CONNECT with Sheila Botelho Podcast

Building Connection Through Mothertelling with Courtney Hobbs | Ep 455

• Sheila Botelho

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In today’s interview, we’re joined by Courtney Hobbs—a mom, educator, and storytelling coach—who’s on a mission to empower women to share the unique stories of their motherhood journeys. Courtney is the founder of Mothertelling, a supportive platform that blends her background in education with her personal experiences as a mom, creating a sanctuary where women connect, celebrate, and inspire each other.


In this episode, Courtney shares the profound impact of her “rocking chair test,” a guiding philosophy she uses to move past fears and doubts when making big life decisions. She opens up about the role of intuition in her shift from teaching and personal training to founding Mothertelling, offering advice for those struggling to trust their own instincts.


We also dive into the identity shifts she experienced moving from a traditional career path to entrepreneurship, and how she built a community of support that empowered her during this transition. Courtney discusses the importance of having honest conversations with loved ones about the financial and personal impacts of major life changes and shares her insights on transparency in pursuing a new calling.


Whether you’re a mom, a storyteller, or someone exploring a new path, Courtney’s journey offers inspiration and guidance on trusting yourself and following your passions.


Follow Courtney:

Instagram: @iamcourtneyhobbs

Website: www.mothertelling.com

Mentioned in this episode: @HighVibeWomen


PS: Thanks so much for listening. I would love your review! If you enjoy what I share in this episode, rate, Review & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/connect-with-sheila-botelho/id1527363160 I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

Courtney:

My goal with this and the tagline, or what I say with mother telling, is to share, connect and celebrate all that it is to be a mom and when we share, we connect with others and we can celebrate the challenges and the triumphs. You know, we can just celebrate being in that room together and really your story is a beacon of light for others others.

Sheila:

Hi, welcome to the Connect with Sheila Botelho podcast. I'm an entrepreneur, self-care strategist and creator of the Seasons self-care app. I'm committed to helping you reconnect to your purpose, elevate your wellbeing and build your version of a happy, successful life. And it is interview day on the podcast. I'm so thrilled to be introducing you to someone who I recently met at a live in-person event local to where I live. That was so inspiring. In fact, I'll tell you it was the High Vibe Women event, and if you want information on that, I will link it in the show notes because they've got another one coming up in March for people in Ontario to come on and check out. And so Courtney is my guest today.

Sheila:

Courtney Hobbs is a mom educator and storytelling coach who empowers women to share their unique motherhood journeys Through Mother Telling, a supportive platform that she founded. Courtney blends her background as a teacher with her experiences as a teacher, with her experiences as a mom, to help women capture the essence of their stories. Mother Telling serves as a sanctuary where women can connect, celebrate and inspire one another. Courtney, so happy to have you here.

Courtney:

I am so excited to be here. From the moment you and I met on the street heading into this high vibe event, I just knew that our paths aligned the timing, you know, the universe put us together for a reason. So this is really exciting to be here chatting and on your podcast. So thank you.

Sheila:

Such a pleasure and I do love that. Where we met was literally on the street. We were both walking from our cars and it's like we just kind of looked at each other and we're like high five woman, yeah, High five woman. That was one to no one Right. So that was pretty cool and that was a fun event. And at that event you actually shared with me the trajectory of where you were and what brought you into this storytelling work and I literally, even, as I'm saying this right now, I get little goosebumps because in the moment that's how I felt, Because you were speaking to something that I think is so foundational to being a woman that used to be part of our culture. Like for generations, that has become less of our culture and more competition often comes up between women. So the fact that women get to tell their stories, do it in community, connect truly and deeply, is so meaningful to me. So I'd love to hear a little bit about kind of your background and then what really brought you into this type of opportunity.

Courtney:

Absolutely, thank you. It's always you know how our stories are so robust and they go off on lots of different trajectories, and so I always think you know what would be most impactful for me to share. And I think for me I didn't start with mother telling as my business idea, as you know, the vision of my life kind of thing. I wanted to be a teacher and that like I wanted to be a dance teacher when I was really little, until I realized it was a lot of evenings and weekends, and then transitioned into becoming a high school teacher and so I loved teaching but quickly learned that the institution of education, the way that it is here, at least in Ontario, it was not for me. It did not. I felt really stifled. I ended up burning out completely because I was working very hard to be all the things to all the people run, all the clubs, all of that. And so I had a breakdown, turn, breakthrough and realized I was an entrepreneur at heart and started a personal training and wellness business and that was out of our home and I loved it. I loved my clients, I loved teaching and educating them.

