“It's not the power of one. It's the power of one another.” -Genevieve Piturro
We often take for granted the simple things we have each day. But these things we call “simple” may be unheard of for another. In this episode, we get to listen to an extraordinary pajama story that will melt your heart. Shirley brings in Genevieve Pitturo, founder of the Pajama Program. Genevieve shares how a young girl’s question turned into a passion project that benefits millions of children today. She also talks about how to find your purpose by listening to your heart voice, jumping into your calling even if it feels scary to do so, saving yourself a great deal of pain by surrounding yourself with cheerleaders, and harness the power of “one another” for the greater good. A purposeful life awaits you! Tune in and be the start of another extraordinary story that will inspire the world!
Highlights:
02:01 Listening to the Heart’s Voice
06:47 It’s More Than Pajamas
12:37 The Voice of Your Purpose
16:26 The Power of One Another
23:50 How to Move Closer to Your Passion
28:50 Universal Life Lessons In One Book
33:10 How to Get Things Done Smarter
38:07 If You Can’t Jump, Slide In!
Tweets:
Want to live your purpose and find meaning in your life and work? Join @SfbaldwinOwens and @genpiturro as they discuss how to find the courage to jump into your purpose even if it seems scary.
Quotes:
14:23 “Your heart voice is talking to you all the time. You just have to ask it to speak up. You just have to listen. It guides us through every walk of our life.” -Genevieve Piturro
16:26 “It's not the power of one. It's the power of one another.” -Genevieve Piturro
22:27 “There’s something right about it when you make a decision so quickly and you trust so that the universe is your partner.” -Genevieve Piturro
24:37 “If you’re changing your life and you’re trying something new,... put your cheerleading squad together… It could save yourself a great deal of pain.” -Genevieve Piturro
31:55 “When you’re doing what you want to do, you get obsessed.” -Genevieve Piturro
38:28 “Some people can't jump in, maybe they hope to. But you can slide in.” -Genevieve Piturro
Connect With Genevieve:
Genevieve Piturro is a Speaker, an author, and the Founder of Pajama Program. She was a successful Television Marketing Executive in New York City for 20 years when a little girl's question changed the course of her life forever, and she jumped off the corporate ladder. She began delivering pajamas and books to children in shelters and in 2001, founded Pajama Program, a nonprofit which has been recognized nationwide for both its success and for Genevieve’s story. Her recent book is called Purpose, Passion, and Pajamas, a book designed for everyone trying to find their purpose in life and in work. She's been featured on a number of shows and publications and is one of the most rerun Oprah segments of all time.
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Transcriptions
Shirley Owens: My guest today is Genevieve Piturro. Genevieve was a successful television marketing executive in New York City for twenty years when a little girl’s question changed the course of her life forever – and she jumped off the corporate ladder. She began delivering pajamas and books to children in shelters and in 2001 founded Pajama Program, a non-profit which has been recognized nationwide for both its success and Genevieve’s story. Genevieve also has a new book called Purpose, Passion, and Pajamas: How to Transform Your Life, Embrace the Human Connection, and Lead with Meaning. She's been featured on the TODAY Show, Good morning America, The Early Show, CNN, Fox & Friends, O Magazine, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal and many more. And she is one of the most rerun Oprah segments of all time. So I'm super excited Genevieve to have you as my guest today and thank you so much for being here.
Genevieve Piturro: Thank you for having me.
Shirley Owens: Okay. So I have to admit, I watched the Oprah segment this morning a little while ago and it was definitely a tear jerker because I've kind of connected to you through that a little bit and, yeah, super special. So tell me wherever you want to start with your story, but I would love for you to just talk about how you started Pajamas, like Pajama party, and then also kind of what led you to writing the book and just all of these things that you are.
