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YOU SHOULD KNOW HER NAME

A Blue Shoe  Podcast  Production

PODCAST & VLOG EPISODES

Episodes

Christine Merser Interviews Alexandra Peters: All About Samplers

Alexandra Peters’ collection of samplers from the girls who went before us is riveting. The history behind them. The artistic nature of them. Their relevance to what ’she’ was facing in the 1800s will have your head spinning. Do not miss this interview with the brilliant Alexandra, who teaches us so much in the hour she spent with our fearless leader Christine Merser for Ladies Who Launch. You will find yourself heading up to your attic to see if by chance any of your ancestors happened to do a sampler that tells the story of her message to the world and your family's values.

One of the Groundbreaking OBGYN's on Abortions in the '70s (with Thomas Kerenyi)

With the week's recent events, Christine thought it was apropos to revisit an interview she did a few years ago with Dr. Thomas Kerenyi, former head of obstetrics at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and one of the few doctors to step up after Roe v. Wade and perform safe adoptions for women. Dr. Kerenyi describes the panel(of all men we might add)that determined if a women was eligible to receive an abortion, the importance of a woman's ability to receive a safe abortion, and an incredibly unique insight into the institution of Roe v. Wade established in 1970. A hero then and how hard it is to believe that we might be back in a time and place where Dr. Kerenyi, if he were still with us, would need to put his career on the line once again to save women's lives.

Women as First Time Home Buyers; Who Knew?

Listen as Christine Merser interviews data miner Jessica Lautz from the National Association of Real Estate Researchers. The organization recently released the numbers behind single women out purchasing single men as first time home buyers by 10%! But the really surprising info is that we have been doing it since the early 80’s and considering the fact that women couldn’t be guaranteed the right to get a mortgage before the mid seventies (yes, they could discriminate based on gender no matter how strong your credit was), it’s certainly worth noting. But what does it all mean? A great conversation about the numbers, and what needs to happen with them to better serve women. 

Christine Merser & Leslie Grossman Talk The Strongest Women Leaders Of 2021

Leslie Grossman, founder of Circle Leadership, and Christine Merser, Leader of Blue Shoe, each show up at the table with three picks for the strongest Women Leaders of 2021. Some surprises to be sure; a little controversy. Don’t miss this podcast where Beth Dutton of Yellowstone has the stage alongside Liz Cheney, the GOP turncoat leading the January 6th committee examining the Insurrection. Who are your picks? We’d love to hear.

In 1993, almost thirty years ago, families were airlifted out of Bosnia to America, in a situation similar to the one faced by families in Afghanistan now. Our host, for the series Ladies Who Launch, Christine Merser, took a 12 year old girl into her home with her daughter, in much the same way American families are being asked to do now. "I have never talked to Nihada (known now as Nina) about what that was like for her way back then, but she said if her experience could help those coming over now, she would be happy to be interviewed. It was a hard interview. She was 12 when she came to live with us and we never discussed what it was like." Have a listen to hear what it was like for a young girl, plucked from the danger that surrounded her, and brought to America.

Meet the Team Behind Equine Elixirs - Liz Ehrlich & Kimberly Ercius

We sat down with the sister duo behind Equine Eilixirs, Liz Ehrlich & Kimberly Ercius, to talk about their start in life together as sisters and then later as business partners, building Equine Elixirs.

Anne Sebba's book, Ethel Rosenberg; An American Tragedy

Ethel Rosenberg. Not guilty. A victim of a patriarchal US government plan (you remember Hoover) to get her husband to confess by putting her on trial. A bad plan gone worse, and the destruction of her reputation and motherhood was a planned strategy. Do not miss this new take on the Rosenberg's and what really happened. Anne Sebba, who is a NY Times best selling author of eleven biographies is mesmerizing as she tells the backstory of the times and what happened.

Laura Singer Interview: From Foster Care to Law School

It's not often I have the opportunity to interview someone like Laura Singer, who grew from foster care child - to graduate of Georgetown Law School. Her story and her insight as to how she accomplished what she did, is not to be missed. There are so many life lessons; the three words she uses to describe herself, her secret 'hobby' that gave her confidence to go after what she wanted, and so much more. After her post on LinkedIN garnered more then 30,000 responses, we knew she was a woman to listen to.

Time With Tanaka

Christine Merser interviews Patrice Tanaka around all things joy… Finding joy, choosing joy, in this difficult time of COVID and political divisiveness. Christine finds her way to finding joy, something that has eluded her over the past few months. It’s a great conversation about choices, how the Danish find happiness and even some conversation around Harvard’s most popular class (how to be happy) versus Stanford’s most popular class on how to build an APP. Not to be missed.

Leaders & Followers; The Responsibility of Both

Christine Merser and Leslie Grossman talk all things ‘leadership,’ including how to determine what followers you want as well as what the follower responsibility is in this new era of so many leaders and so little time. Are all leaders good? Attributes of some of today’s leaders, and of course the leadership styles of Donald Trump & Joe Biden.

Carol Rea from UPS Talks About Women Big Business

Christine Merser interviews Carol Rea, who works at UPS in Kansas City about her rise at UPS. Much laughter. Much reinforcement around working for a large company like UPS, and best of all, laugh about Carol “Browning Up” to deliver packages during the busy season at UPS.

Another woman’s story and insight.

Restorative Practices, Trauma Informed Practices, in Education and Beyond (with Maya Baker)

Maya Baker, principal of the Bayshore School in California’s Bay Area, speaks with our managing editor, Christine Merser, on groundbreaking educational methods in areas such as “warm demander” teaching, restorative practices in education, relationship-focused education, culturally relevant and responsive teaching practices, and working through trauma in the classroom. We could have spent hours and hours with her, listening to her patient answers to our questions, such as, “What is a child’s personal responsibility for his or her behavior?” Don’t miss this podcast if you care about education and want to understand how to provide each and every child with the best possible learning environment.

For your reference, here are some of the resources she mentions in the podcast:

“Fostering Resilient Learners” by Kristin Souers and Pete Hall is the book I was referencing and reading while in New York.

Zaretta Hammond authored the book “Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain.” I didn’t mention her in this podcast, but she is absolutely instrumental to understanding the neuroscience behind culturally relevant and responsive teaching practices. www.cultofpedagogy.com/culturally-re…sconceptions/ is a very useful blog in which her work is explored in fine detail.

Ross W. Greene, Ph.D. is the author of “Lost at School” and the ALSUP I spoke of — Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems.

Here is the URL for TREE, www.thecclc.org., an amazing program in Maine that I visited and workshopped with last spring. They are doing incredible work involving trauma-informed practices, and it’s through that program I acquired the rubric I shared with you. I am proud that my school will be working with them this year.

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