Courtney:

But then, as life unfolded, so I had, I essentially I left teaching on maternity leave. So I had my daughter and she ended up coming a month early. So she was. She arrived at 35 weeks and four days and obviously it was a surprise and we were in the NINCU, the neonatal intensive care unit, for almost two weeks with her Just. She struggled to breathe and then she struggled to latch and eat properly, like on her own. And it was in that moment, in the dark, you know NINCU rooms, holding my baby, where this vision came to me of bringing moms together to share stories about motherhood. And it was because moms were sharing their stories of them being in the NICU, of their first days of motherhood, their tips, their things that helped them survive through it, and I just felt so seen and heard. In that moment I was felt very alone, even though my partner was there, my parents visited, like all of that. I had people around me but no other mothers that were like going through that experience. And this vision was so clear to me and as a storyteller myself, as somebody who I taught drama and English, which is rooted in storytelling, so it just felt so clear.

Courtney:

But I had started my personal training business as I was pregnant, knowing this would be my transition out of teaching and I thought how do you, how do I follow this vision when I've just started this other business? I'm and I have a baby, and so I shoved it and pushed it away, as I feel like a lot of people do. I can't do that. How, who would do? Why would people want to come, all these thoughts that we have? And so I pursued my personal training business, which was lovely and wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Courtney:

But then I was pregnant with my second baby and she was due January 2020, which is when she arrived Not early. That was great, and everything changed after that. I mean, I took two weeks off of my business or sorry, two weeks, two months off, eight weeks. When I returned back to my personal training business, I was open for a week and then everything shut down and I had a two-year-old and a two-month-old at home with me.

Courtney:

I wasn't able to pivot, like I watched other people do, to an online or, but I really truly looked at it as a gift to be home with my babies and to have this space and time with them. To be home with my babies and to have this space and time with them as life unfolds. And you know I think, okay, when this is over, give it two weeks, give it. You know, when this is over, oh boy, I know right, that's what we were all thinking. I remember thinking like there's no way, but I'm going to be hopeful. And anyway, as you know, looking at life, looking at what's important, we ended up moving from the house that we had that had my home studio in it and I had said to my husband I am okay to release this personal training business, I'm okay to let it go. I don't really know what's on the horizon.

Courtney:

So we moved homes and I really had another. I wouldn't say a breakdown, but a really like identity, not even an identity crisis, just like okay, who am I? What do I want? That was fun, you know. Like the personal training, do I want to do that in a different capacity? You know you have all these thoughts and anyway, mother telling showed up again and like so clear and it was just like you have to go for it. This is the time I always take the rocking chair test. That's what I call it. So I'm 120 years old on my rocking chair, thinking back onto my life, and my 120-year-old self really would have regretted if I didn't go for it, so I launched the business in September 2023 and haven't looked back.

Sheila:

That is so great.

Sheila:

I love hearing this idea of you were really trusting your intuition as to what to do next, because often people I find especially people in the space of moving from something that is non-entrepreneurial into something entrepreneurial is they put limits on themselves, non-entrepreneurial into something entrepreneurial is they put limits on themselves and there is.

Sheila:

It's really an identity shift as much as anything else. And so to know, just have that deep knowing that this is what I'm meant to do even though, yes, I'm trained classically as a teacher this you know and now I'm trained, as you know, as a personal trainer to then make that shift and have that knowing within you that you can trust yourself to do something different and like it's not that it would have been permanent, but you're moving to a different space. It definitely would have been less convenient if you decided, oh, actually I'm thinking I'm going to go back to the personal training thing, but you know it would have worked out. So I love that you trusted yourself and that's really big is the intuition piece. And so this I would love to know a little bit about your support system as you were making those shifts. Talk to me if you feel like sharing what was the conversation like with your husband when you were wanting to make this shift Because there's economic impacts on that?

Sheila:

I mean, there were economic impacts for everybody around the 2020 year anyway. However, what was that conversation like and how did he respond?

Courtney:

Oh, I love this question. So I will say one of the things that held me back from going for it at first, I mean, although I had just started this other business, but the thing that kept pushing the idea, like closing the door on the idea, was, um, who, like this, is not? How do I say this? So personal training is something concrete that people understand. I know what personal training is. I know small group training. I know what you're going to put me through. I know you know this was like this abstract idea that people still, when I talk to them, some get it, others I have to explain a little bit more. Other people are like I don't know what you do, which I'm sure we'll talk about in a bit.