Genevieve Piturro: Sure. Well, I'll start at the beginning. I just always wanted to be an independent woman. The first of four kids, my father came from Italy and both he and my mom wanted to raise kids. I know that secretly they wanted us to go to college, but they wanted us to have kids. And it just wasn't my path. My path was to climb the corporate ladder. I watched Mary Tyler Moore and I wish I had met the lady because she was my idol, that to me was success. An independent woman in a great city. For me, it was New York. And working in TV, great wardrobe, great best friend, great apartment. I was modeling after her and I really did enjoy my life. I did a lot of the things that I always dreamed I wanted to do. And I was 38, I was single. And one afternoon I was in my apartment by myself and I heard a voice, and it didn't come from my head voice, like we always have our heads chattering.
Shirley Owens: Yeah.
Genevieve Piturro: Yeah. And this came from somewhere else. It came from deep. It came from what I now call my heart voice. We all have that heart voice that we don't listen to, and I didn't listen to. And it asked me a question that just floored me and asked me, if this is the next 30 years of your life, is this enough?
Shirley Owens: Wow.
Genevieve Piturro: I know. And it was really spooky because I heard it loud and clear and there was nobody in the room, it really freaked me out. But what really shocked me was my answer came so quickly and my answer was, no, you miss something, you missed having children. And I didn't think 38 was going to be a good time to have kids. It was all so sudden this whole revelation in minutes and I really had to just take some time to think about what this all meant because I had a career and I was an independent woman. I realized that there could be a way to bring children into my life after work so I called the police and I said: "Where do you bring these children that we see on TV? And that we read about those who are harmed by the people who are taking care of them. Can I go spend time with them?" They gave me some names. I called the shelters and they were really welcoming. I just said: "I'm a nice lady, can I come and read to the kids at night?" And they said: "You sound like a nice lady, okay." Pre 9/11 in New York are very different so that was when it was. So I was excited after work, I bought some children's books and I went to one of the shelters. And I was so unprepared for what I saw and more what I felt. I went in a corporate suit and they showed me to this room that was pretty bare. It had a couple of little chairs for kids and I sat on the floor, I didn't know where to sit. The kids started to come in and I saw them one by one, those little faces, which is melting me. I say, I just associate, but I had no clue. And we weren't rich, we were barely middle class and we didn't have a lot. My mom didn't work, she was a mom and a homemaker. My dad came from Italy and we just had love, comfort and good food. But I learned so much when those little faces came and plopped down next to me. They was so quiet and they were so afraid and the staff couldn't tell me illegally what had happened to any of them but I could only imagine. I found out later that a lot of that was what had happened. The worst things you could imagine. So we have a week, I would read these stories to these children who were very quiet, they were afraid, they didn't know what was going to happen to them. I hate to say the word process, but they were being processed through the system. It's just an ugly word for these beautiful little children.
“There’s something right about it when you make a decision so quickly and you trust so that the universe is your partner.” -Genevieve Piturro
And one night I followed where the staff were taking them to one of the shelters to go to sleep. I peered into that room and it was also a bedroom. It was crowded for children to sleep in on small beds or cots, and they slept in their clothes. As I was looking in these memories of my bedtime, like I said, full of love and my mom would giggle with us, laugh and tickle us, keep telling us no when we insisted we needed more to drink, and read us stories, and hugs and kisses. I never realized, I've never thought about it 38 years what that meant. I say that over 20 years, I learned that it's not about the pajamas, it's about that bonding, that safety, that comfort, that compassion, that love, all those security, all those things rolled up into a bedtime and these children didn't have it. And it was all wrong. So as I was going out that evening, I asked the staff: "Can I bring some pajamas next week?" And she said: "That would be great." And I did. And that's when I started handing them out to the children after I read the story. And there were always different children so I didn't know who was there, but so many pajamas. It was unbelievable. I pulled one out for each of the children. One little girl wouldn't take them, she kept shaking her head. No, no, no. She was so afraid and she wanted to watch me give it to the kids but she did not want to take a pair. And I went over when she was the last one, I knelt down and I tried again, I took her, I took the sleeve so soft, it was pink and I tried to tell her how soft it is and show her a sleeve on our hand. I said, it's pink. It matches the pink in your purple top, which was soiled. Her pigtails were lopsided, and I didn't know what to do. I kept a smile on my face and I kept coaxing her. And finally she whispered: "What are they? What are pajamas?"
Shirley Owens: Oh, my God.
