s author, on this episode of #ChasingDreams How a successful psychologist began writing children’s books.Dr. Frank S

Today’s podcast episode is motivated by Aimee’s desire to have all of her listeners hear her guest’s story. Kara Gott Warner, http://www.creativeknittingmagazine.com/ (Creative Knitting Magazine) Executive Editor, and host of http://www.powerpurlspodcast.com/ (Power Purls Podcast), began her career designing knitting patterns in 2002. Her designs have been published in several magazines, including: Creative Knitting, Vogue Knitting, Family Circle Easy Knitting and Interweave Knits. Kara has a background as a technical illustrator, working with craft book publishers such as Random House, Lark Books, Sterling Publishing and F+W. Kara first joined Annie's Publishing in 2008 as knitting book editor, and then in 2010 signed on as Executive Editor of Creative Knitting Magazine and Annie’s knitting publications. Through Power Purls Podcast, Kara's mission is to dig deep and ask those burning questions about what turned her guests on to the “two sticks and fiber,” in the first place, and what keeps their needles movi

In today’s episode of “Chasing Dreams” Aimee is chatting with Elizabeth Varghese, a woman who’s chasing her dream of serving the community at http://www.ummacenters.org (the UMMA Center), an education and training facility located in one of the poorest communities in the metro Chicago area. Along with working hard to help students progress along their educational and career paths at UMMA, Elizabeth is an active member of the Indian Orthodox Church where she spends most of her time and dedicates most of her talents. Along with dancing, traveling, coloring and lollygagging with friends, she enjoys spending time in the service of others. You’ll enjoy hearing Elizabeth’s story of moving from a business management education into a life of full time service to her community. TWEET: From a business management degree to a community service career A business management degree that took a turn for the better.When today’s guest on Chasing Dreams, Elizabeth Varghese, graduated from college it was a business management de

Today’s guest on “Chasing Dreams” is Loretta Veney. Loretta is a 30 year security professional who teaches and provides security assessments and security management and operations training courses for a variety of clients and universities. She's been an instructor at Webster University in St. Louis for 17 years. But Loretta has done much more than that in pursuit of her dreams. She is also an author of a book, "Being My Mom's Mom,” published in 2013. The book outlines the journey Loretta walked alongs her mother as she battled dementia. As a result of her experience and her book Loretta has toured the country and has spoken about her book for a national memory care chain and for the Alzheimer's Association. But there’s so much more to Loretta. Her contagious enthusiasm and zest for life are obvious in this conversation. You’ll want to hear the interaction on this episode. TWEET: Dealing with dementia, a touching story on this episode of Chasing Dreams Writing a book about a personal and painful

A teenage kid who loved music. He didn’t have the means to pursue formal training or education so he started with what he had. Jay Flame progressed from that point with the tools at hand and has become a very talented artist, rapper, producer, and musician, chasing his dream because he loves it. In this episode of Chasing Dreams you’re going to hear Jay’s story: How he got interested in music, how he pursued it in the lean years, his experience with big names in the hip hop industry, and how the lessons he’s learned have moved him to make music for the joy of it rather than the money. It’s a powerful lesson, so take some time to listen. TWEET: Musician, artist, and producer who does it for the joy, not the money, today with Jay Flame If you want to do it, the tools are there. Go for it.Today’s guest on Chasing Dreams, Jay Flame, is convinced that we live in a day when anything you want to accomplish is possible. The advances in technology and the availability of resources make it possible for you to chas

Chasing dreams is not an easy thing to do. There will be setbacks. There will be discouragement. There will be failure. But it’s what you do in those times that determines if you will be an overall success or not. Today’s guest on Chasing Dreams is Alex Barker. Alex is the host of “The 66 Day Experiment” and a very busy guy. He’s a pharmacist by day and entrepreneur every morning as he takes 2 hours of every day to work on his podcast, his writing, and lots of other stuff. In today’s candid chat with Aimee J., Alex shares his journey, lessons learned, and tons of other great stuff you won’t want to miss. So grab a drink and some note paper so you can jot down the inspirations that hit you as you listen to this episode. TWEET: It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey. How is your journey going? A habit of sending Video emails to people he appreciates or wants to connect with.Alex and Aimee met at Podcast Movement 2015 and they hit it off immediately. Aimee knew right away that she needed to

What happens when your dreams begin to come into conflict with family and cultural norms? How should you think about them? How should you go about achieving them? In this episode of Chasing Dreams, with Aimee J., we’ll hear from Bindu Mathai, a makeup artist and business owner who has gone through those exact issues and come out on the other side with joy, success, and peace in her heart about the way she got to where she is. This is a delightful and inspiring conversation for any Dream Chaser, with lots of nuggets for you to take from it. Be sure to take some time to listen. A degree in psychology, a part time job, and an unexpected career path.Bindu Mathai had finished up her Bachelor’s degree in psychology and began searching for the right school to complete her Master’s level work when she took on a job at a large chain department store. It was there that she became skilled at assessing the appropriate makeup colors for the customers who came into the store. Years later she became a manager at Sephora.&nb