Courtney:

When I ran my first event and really promoting that from a vision in my head, so I was definitely afraid of that piece of people just not understanding how you know and that self-doubt of how is this going to work. And then the economics, like the financial piece. Absolutely I knew I wanted to run an event I wanted to put on a performance event where women took to the stage and shared their story. And events are not cheap and I know they can be money makers, but they're often not, or you need to be really dialed in and there's money to put out front to solidify a venue and to put deposits down on certain things that the venue needs or the event needs, and I knew that that would have to come from somewhere, that would have to look like something, whereas when I did the gym, when I left teaching to start that, I literally had a client who worked out in our living room when we started, I had a couple dumbbells, a couple kettlebells and that was it and just slowly like built up to then, okay, we're going to rip out the carpet we're going to put, but I I did it slow and and kind of raise the money, earned the money to pay for that as we went, kind of raise the money, earn the money to pay for that as we went, whereas this was going to be a little bit different and that was scary.

Courtney:

He was awesome, you know, in the yeah, okay, let's go for it, like you've had this vision, and he knew I had it. I had talked to him about it for a couple of years. It wasn't like this was coming out of nowhere to him, but he was definitely scared, you know, because I also had essentially been off. I supply teach right now currently. So I do that a couple of days a week, part-time, and I enjoy it. I like being in the classroom with the kids. I like that I don't have to deal with some of the stuff that I don't like in the system. I can just hand in my keys at the end of the day. But I also wasn't bringing in an income like I was with starting the personal training business, even going off a maternity leave was still bringing in some money based on that.

Courtney:

So that was definitely a lot of deep conversations based on that. So that was definitely a lot of deep conversations, discussions, arguments, you know, but in the end he was definitely very supportive, which was great. To the point of when the event was actually coming. You know, he helped me find certain people in his network. I wanted a videographer and he's like I have just the person for it and he reached out to him and helped me. Like, I needed chairs for my event. I had to rent chairs and a physical stage, and so he helped with my dad, you know, to go and pick those up and that kind of stuff which, like I, I needed that I couldn't have gone and done all that by myself. You know you need your support network around you.

Sheila:

Absolutely, and I think that in and of itself, I feel like strengthening that intuitive voice within us does involve taking those baby steps and sometimes leaps in the direction of where intuition is telling us to go. That's really some people have asked me how do you actually strengthen your intuition? It's really just by taking the action right, based on what you're feeling inside of you. But in this case, also having a supportive group or person by your side is super helpful, because they may see things you don't see, and that can be a double-edged sword, because they don't see what you can see. But the fact that you know he was supportive of you and that you know you're being real here, like, obviously it's. It's not always just, like I say, a smooth, direct line. It is you learn as you go and through the conversations, things open up, and so shifting from the more traditional career path to entrepreneurship, like I mentioned it, comes with these identity challenges. What were some of the biggest identity shifts that you experienced during this transition and how did you navigate them?

Courtney:

Oh, wow to go back to your other point, I had to borrow other people's beliefs in me. So, although my husband, you know, was by my side, I had a lot of friends I shouldn't I shouldn't say I do have a lot of friends, but I mean, like I had this core group of, you know, five women that I could name for you right now that really believed in me and my vision. They saw me as a storytelling coach before I saw myself as that, and so there were times where I felt like who do I think I am? What am I doing? Who's going to buy tickets? Why would people want to come? All these questions, and I would borrow their belief in me and I would think to myself I need to keep going, because Roz believes in me and Aaron believes in me and I just they see me as this, they see this vision coming to life. They know that I will do this. So I have to keep showing up for them, because sometimes you need somebody else's belief to push you through, because when we're just by ourselves in our thoughts, sometimes that can really derail us or feel really lonely and isolating. But yeah, I really borrowed other people's belief in me, tried to see myself as they saw me. That was powerful.

Courtney:

That happened a number of times, even with the event looking for sponsors. I put out one post about anybody who's willing to sponsor the event again, because it had never happened. So it was this vision I was casting out and the response I got was overwhelming. I thought, thought, if I just get one person, that'll be great. But I had so many people reach out We'd love to be a part of this, we'd love to sponsor, we'd love to contribute to the swag bag. And I just thought, okay, wow, they believe in this. They see it, they're with me on this vision. I have to keep going because they're believing in me, you know. So yeah, that was. I don't know if that's entirely answering your question, but it was just yeah.