Genevieve Piturro: I had to explain to her, and I don't know how I did it. Half of my brain was like confused and blowing up, and the other half was saying, don't make her feel uncomfortable, don't stutter, don't cry, don't have a sad look on your face, just explain in a gentle way that these are for her. And I did say that it's for you, they're brand new, they fit you, and you'll be so comfy when you get into bed and you'll have sweet dreams. I just try to make it as reassuring as I can. And then the staff put them on her and she gave me a little smile and I was obsessed from that moment on, obsessed.
Shirley Owens: I can't even imagine. I think it's so crazy what we take for granted something as simple as bedtime. And I remember going up, I was in a very poor home too, but one thing that we always had was cookies and milk before bed. We would have our hug and they literally would tuck us in like put the blankets underneath of us and I actually didn't know what pajamas were either for a lot of years. And that was just like in a regular home, but I did change my clothes to go to bed. So when you say it's not about the pajamas, it's about something so much bigger, but that was such a place to start right to this day. I know like on your Oprah segment there were, I don't know, I think you had given out 85,000 pairs of pajamas and then she brought, well, I think everyone needs to watch that segment anyways.
Genevieve Piturro: Can you see if I raise this?
Shirley Owens: Oh, yes. Yeah. That's so crazy. Anyway, that was emotional, I was emotional. So like today, do you have a number of how many pairs of pajamas have gone out?
Genevieve Piturro: Oh, yeah, 7 million. Over 7 million across the US and Puerto Rico. There are 63 chapters around the US.
Shirley Owens: 7 million. Wow, I feel so honored to even just be sitting here with you. I don't know, it just gives hope and inspiration to people. So you literally have like 7 million children now.
Genevieve Piturro: I got married, the universe helps you and I met a wonderful man, and that's a funny story because I was afraid to tell him I was thinking about jumping off the corporate ladder because he thought I just get involved with somebody who's going to bring in the corporate ladder and giving pajamas. He said: "Go for it." He got it.
Shirley Owens: Oh, so you're married now, for sure.
Genevieve Piturro: Yeah. So he had said for many, many years: "I'm just afraid every time I open the door and come home that I'm going to see these little faces sitting on my sofa."
Shirley Owens: Yes. I have done that. I have had a couple of foster kids and it's a lot, it's a lot. The system is crazy and what they go through in that system is just, yeah.
Genevieve Piturro: Yeah.
Shirley Owens: It's unimaginable. I've been close to it, not in it, but definitely have had that experience of having them in my home. So I know what a difference it makes to have even just a pair of pajamas. So, okay, we're going to go bigger now, right? This was your purpose. This was your calling. And it was like your heart voice, you say. I fully believe in this and I'm a little, I don't know, maybe some people would call me crazy because I always want to help everyone in the entire world. I have a great husband who's super supportive. He was like, hey, you can do this, go for it whatever your next step is. This step of creating a podcast, Get What You Want, was really intended to kind of just reach a bigger presence and to help people realize that what they think they want isn't always what they really want. So I want you to expand on that a little bit and talk about your book. Talk about having the purpose and the passion of really stepping outside of our limits, boundaries and all the things that the world has created for us to make us think that we have to be in a certain place because it sounds like you're calling at the beginning was to be in corporate, like whatever it was that you got there is what got you here. So maybe you could expand on that a little, I'd love to know what your thoughts are on exploring our passions and going for it like that.
Genevieve Piturro: Right. Well, I would always think I would watch Oprah like we all did. I would read the great stories of Gandhi, I did a big paper on Leonardo da Vinci when I was in school, Einstein and all those people. And I would think, wow, those people find their purpose. They're changing the world, they're doing great things and somehow they were given this purpose and all of this. And I really thought regular people like me were destined for anything. But you know, working in a career and of course loving family and friends and having that, but every single person has a purpose. I'm always so jealous when I meet young people because more and more young people are looking for it at the start. And I do masterclasses and things and I always say, start at the beginning, especially if you aren't 20 something. Co'z there were reasons why we took the roads whether it was family tradition, what was expected, but it never occurred to me and no one ever said to me, well, what do you want to do? What's your passion? What do you feel your calling is? Those were phrases that I heard that I considered. So I followed what I thought I wanted to do, I watched Mary Tyler Moore, I had those kinds of role models on TV and in my life that are hardworking people.
