Learn 2 Listen

  On this episode of Learn 2 Listen, we’re joined by Armando Sanchez, Notre Dame Alumni (2020), Orr Fellow Alumni (2020), and Product Manager at Multiply. We chat through; Being each other’s accountability partner Personal and professional development What we wish we knew about transitioning into the workforce What expectations vs reality look like in the workforce Navigating being a first-generation college student and graduate Completing mindset training & the power of your subconscious Mindless timelessness & dopamine detoxing Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcast

  This week we are joined by Sam Manfreda, former D1 Rower at the University of Notre Dame (‘21) and current Software Engineer at Google. Sam is one of Mariah’s very best friends (if you couldn’t tell from the many laughs) and trusted confidant. In this episode, you’ll hear them discuss what it’s like to transition away from higher education and the service industry to a full time position at one of the biggest tech companies, the idea that there is plenty of space for emotion and empathy in our world, different methods of coping with stress and expressing vulnerability, as well as the interesting relationship one can have with working out and guilt. That’s a lot of stuff to cover, but lucky for us, we recorded it all ;). Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcast

  This episode of Learn 2 Listen is a tad bit different in that my lovely friend and Orr Fellow, Devon Ngo, is interviewing our host, Mariah Parsons, on why she started Learn 2 Listen. Devon attended the University of Notre Dame (Class of 2021), is currently in the Orr Fellowship, and is also an Operations Analyst and Photographer. He is currently building out his photography portfolio and asked Mariah if she would be featured. The mission of Devon’s project is to capture people in their element, doing what they are passionate about, and for Mariah, that’s podcasting! If you’re in the Indianapolis area and are looking to get involved with Devon and his photography, please check him out via his website ! Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcast

  On this Episode of Learn 2 Listen, we’re joined by Monroe Olsen, former D1 Volleyball player at Notre Dame. Monroe shares about her opinions on spirituality and religion and how they influence her perspective. Mariah and Monroe discuss their different narratives as it pertains to being injured and stepping away from sport, wading through the waters of being sent home during the COVID pandemic, and transitioning out of our careers in athletics to intentionally slow down. Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcast

  On this episode of Learn 2 Listen, we’re joined by Beverly Yanez. She is an American soccer coach and former professional player who is currently the assistant coach of Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She’s also a loving wife and mother of a little 1 and a half year old. She shares about what it was like to step away from being a player into a coach and how that reshaped her identity. Bev and Mariah also chat about what it's like to push down and hide anxiety when you're in athletics which flows into a conversation around coaching and mental health. Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcast Listen to Bev and Mariah's previous conversation on AFH Presents: Conversations on Sports and Mental Health.

  Today we are joined by Sophie Wang and Lexi Andrie, two Orr Fellows and founders and CEO and COO of the non-profit LUMA Galleries. We talk about their personal journeys and what they’ve learned through founding a non-profit that illuminates different narratives. In this episode you’ll hear about how and when we started to become aware of our own individual needs, shame around injury, painful experiences bringing out growth, amplifying the voices of others, the importance of human connection, how to avoid negative self-talk, and so much more. Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcast Get your tickets to LUMA Volume I: https://www.lumagalleries.org/event-details/luma-vol-i

  On this episode of Learn 2 Listen, we’re joined by Cory Camp, a phenomenal human being and expert in helping athletes find their flow state. He’s a swimmer, coach, author, podcaster, and founder of Forever Athlete. He takes personal development and trains others on how to be successful in it. In this episode we talk about the struggle to label yourself with an intro and on social media, content creation, making lifestyle and personal development easy and sustainable, the Psychophysiological window of tolerance of stress, flow state psychology, intermediately challenging yourself, imposter syndrome and so much. Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcast

  We’re joined by LaVonne Idlette, Olympic track star, lawyer and investment coach, and contestant on The Amazing Race. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed in the Women's 100 meters hurdles as well as attending Hampton University to compete in the heptathlon. She also competed on The Amazing Race in 2020 for season 32. LaVonne now spends her time helping high achievers, such as professional athletes, lawyers, and doctors, invest in commercial real estate to educate on financial fitness and create passive income. There’s so many great take-a-ways but we’ve taken to highlighting a few: The mental shift necessary to go from being good at many things to becoming great at one Why it’s important to surround yourself with other high achieving people Unlearning stereotypes (for example: that athletes aren’t intelligent) How to stay aware from those who try to keep you in the dark by keeping you uneducated The buckets you should keep you money in and why you should diversify your fin...