Sheila:

Absolutely. And and that, like I say, the identity shift when we think about this. Often what you were just saying, like that, that that one comment who am I to do this? So many people will come to me and I hear people, like everywhere, talking about they'll actually take ownership of quote my imposter syndrome and, um, and I know that is a really true feeling for people. But really, when we break it down, it's actually not that you're an imposter, it's just that you're new. You're new at doing something right, and so the identity shift is you're just stepping into another version of who you are, another piece of your personality and your gifts that maybe you've just it's been untapped.

Sheila:

Think about it. We could do so many different things. It's not advisable to do tons of things all at once because you may not do them all well. However, I do love to be a generalist in some things, like in terms of hobbies and things like that, because it gives you an insight in what you need to know and be being a generalist in your business as to, okay, what are the system structures, all the things that need to be done, so that you know, okay, who is doing a good job when you're hiring and delegating Very important.

Sheila:

However, this idea of the identity that you're stepping into, you're not going to be amazing at doing something. At first, it is going to feel uncomfortable, and that's why the entrepreneurship journey is not for everybody. It's for those who are willing to face the discomfort and to be new at doing something and make the mistakes in front of a captive audience. And so what you did for yourself, by creating that community of people who were there holding you to your vision, was that you didn't let yourself off the hook, because when we do things alone, we can have a whole list and then just not do it, but no one would be the wiser.

Sheila:

Yep. So that is a takeaway for all of us. For anything that we're wanting to do, go public, go public, at least with a small group. And, as you mentioned, entrepreneurship can be a really lonely journey at times. So were these people that you reached out to, were they people who had been in your network for a while, or were they people that, as you expanded out into, let's say, personal training, you may have met? They were all doing different things as well, like how did you cultivate your network? I always love to hear these backstories.

Courtney:

Well, one of them was my childhood friend, is my childhood friend from when we were four years old and we just, I feel so grateful that we're still friends and actually our daughters are now best friends. We did not orchestrate that. They just have become like besties, which is lovely, but so that I feel is very special and that she's just always been there, kind of seen me through, cheered me on the others. I think you'll love this. So I had I'm gonna come to my point, I promise. So I had an opportunity to going to come to my point, I promise. So I had an opportunity to speak on stage at a conference and it was a speaker slam in this business mentorship program that I was in, so a membership type thing, and we could all do this pitch and then we won.

Courtney:

There was a small group of us that won to be able to speak for 10 minutes TED Talk style on the stage at this conference and there were about 250 people in the audience and I was in that phase of am I starting my personal training business back up or am I going to launch this? Mother telling. And I remember being on one of the calls and crying, like with the other speakers saying I can't stand on stage and speak about my personal training business. I think I need to declare this new business into the world. And the woman who was running the conference and coaching us, you know, on our talks she said I think you do, let's do it. And so I went on stage, my bio was about my personal training business and then I shared my story and, in front of 250 people, said that I was starting this new business.

Sheila:

I love that so much. I thought you would, because sometimes it's getting out of our ordinary environment and we come into this other space where we see other people confronting fears and putting their big, bold idea out there and we see, oh, I'm not the only one and yeah, it's possible for me. So how amazing. And it's kind of like just cutting ties with that old idea of what business looked like for you. How did that feel in the moment? Like were you just flying on stage? Did it feel like was it just downloading to you as you were speaking? Like what was that like?

Courtney:

I have never. I love public speaking and being in front of people and on stage. I have never been so nervous in my life and I think it was just because I was literally like birthing this idea into the world is how it felt and it's I shared my birth story of my daughter coming early and how mother telling was birthed, as I was like birthing it into the world. It was. It's really. It was a pivotal moment in my life that I will a core memory. You know that I will remember forever and it felt so good afterward. The amount of women that stopped me and related to my story were excited about what was to come. That was really powerful and you know, when you go to a great event you're flying high, it's great, and this was in Calgary.

Courtney:

So then I had like the trip home and I was feeling homesick. I had been away from my babies for a number of days the longest, you know I had been away from the girls and I remember feeling nauseous on the plane Like what have I done? What am I doing? But then that was where this smaller group of women that I had met through this business networking so actually three of them are out in BC and Alberta. They that's when I really needed them to come and not come. But you know, surround me, believe in me, because it was that that feeling. It felt I was so high and then it was just like the high I felt like a balloon deflating and that was that plane ride home felt really. I just felt nauseous, like I felt like a balloon deflating and that was that plane ride home felt really. I just felt nauseous, like I felt like what have I done? It's like an event hangover.