Shirley Owens: Yeah. It's like the world kind of tells us for awhile what we need to do.
Genevieve Piturro: Yeah. If you're unlucky enough like me to not even know that I had a heart voice. Most of us think about it for relationships, falling in love and things like that but your heart voice is talking to you all the time, you just have to ask it to speak up. You have to listen, but it guides us through every walk of our life. We should have meaning at work. There's no reason why we should just exclude feeling that our work has meaning to the greater good. It does, and I think we're all learning now in these last few months that we need meaning in our life and it's not okay to have a job anymore. Things have changed.
“Your heart voice is talking to you all the time. You just have to ask it to speak up. You just have to listen. It guides us through every walk of our life.” -Genevieve Piturro
Shirley Owens: Yeah. I definitely think that our world is a lot more open to entrepreneurs and exploring some passions and that type of thing. I know when I started this journey, like I was born into this journey, I think some of us are referred to like people that are awake or people that are asleep. Our world is kind of made up all of all this, just the stories that we hear and we have all this input all the time. It's really hard to kind of separate that with what really aligns with us. But I do think that the world is because of people like you, because of people like me, because of those people who took the kind of that step out of their box to realize some bigger purpose, I think our world is finally able to listen and be like, Oh, even if there is something that I want or something that I feel but they don't know what to call it or they don't know where it's coming from.
Genevieve Piturro: Right. Well, the calling part was another heart voice. And that's a fun story, I'd like to tell you that. But to what you're saying before, I write about this in my book and there were a lot of lessons over 20 years of Pajama Program so far. Next year, we celebrate 20 years. I've been doing it a couple of years before figuring out what this is.
Shirley Owens: Wow.
Genevieve Piturro: People would say along the way, and I've heard it even before I did anything with pajamas, the power of one, Oh, my goodness. The power of one. See? One person can change the world. It's not the power of one, it's the power of one another.
“It's not the power of one. It's the power of one another.” -Genevieve Piturro
Shirley Owens: Oh, my God.
Genevieve Piturro: I tell people all the time, if you weren't helping me, Shirley, if you weren't spreading the news now, let's look at this together, let's figure it out together. I would be in the middle of New York City with a ho-ho-ho Santa Claus bag of pajamas by myself, handing out as many as I could carry by myself could never have done anything. But because of that human connection, every time I told that story, I got the same reaction you had, and it was the same reaction I had. It's like I have that human connection with that little girl and so did you. You had it with me, but it's almost like she told you the same story that she was standing in front of you. And it's magical. You have to believe, I can tell you do. There are reasons that things happen. There are connections that are invisible. There's power in the power of one another. And there's no way the power of one can do anything alone.
Shirley Owens: I love that you said that. I love that so much because my whole thing is relationships and we can't create something alone and we can be the leader of what we can be. That power of one that starts it like you did, you started it. But even watching Oprah and seeing, in one week, one week she was able to reach out to these audience members and they were able to reach out. And in one week come up with 32,000, almost 33,000 pairs of pajamas. That's so crazy to me.
Genevieve Piturro: I had nothing to do with that.
Shirley Owens: You didn't even know.
Genevieve Piturro: Each of those people didn't know what the others were doing co'z it was a secret. Even if you watched, she's shocked. They wouldn't even tell her the total until she was on the air with me to give her that envelope to open. So it's so powerful, the power of one another. We don't use it enough. We just don't know how important and how precious it is.