  On this episode we’re joined by YouTuber and content creator Brooke Sabey. In this episode you’ll hear how Brooke and Mariah relate over their college experience being disrupted and being sucked back into hometown life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Have you ever felt like you regressed into the person you used to be? Brooke tells the story of how she convinced her parents to let her have social media and a Youtube channel at 12 and how her main friend group she met through the Internet when she wasn’t accepted by middle schoolers. Brooke and Mariah relate over seeing their role models succeed and relate to being bullied and made fun of but to then to pay it back and hopefully be that person for someone else. Are you your own boss? Have you learned your boundaries? Or, do you want to know the time sink and the behind-the-scenes that goes into content creation? Listen to hear it all & be sure to subscribe. Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcast

  This week, we are joined by Alea Rashid, current Orr Fellow and graduate of Butler University. one of my closest friends here in Indy and there’s so much we go into. Have you ever thought through how your past experiences impact the person you've become? In this episode you'll learn about how Alea’s life was impacted by having all brothers growing up and how joining a sorority taught her a different perspective. Mariah shares her mirrored version of that where rowing taught her to embrace her athleticism and confront her fear of being ‘too masculine’. You’ll also learn about the international trips Alea and Mariah have been fortunate enough to go on and what they both learned and took home with them. Do you know what entomology is? What about barracudas? Do you know why this podcast was founded? All the answers lie inside… Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcast

  On this episode of Learn 2 Listen, we are joined by Alex Oleson, a fellow Orr Fellow, friend, father, and podcaster. Alex speaks to how he shifted what he sees as successful as he approaches fatherhood. We talk a lot about having some areas of our identity that lend themselves to privilege and some areas of our identity that don’t lend themselves to privilege. Hearing Alex walk through growing up as an adopted child and when he started seeing and understanding how he developed and fit into society in many different ways is bound to leave a lasting impact. There are many awesome insights shared in this episode as to what identity seeking is like and how it can be complicated through different lenses. Growing up is weird and hard at points, we strive to blend in while also differentiate ourselves from others and discover our passions. If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like to launch a podcast, Alex and Mariah do just that. Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcast

Today we are joined by Sarah Kolczak, current Orr Fellow and Co-Founder of Soul & Flow, a wellness experience and community to connect deeper to our higher selves through mind, body, soul, & flow. We chat about Sarah’s experience growing up as a performer. We also talk about Sarah’s background as a ballerina and the sometimes toxic culture that surrounds the world of dance. We also chat about what it’s like to workout looking into a mirror in a tight uniform and what that can do to one’s body image. We related to so many things and I didn’t even know of Sarah’s past of ballet or how deep it ran. Then Sarah walks through how she left her dancing career and started focusing on her yoga practice and becoming certified. Eventually, her love of yoga turned into her co-founding the Soul and Flow wellness experience. I was blown away and so impressed by this conversation and I hope you will be too!  Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcast

  On this episode of Learn 2 Listen, we are joined by Pricilla Wiggins, a current Masters student earning her degree in Counseling Psychology at Temple University. She and Mariah talk all about her journey playing soccer while simultaneously exploring the process of loss and identity after the passing of her father when she was 21. We kick off the conversation around the transition out of sport (and what we miss and don’t miss) with the changes in life. Then we talk about the relationship athletes have with their bodies once they stop sport. Mariah talks about needing to reframe the way she looks at working out and not basing it off of guilt but rather for fun. They relate over needing to catch ourselves when we are working out and start to get frustrated when outcomes are not seen or we’re not able to do the same things we used to be able to do. Pricilla talks about the phenomena of countertransference and explains the delicate relationship between a counselor and patient and not ...

Danielle Berman, Founder and CEO of TackleWhat’sNext, the premier community and support team for athletes transitions from sport to well, what’s next. In this episode, we fangirl over the power of telling stories and sharing experiences, especially around career transition. We chat about the worries that come with change or choosing where to go after sport when sport has been your ‘job’ for the better part of your adult life. Danielle brings up the great point that there is no blueprint as to how to do that. TackleWhat’sNext is a great resource to help athletes make this transition and connect them with the right people. We also talk about how we really only see the good part of going to college or even social media as a whole and how no one tells or shows you the bad side. People don’t post or showcase when they’re upset and hurting and that’s why it’s so important to have both sides of the story or even know that there are two sides. Have you ever thought about the difference or dist...