Sheila:

An event hangover where you're just like woo, you know, and it's interesting, this happens after when I speak to authors, when I talk to people who are, you know, they've just launched something new or they've just sunsetted a business, and they're like now, in the between, there's kind of this period of time where they're trying to process it and it's like they kind of go dark for a moment. And it's a necessary time because when we think about the seasons of life and the seasons in nature, we can't be go, go, go all the time and so having that time to just kind of allow things to sink in. Right before, like in this case, you were like springtime, because you'd been planting some seeds. Like the seeds have been planted, but there's still nothing to see.

Sheila:

You don't really know. Is it going to? What's the weather going to be like? Is it going to be sunny? Is it going to be? Will we be rained out? And will this thing grow? How out? And will this thing grow, how's this going to work? So then the work comes right, the inspiration first, and the declaration which is so powerful, and now it's like okay, so let's actually do this. So now you get to tell me I really I bet everybody's wanting to know. Okay, tell me, what are these events, tell me about the events. I want to know, like, how did the first one come about, and yeah, and what were the results?

Courtney:

Oh, thank you for asking. So yes, the very first mother telling event happened in may uh, 2024, so just earlier this year and again I had been sharing my vision via social media. I had had an email list from my previous business, so I was sharing it to them, you know, and you had unsubscribers and things like that, because it wasn't, it wasn't personal training, it wasn't wellness, and so I was just putting it out there and I had seven brave women when I put the pitch to I'm looking for storytellers for the Mothertelling Mainstage event in May the first annual inaugural event and I had seven brave women reach out to me. Ideally I wanted six, and so seven. I was like, yeah, come in. Well, you know, it's fine. And so then I took them through an eight-week program where I helped them build out their story. They're all telling true stories, so it's all. The premise is you are telling a true story. However, the way you deliver a story, some of the storytelling techniques that you weave in, can really capture an audience as opposed to just being a story that you tell kind of off the cuff. And so I helped them build their story out so that it was entertaining and inspiring and all the things we want a good story to be.

Courtney:

And then the second. So that was about the first four weeks, and then the last four weeks were a lot on the confidence building, the stage presence, the how to like actually the public speaking. I should say the public speaking and presentation skill of like saying your story out loud, and I think you'll appreciate this, which caught me off guard the work around, the stress, the nerves, the anxiety that naturally comes up when you are going to speak on stage. You can be a veteran, you know you can be very good at public speaking, but A when you're speaking and telling a story that's from your heart, that's rich with emotion, and you might be saying it out loud, you know, to a room full of people that can really play. So we did a lot more on the grounding techniques, breathing techniques, things like that that I had been doing with my wellness clients but didn't necessarily see a place for with this business. And then there it was, and so it was really powerful, anyway.

Courtney:

And so then the event itself was a brunch event, because sometimes going out at night is tough for moms. I know it's harder for me, at the stage I'm in with my children, who are four and six. So it was a brunch event. There was food, there was awesome swag bags, there was hot coffee and tea.

Courtney:

Basically, I wanted, from the moment they parked their car, or even the emails they got telling them where to go and where to park their car I wanted them to feel connected to, cared for, seen, you know I'm here, ask any questions. And a friend of mine who has quite high anxiety, she said like I feel so prepared for your event, I know exactly where to go and what to do. And I said, okay, that's good, that's what I want. And so I just wanted moms to feel pampered. And so then they came, we had fun, we listened to the stories. There were some vendors there, it was. There was not enough time actually for all the things that could have happened in that space. So that's one takeaway I have from the first event in that space. So that's one takeaway I have from the first event.

Courtney:

But yeah, we had a whole array of beautiful women sharing stories.

Courtney:

From one woman, her son was diagnosed as deaf at 18 months old.

Courtney:

Another, her husband died when she had a three-year-old and a three-month-old who are her children, are now grown.