Shirley Owens: And I think that there's fear whenever we're stepping out of our comfort zone. I think there's so much fear that comes with that, just like humans. Is someone going to accept this? Is someone going to, when I wrote my book, I was petrified. That name, that name had to be the name of the book and it was just horrible for so long. And I've had so many women say, Oh, my gosh, I read your book on a plane but I hid the title from everyone else because I didn't want them to think, co'z it's Get What You Want From Your Man. It sounds so horrible but that was the name that needed to be there for specific women to want to pick it up. And for me, to be able to take them on that journey. And so the power, there is a power in one person connecting with one another, like with other people. And I think that's just so beautiful. Especially in this world of women, like you're a pioneer in that. Years ago, we were not supposed to be in the corporate world. We were not supposed to be strong and powerful. We were not supposed to be doing these things on our own. I think it's just so great that we don't minimize the power of one, but we especially don't minimize the power one another because there's a lot of ones out there that have a lot to share, but they'll never achieve what they want to achieve without the help and support of others.
Genevieve Piturro: And you're using key share, because if I didn't share my story, if you didn't share what you wrote, then it wouldn't go any farther than in your heart and your mind and then it stays in one and there's no power in that.
Shirley Owens: Yeah. And if I wouldn't have interviewed someone who interviewed, I think about how I got you on the show and it was just some word of mouth. Someone, somewhere felt that this was a good place for you to be and reached out to me. I love that guest after guest, after guest keeps being brought to me, just because I made this crazy crap, quick decision to start a podcast and I had committed to a year and I'm on, I don't know, I'm like 10 months into it or something. I haven't missed an episode and I keep thinking like, I'm going to be done with this. I'm done with this but then someone else reaches out to me. It's so crazy how I think like once we put it out into the universe or whatever you want to say how it just kind of takes care of itself. I am constantly getting guests sped to me without me asking any person, not even one single person. It's been a beautiful journey to see how we really do all connect and help each other. I felt so connected to you even before I brought you on today. When I watched that segment and I was just like, Oh, my gosh, how did someone know that this was the person that I needed to interview and that my people need her?
Genevieve Piturro: Well, it's the universe. I talk about that in my book because sometimes more and more people are understanding the universe is apart. But when you make a decision like you did so quickly, there's something right about it. When you make that decision quickly and you just trust so much in whatever power that is, that you made that decision, that commitment is incredible. You trust the universe to be a partner. You allow that, you invited in. I think people are afraid of that and they think that they have to push that rock uphill.
Shirley Owens: Yes.
Genevieve Piturro: They're not doing the work.
Shirley Owens: Yeah, I totally agree. And I think like the universe always has your back too. I think that people don't realize, or they think that it's like woo-woo, and it's becoming less woo-woo,. I've always believed in magic. Putting it out there and getting it back, there's just been way, way, way too many things that could be called coincidence in my life for sure, like we're for sure divinely sent to me. And you're one of them, of course. But I want to know like, so from you to our listeners, is there one thing that you could share that would help anybody no matter what stage they're in of life to just kind of move forward knowing what their purpose and passions are, or finding it, or listening to it, or what is your advice to our listeners to move towards getting what they want with passion and purpose?
Genevieve Piturro: Well, a couple things first is listen to your heart voice, but you have to ask for it to speak up. If you don't know if you've never heard it or you can identify it readily. If you sit quietly and you ask, my husband teaches meditation so he was also divinely brought to me because I did not know how to meditate. I was a personality just do, do, do. But if you talk to him, he would say to me, ask, ask that voice to speak to you. And if you do it enough times, it will and you'll recognize it. You'll hear it. The more you do and you accept it, you're not closed off to it. It will give you signals, and sometimes it'll just scream at you. So that's really good. The second thing is more practical which I wish I had done. I think I would say, if you're changing your life or you're trying something new and it's scary. I mean, it's not for sure, but right, it's scary. I've had lots of sleepless nights and now, all over again, putting a book out, my book is one week old. You want everyone to like your baby and it's all over again. I thought those sleepless nights had ended, but they never stopped especially if you keep taking on new projects, and it's scary. There are things that you have to pay attention to and you have to do. But one of the things that would have helped me, and I would always say, put your cheerleading squad together because those naysayers, those people who are going to have something to say who are close to you because they think they're helping you. Some aren't doing it because they're helping you, but those naysayers can really knock you down. I got punched in the gut and I wasn't prepared because I was afraid. I was contemplating a major move and I didn't even know what it was that I was really going to do, how I could do it. Because I didn't tell anyone, I fell easily when someone questioned me or worse, or said I was crazy. It was somebody close to me. So if I had those cheerleaders, which I got after. First, I wouldn't have fallen so hard. And then my mom's my North Star, my husband is a cheerleader. I started to tell some people that I hoped would be supportive and on my side even if they were questioning, how are we going to support yourself? You're not a saver, you're a spender. I'll buy shoes before I'll put money in the bank. I know that about myself and some of the people close to me, but I would have done it the other way. I would have rallied some cheerleaders and let them in on my secret so that when somebody challenged what I was doing and made me really uncomfortable, I was already uncomfortable. I could have saved myself a great deal of pain and went backwards instead of just one step in front of the other.