  Leeann Passaro is Chief Operating Officer at The Hidden Opponent, an advocacy group that raises awareness for Student-Athlete Mental Health to address the stigma in sports. Not only is Leeann passionate about her non-profit work but she is also a high school English teacher and soccer and lacrosse coach. Leeann vulnerably shares her story about her relationship with soccer, her coach and team, and her history of concussions. We bond and elaborate about the guild and uncertainty that surrounds injury in sport. We give our two cents about the fear and manifestation of symptoms that surround injury and why it creates a web of pressure and confusion. Leeanne discusses her reframing of a very difficult situation where she wasn’t asked to return to soccer her senior year where she was forced to transition out of sport a year earlier than she thought she would.  Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcast

Madeline Barlow, Ph.D., is an Athlete Mental Performance Coach currently working at Drexel University to help athletes become mind-wise and transition away from sport post-graduation. Madeline is also the founder of the MindWiseMentor, the creator of the Mind-Wise Method, and the author of the book The Highly Sensitive Athlete. She earned her degree at the Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania where she was a varsity swimmer of four years. Join us today as Madeline tells the Learn2Listeners community what it means to be mind-wise. She shares some of her favorite practices everyone can integrate into their daily schedule. We take a deep dive into the take-a-ways Madeline experienced from her fourteen-year swimming career, mainly navigating one’s body image while constantly competing in a bathing suit. Thank you so much to Madeline for taking the time to teach us all how to be more mind-wise and sharing her story on Learn 2 Listen. Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcast

As I sat down to reflect on my experiences with mental health, I realize that what I thought were pivotal experiences in my life were more so pivotal reflective points. Instances in my life that within themselves, were so impactful, but really was the opening of continued self-discovery, pain, and change years after. When pivotal moments in life happen, it feels like the biggest thing in the world while you’re in the middle of it, but for me, the most challenging and gratifying parts come with time afterward.  Where I now sit at 27 years old, 5 years post-college graduation, I look back on the last 6 years with a lot of sadness and exhaustion. Yet, if you ask me how I’m feeling right now or on most given days, I will tell you that I’m tired but that I’m doing pretty well! There is room for both.  As far back as I have memories, I have been involved with athletics and am very physically active. As a kid, I loved playing outside and getting dirty, and I like to think I still car...

Ever since I was in junior high, I’ve been bullied. It wasn’t that bad until I got to college in Valparaiso, Indiana. That’s when it started to become hell. By the start of my third year in September 2010, the bullying turned into cyberbullying. I would get calls from restricted numbers telling me just how worthless I was. I also was getting sexual references scrawled on my whiteboard. The more I tried to get help, the more I was ignored. This led me to get severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and contemplating suicide as a result. I was also taking way more credits than I could handle as well. This led to my grades suffering and being suspended for all of 2011. The reason I didn’t end it all is that I found an angel in disguise who became my best friend. When I finally graduated in December 2014, I made sure to send her an invitation. What I wasn’t expecting was a card telling me how proud she was for not giving up. To anyone who is being bullied, you aren’t alone. I’m here for you. ...

Doctor Nancy Michael is currently a Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Neuroscience and Behavior Major at the University of Notre Dame. She has dedicated her professional life to the scientific community, having studied pharmacogenetics, molecular biology, and neuropsychology, all while publishing multiple research papers. Join us as we discuss human tendencies and connections surrounding life transitions and the COVID-19 pandemic from a neurological point of view. We begin by discussing the transition from collegiate life into post-graduation life, which many students struggle through, and what advice Dr. Michael provides her students with. Then, we dive into the pandemic and its neurological impacts on students and communities. If you’re curious how we try to reestablish socialization as an everyday necessity and how we must unlearn the anxiety and guilt that accompanied the pandemic, listen now! Thank you to Doctor Nancy Michael for her insight, time, and contin...

In my 24 years, I have witnessed firsthand how mental health struggles can debilitate one’s life. For me, most of my story illustrates how mental health and addiction have the ability to completely crush someone, while simultaneously reverberating its devastating effects to those around that person. The story does not have an ending because the battle with mental health struggles is an ongoing journey that some people must navigate day by day. Rather, the story sheds light on the ways in which mental health education plays a pivotal role in the type of love and support one can provide to those suffering. My brother and I are one year apart, so growing up, we were very close. We were given the same opportunities and tools to succeed. We went to the same middle school and both graduated with high honors; we were fortunate enough to attend prestigious high schools and graduate at the top of our classes. Once I left for college, I was beginning to see a change in my brother. In his senior ...