Courtney:

So there's that reflection piece, um, another woman whose daughter was diagnosed with autism, and that one was really powerful in that I knew there were two women in the audience who were going through an autism diagnosis, with their daughters going through the testing, meeting with the psychologist, all of that stuff and um, anita, who shared her story. Her daughter is now 19 years old, so she has this journey, this perspective, and just I know that those two women, specifically because they're friends of mine, felt seen, felt, heard, felt like they could connect with someone. And my goal with this, and kind of the tagline or what I say with mother telling, is to share, connect and celebrate. Kind of the tagline or what I say with mother telling is to share, connect and celebrate. You know all that it is to be a mom and when we share, we connect with others and we can celebrate the challenges and the triumphs. You know, we can just celebrate being in that room together and and really your story is a beacon of light for others.

Courtney:

It is, and the more that we share, the more we connect you know, and the more we can dismantle that shame, guilt, some of the things that come with motherhood, especially when we're isolated through it.

Sheila:

Yeah, so beautiful and I see how it would have been so well attended. Like, what was your initial attendance of this, if you remember? And then tell me a little bit about what were some of the next steps for these people, like, was it, like, were they receiving emails from you afterwards? And I'd love to also hear what your vision is for what's next.

Courtney:

Oh my gosh, I just got shivers. I'm so excited about all these questions. Okay, so my attendance I had 50 tickets to sell and I sold 48 of them. Fabulous Congratulations. Your first event, I know right, because man was I afraid, you know, putting it out there. But in total we had 68 people, so I had volunteers, the vendors, the storytellers, so yeah, it was about 68, then 20 extra people, so it felt very full and amazing. The next steps afterwards so, yes, I emailed out to the attendees.

Courtney:

Originally, the thing that came from the eight of us working together so the seven storytellers and myself was incredibly healing and therapeutic. These women who wanted to share their story. I had conversations with them to make sure that they were prepared to share their story from a scar, not an open wound, because this was not therapy. It was. It's therapeutic in nature, but I needed to know that they had worked through and processed some of the things that they were going to speak about, and so what I really wanted to do was take the closeness that the eight of us had and bring that into something else. So I originally had been thinking I might create a membership off of this or something along those lines.

Courtney:

Hangover, I wasn't burnt out at all. I had really put into place lots of support and help through planning, preparing, being ready for the event. But I definitely like crashed after of just wow, I did it. My vision was in my head came to life on stage. Wow, like I, just I had to process. And what was really cool, sheila, is that the event that I declared my vision on it they were having the next event, the second annual conference, three weeks after my mother telling event and I attended and it was really cool to see a lot of people who had seen my journey and they're like you just did it, like you had your event. So that felt really inspiring. But then I will say, like, when I came home again from that conference, on the plane after my event, after I, yeah, I really had to process what had just happened, what I had done, not only to celebrate and process, but also okay, what, what do I have the capacity? What does this look like? All that reflection piece?

Courtney:

Um, so, as of right now, my next step is to run another mother telling main stage event in May of 2025. That is the thing that I'm working toward finding storytellers to do the mother telling program to speak on stage. That's my next big thing, I guess, and I I thought I wanted to do some smaller events, but again, I'm just going with the flow of what feels right for me, because I know how I want these events to feel to women who come and I didn't want to rush anything or throw something together, and so this feels really right for where I'm at. My big vision if I may cast it out to your audience, do cast it out is eventually to have mother telling events all over the world, like Ted talks, but mother telling.

Courtney:

So if somebody in Mexico would like to run a mother telling events, there's a um like, licensing that happens. This is you know, you use, you can use our logo, you use the brand colors. This is how it should look. Is you know, you use, you can use our logo, you use the brand colors. This is how it should look. You know, et cetera, et cetera. Ted, that's how Ted does it Like. So TEDx events there's a like, a whole booklet and a whole thing that you have to follow to run an event. Right, and so that's my, that is my big vision, because I know by myself I cannot be running a mother telling event every weekend, but there can be a mother telling event running every weekend all over the world. So that's my big vision.

Sheila:

That is leverage, a big vision with some leverage there, so that your mission is expanding. And so, as a result, so many people are getting this transformative experience of really connecting through their stories and being in a healing state, because there's so much we go through as moms and, even if we've not had anything pivotal happen to ourselves, to be able to be in that room with other women witnessing their journeys. It only increases our capacity for compassion, but also to be able to be there to support and, like. I always believe that it's like when you're having a good day, let someone know, because they need to hear it. When you're having a bad day, let someone know so they can support you. Like it is, it's that beautiful symbiotic thing that we can do for each other.

Sheila:

That, again, historically women were amazing at doing and I think we're getting really good at it at least a subset of our, of our global female I think we're getting really good at it at least a subset of our global female population.