“If you’re changing your life and you’re trying something new,... put your cheerleading squad together… It could save yourself a great deal of pain.” -Genevieve Piturro
Shirley Owens: That makes a lot of sense because I know the same thing in my life. And it's not like we just need them for one day, we need them all the time. I wake up some days and I think, what am I doing? Because I'm creating an online course right now and it's a huge endeavor. And I'm just like, why was I just not having my book in the podcast? Why do I have to keep going? That's when I call certain people in my life, or talk to my husband, or listen to those people who are just, you've got this, this is your calling, you were made for this, you were born to do this, you know? And sometimes you need to hear that on a daily basis. Sometimes, hourly, depending on the day for me, it's just so important to have that. I love that, and I think one of the harder things that you mentioned is letting go of those people who are the naysayers. Some of them we can't let go of, right? Some of them are friends and family that are close, but to be able to put up your protection when they, your wall of protection, when they start throwing that at you and it can still get you down but then I'll like turn around and be like, I got a call, so, and so my friend, because I know she always can talk me back into doing this, you know? I think that one being powerful in ourselves is amazing and we all need that for sure. But yeah, you have that cheerleading squad that's always like, you can do it, you can do it, you can do it when you feel that you can't because there are those days, 100% of people have those days. I think that is good advice.
Genevieve Piturro: I hope so. I wish somebody had told me that and maybe they did but I wasn't listening.
Shirley Owens: Yeah. It took me a lot of people telling me that I think. A lot of trial and error and just like, why do I feel so crappy today? Oh, yeah, because I spend time with that person. It makes me feel like I can't do anything. And so yeah, I think that that's just such good advice. Tell me a little bit about your book.
Genevieve Piturro: Well, it's 20 years of lessons that I wanted to share with people about things that we were just talking about. The universe is there, and listening to your heart voice, and the power of one another, and the human connection and getting that cheerleader squad. So it's a mix of those universal life lessons and practical things that I did wrong or the long way, and ask questions. I was embarrassed, I knew nothing about starting a nonprofit. I didn't even know that's what it would be. I just didn't know what to do with this thing until a little article, this big tiny one paragraph basically, an international magazine came out because a woman called, a reporter: "Are you the lady handing out pajamas." I said: "yeah, I guess I am." And she said: "I write a little story, just a little one." And I said: "Sure." I wasn't prepared for the onslaught of packages, and letters and dollar bills from people around the US. I was married at the time and my husband couldn't believe it. There were boxes being delivered to our apartment and we were eating on them, we couldn't even see past them because people felt the same thing, that connection to her. And one letter I'll never forget. I opened it and it was written, it was professional and it said, "please send us your 501c3 so we can set you up with the grant. And I looked at my husband with the paper, I said, what is this 501c3 in parentheses? And of course I learned, it was huge. And I said to him: "This is now a responsibility. This isn't just something that I can say, I don't know what it is and do it because people are trusting me and I'm sitting here with their trust and it was a responsibility." So only then did I say that this has to be an entity that is recognized, trusted, and respected and legal in every way. I talk about being afraid to ask for help with it. I mean, a lot of financial stuff because I didn't make a budget. My budget in my five year plan was literally a piece of paper. It was lined and I would make five columns. Five-year, year one, year two. It's scary, but it came true. I would literally write how many chapters I want in year two and how many pajamas I want to give in year two, year three and come true. I think it's simple even the word. Amature is not even a word. I didn't do that until I had to just play catch up. That's more advice, practical advice. I spent so much money. I got into debt and this is just because I was obsessed and I don't know that that can change. I think when you are doing what you want to do and you are that kind of personality, you get obsessed, I don't know.