Many people have dreams and skills that could support those dreams. But they don’t always know it. In this episode of Chasing Dreams, Aimee J. is chatting with someone whose dreams took shape as he put his skills to work. Hani Mourra is a software engineer who somewhat stumbled into the internet by helping a friend get some videos onto http://www.youtube.com/ (YouTube). The friend began to see great traffic on his videos and encouraged Hani to consider making a business out of what he was doing, somehow. Listen in as Hani shares his story with Aimee. There’s no doubt you’ll find something encouraging to prompt you on your own dream chasing journey. TWEET: Small steps, from one #dream to another. Hear Hani Mourra’s story on this episode Many times the dream takes shape through the things you learn on the way.Hani Mourra spent many years blogging about video tips on his site http://www.EasyOnlineVideoTips.com (www.EasyOnlineVideoTips.com). It was in those years of blogging that Hani learned a lot about how

Do you have a student athlete?What would it mean to you personally if you were able to chronicle our child’s primary and high school athletic career in an easy-to-use format that lasts forever? What if that platform provided stats boards to enable assessment and improvement? What if it was able to connect your child’s online athletic profile with college recruiters and scholarship funds. And what if it could connect you with possible sponsor opportunities? All of that sounds too good to be true, but it’s a very real opportunity that is your through http://www.coachingwall.com (www.CoachingWall.com) - the brainchild of Martin Esqueda. Join Aimee J. as she chats with Martin about the usefulness and history of Coaching Wall. TWEET: Build an online diary of your student athlete’s career. Find out more on this episode A digital photo/video gallery of your child’s sporting career.You took those photos and videos of your child’s athletic achievements because you wanted to remember them, but how can you do that if th

Almost every kid dreams of being a singer or actor at some point.http://www.aristamichelle.com/ (Arista Michelle) was one of those kids, too. But for her, it was more than the “I want to be famous” kind of dream that most kids have for a little while, but fades in time. Her dream didn’t fade and by the time she was graduated from college and working in her chosen field (computer science), she realized that she wanted to take the leap and chase her dream. But it didn’t work out exactly like she thought it would. Through many detours, unexpected blessings, and opportunities she never saw coming, Arista Michelle was able to live a different life, but still have elements of her dream as rich pieces of the story. Hear her story on this episode of Chasing Dreams with Aimee J. It’s possible to reason yourself out of your dreams.The practical side takes over. The realities of life set in. You begin to recognize that your dream may not pay the bills or may not be simple to accomplish, and you give in to the pragmatic

Sometimes you don’t know what your dream job is until it jumps up in front of you.That’s the exact thing that happened to today’s guest, http://www.jamayamoore.com/ (Jamaya Moore). Jamaya graduated college and went immediately into the corporate world. She was involved in high finance in a corporate environment and loved it. The things she learned, people she met, and skills she developed in that setting still benefit her today. But her dream was dormant, waiting for her, so to speak, and she didn’t even know it. When she agreed to help out with pre-ceremony tasks on a friend’s wedding day, her dream leapt to her attention as she watched the makeup artist do her magic. It was at that moment, witnessing what in her own words was a “transformation” of her friend, that Jamaya Moore knew she had to learn the art of professional makeup. Hear Jamaya’s story on this engaging conversational episode of Chasing Dreams. TWEET: From corporate financial to successful #makeup artist. Jamaya Moore’s story, on this epis

In this episode of Chasing Dreams, Aimee J. is chatting with her own personal trainer, Andre (Dre) Watson. Dre is an amazingly fit guy who loves exercise and training. He’s always been an athlete but didn’t even think about becoming a personal trainer until way after High School. Once he got started he’s never looked back. Find out how Dre pursued his dream of becoming a fitness trainer, how he has established client relationships that have endured many changes in his employment, and how he’s stepping into the scary unknown by starting his own business. This is a fun and insightful conversation you won’t want to miss. No excuses allowed.When Dre Watson is working with a client he’s not one to allow for any excuses. It doesn’t matter if the client has an injury, is sick, or has some kind of limitation. Dre finds a way to help them work their body without hurting themselves. It’s not that he’s a slave driver, he’s just committed to helping his clients reach their goals. Listen in to this episode to hear how Aim

What does it look like to chase your dreams? Too many people believe in an idealistic dream, one that works out step by step just as they imagine it. But seldom do dreams work out that way, and seldom to we find ourselves content to walk that path anyway. Today’s guest is a long time friend of Aimee J.’s - Anne Akhila. Anne is many things: a lawyer, dancer, and actor among them. Aimee wanted Anne to come on the show because she’s a great example of someone who his having fun while pursuing her dreams, and not listening to anyone who tells her that she can’t do it. You’ll like Anne. She’s a spot of light in the darkness. Be sure to listen to this fun chat. TWEET: From child dancer, to law student, to actress, to Hollywood, on this episode Pursuing what makes you happy changes over time… have you noticed?As you grow older the things that make you happy change. It’s probably because you’re growing up, “maturing” as they call it. Or maybe it’s because when you’re younger you have different interests, things that

Your dreams are probably not going to look like what everyone else thinks they should. Stephanie Matthews’ dreams are a powerful example of that. Stephanie made the choice to change her career focus to pursue what everyone (including her) thought was a long-shot career path, that of becoming a professional musician. She had the talent, no doubt about that, but the odds of her making it professionally were clearly not in her favor. It’s important to listen to those who care about you. But you can also listen too much. Stephanie’s story highlights the difficult decisions that sometimes come from following your dreams. TWEET: Taking the more difficult path and the fruit it bears, on this episode of #ChasingDreams Is it possible to “hit the top” when pursuing your dreams?Many people think it is possible to entirely fulfill your every dream. It could be possible, depending on what the dream is. But Stephanie is one of the most successful people you’ll ever hear of in her field, but she’s quick to say that she won’