Sheila:

But we need more. We need more connection and I think it helps everybody and a connected mom raising her kids helps the kids feel more safe, secure, all of those things seen, heard, because our kids are definitely at any age. It doesn't matter if they're teenagers or even if they're out of the house. Like any conversation that we have with our kids, they are co-regulating with us Just like any human being in conversation, like we're co-regulating right now, right Even through a screen, and so I love what you've put together and I love your vision and I'm going to celebrate that. That is the thing that's going to happen for you and this course that you take people through. Is this something that you continually have running or do you run it throughout the year? Tell us more about that and also let us know where people can gain access to this course, where they can find you, follow you and learn about the next event.

Courtney:

Thank you. So what's ongoing for me is I run a series of three different workshops. They do not have to be taken together, you could just take one. But the first one is called Find your Story, where I just help women learn to collect memories, little story worthy moments in their day to day, but also go through their memories and find stories that maybe they forgot. So there's fun little creative activities that I help that just pull out oh yeah, I forgot about that. Or oh yeah, there was that. So that's a really fun workshop.

Courtney:

The second workshop on that that builds off of it is called Build your Story and that's where I introduce some storytelling techniques. So the idea is that you come into that workshop with a story idea in mind and we help I help you through that workshop, craft your story. So again, it flows well and it's entertaining and all of those things. And then the last one, which I actually just ran for the first time last weekend, was called Tell your Story and that is the public speaking presentation, confidence building workshop. And man, it was so fun and I knew it was going to be fun, but, like when you actually do it, it was, it was awesome, and so that one. Also, you do not have to be a mom. You will none of them. You have to be a mom, but you don't even have to have a story. You can just come and if, say, you have to give a speech at a wedding and you're nervous about it because it's not what you normally do, like it's a great little workshop for that. So those ones I run I'm trying to figure out the cadence that works with my life on when and how often I'm running them. But they are also available on demand. So if somebody just wanted to do them on their own, they're available to do that as well.

Courtney:

And then right now, the the mother telling program will run, probably starting in March, leading up to the event in May, like the eight weeks leading up to that event, um, and then my hope is to be able to run it like to have another, maybe smaller event and run the program continuously, always looking for more storytellers and um, working with women who have stories to tell. So that's the goal. But, as of right now, I will be starting that program end of February, beginning of March. I'm I have an event that or, excuse me, a venue that I've been speaking with to host the event. I just need to confirm the dates I want to have, just for people who are running events.

Courtney:

The first event I didn't have a dress rehearsal. We did like a virtual dress rehearsal, which was great, but it didn't give them the walking up onto the stage speaking into the microphone, like that is very important and I know that from my drama background and former drama teacher, like I know these things. But I just decided we didn't need it and we need it. So I'm just trying to confirm the two days with the venue and then, once I have that solidified, it'll be working backwards from there on when we start the program.

Sheila:

So I love it. So where can people find you and follow you, and what's your favorite place for people to come find you?

Courtney:

Thank you. Um, instagram is where I hang out the most. I'm dabbling into LinkedIn, but that one seems like a beast. And then my website is mothertellingcom. On Instagram I am Courtney Hobbs is my handle. And then my email list is also where I like to share delightful distractions for moms. So just little activities you can do on your own with your kids. It's kind of creativity based and just some fun prompts, things to make you smile. It's just meant to. You know you smile when you see it pop up in your email because you know, oh, this is going to be positive and you know fun.

Sheila:

We need that in our email. More smiles in our email, please. Oh well, thank you so much for sharing all this, and I'm celebrating the fact that you trusted your intuition. You took the step, you got the support and now you're continuing in this direction. You've you've spun off in many different little things and ways. You're serving people. That I think is so, so valuable, and I'm excited to to see and follow along myself. I'm so happy that we met. Thank you so much for being here.

Courtney:

Thank you for having me and trusting in me to come to your audience, cause I know that that means a lot and they mean a lot to you, and so I just I really appreciate being here in your space, thank you.

Sheila:

Oh, total pleasure and everyone, thank you so much for listening. If you got something valuable from this episode, tag us on the socials, dm us, let us know. And actually when you're listening to the podcast, if that's where you're hearing this, you'll see a little line where you can tap to text me. I would love to hear what you got out of this. It means the world to us when you're listening to something that can really improve your life, and I love spreading this message, especially for women, to be able to celebrate and support each other. So, thank you for being here. I appreciate you. Have a beautiful rest of your week, big blessings, thank you.