We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jean Trebek Alison Martin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jean Trebek, so great to have you sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our readers and so let’s jump right into one of our favorite topics – empathy. We think a lack of empathy is at the heart of so many issues the world is struggling with and so our hope is to contribute to an environment that fosters the development of empathy. Along those lines, we’d love to hear your thoughts around where your empathy comes from?
Jean: I think growing up in a household with a sibling who had a very challenging disease and seeing my parents go through a lot of worry, made me aware of my surroundings and of people’s feelings, so I took on the role of peacemaker because my sensitive nature felt safe when other people felt good.
Alison: Developing empathy hinged on early childhood environments and incidents for both Jean and I. My father had been left on a doorstep as an infant and so he felt constantly connected to the deeper, more vulnerable parts of the humans that he met. My father passed away when I was in my early 20s and that opened me up to realize that everybody is going through something… you just may not be sure what it is. We are all pretty good on keeping a brave face, but in actuality we are all dealing with challenging things.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Jean: I co-host the “insidewink” podcast with my best friend and it’s very inspiring to work on a project together that focuses on people doing really interesting and beautiful things in the world. I’m always amazed at the generosity, creativity and authenticity of our guests. I love the quote, “focus on the good and the good comes into focus” That our motto and it’s a fulfilling endeavor.
Alison: “insidewink” has been such a gift for me. We receive so much good feedback about our guests and our conversations that it really seems that the podcast is having the positive effect we desired. We are living in a world where so often negativity is stressed or constantly presented that having a forum that allows people to discover true goodness and focuses on people that are making a real positive difference in the world has really changed my view. I realize that curiosity, vulnerability, love, and kindness are all the things that REALLY bind us to one another.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Alison: I think for us, on this podcast journey, one of the main qualities that has kept us going is the fact that we laugh a lot. We really enjoy ourselves. We try to stay in the moment with each guest and have the podcast turn more into a conversation around a kitchen table, rather than something very structured or formal. Jean has an amazing sense of humor and can make me laugh all the time. She’s making me laugh right now as I write this. I think having that quality while you’re working elevates the creative process.
Jean: I have learned so much from Alison is the area of curiosity and the importance of asking really good questions. Being able to engage or communicate with another person is really key to expanding one’s perception and I feel that Alison is an excellent example of being a curious and interested person…she’s demonstrated how to think for myself and be curious without being intrusive.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
Alison: Currently we are looking to increase our audience. We think that sharing interviews with positive guests through “insidewink” can really go a long way to help heal some of the stress we are all feeling. So if anyone has good ideas on how we can get more insidewink out into the world we would love to chat.
We’d also like to figure out social media. We would like to get better at the synergy between social media posts and the “insidewink” podcast. So, if anyone out there can help us in either of these directions please give us a shout at www.insidewink.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.insidewink.com
- Instagram: @insidewink.official
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/insidewink
- Other: https://mindbodyspirit.fm/shows/insidewink/
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