“When you’re doing what you want to do, you get obsessed.” -Genevieve Piturro
Shirley Owens: I don't know that and I don't know that it shouldn't be changed because I know that you're through the bad times, and the hard times, and the craziness. I do believe in massive imperfect action. Like, you know what? It's not going to be perfect the first time. This is something I've really had to learn because it took 20 years of thinking about writing a book and then four months of actually writing and publishing it because I finally just took massive imperfect action. I can't even read it sometimes because I think, how is it touching all these people's lives? It's so simple. Oh, my gosh, how is that? But it does. And the entire fact that we wrote these books, people need to hear it. And it's crazy how you say one question that a little girl asks you to change the course of your life. Imagine what your whole book could do for somebody, or for how many people. So what a blessing that you just keep following that heart voice that you have. Is there anything, looking back, I always ask my guests this, that you regret or would do differently?
Genevieve Piturro: I don't know that I could have, because you know what they say is true. If I hadn't done it that way, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you. But sure, some of the things I've mentioned are probably getting some professional advice sooner. I am so jealous of the people who do start something when they're 22 years old.
Shirley Owens: Oh, my gosh.
Genevieve Piturro: I just am so jealous. Where was I? But I think of all the things, all the other kids I could have helped just starting at 38 was so late to me, but I can't get caught up in that. So yeah. Just the things that I mentioned, the practical things, the practical things getting it done, I could have done it smoother and smarter. Mostly because I was afraid to ask questions. I started asking, I didn't stop.
Shirley Owens: And I think that if someone was to read your book, it gives the same as mine in a completely different way part of life, but it's going to give them your mistakes. The things you went through, your successes, how to jump over the mistakes to get to the successes quicker. And I think that that's why that's like a purpose, right? To have other people be able to explore their passions and get to the goal line without so much heartache, heartbreak, all the things you go through.
Genevieve Piturro: I think it's important to tell people, yes, I came through some of the fires and I'm here. We've done a good job, but it's not easy having a dream. Sounds wonderful. I know some young girls who want to be singers and it's a beautiful concept. The Pajama Program is a beautiful concept, but it's hard some days. You are taking on this lofty dream and you're giving it your all, and it's your heart and soul. If somebody doesn't love it, you feel the pain as if it was your child. There's so much emotion. It's not a job, it's part of you.
Shirley Owens: It really is. And to separate that, right? What other people are feeling with what you know to be true, I think about this a lot because my husband is a doctor and his path was just already there, he just walked down the path and it was hard. I'm not saying it wasn't hard, I listened to how many, 14 years of schooling that you went to and you think about like, it's just so much work, but the work is just put in front of you. When you're an entrepreneur and you're like doing something new and crazy, what I picture is like, I'm chopping down trees and bushes and carving my own path, running into stumps and running into having to start all over again, and back up and go a different way, and back up and go a different way. I think that people don't realize because I didn't realize. I'm a lot older than 20, for sure. I didn't realize that it's so much involved, all the little teeny tiny things. The paperwork, the learning curves, everything. I'm constantly having to learn some new programs or some new software. Also when you're us, it's so hard to delegate because it's your passion, your purpose, your dream. And to be able to like, okay, I've got to let someone else run my website, I've got to let someone else do my editing, I've got to let someone else do all these different things. I think that there's just so much involved in it that people don't know and not just scare them away from it, but it is a lot of hard work. It's still easier to walk down a path that someone else has already carved. And in a sense, we're doing that for others. Your book is at least giving an idea of what they need to do so they're not just blindly doing it. I think it's awesome. I am so grateful that you're here and I know that this is going to touch a bunch of lives. Just tell me, how do we get in touch with you? I know you said you had mastermind classes and all kinds of stuff, do you have a website? If you want the info that you want to throw in here.
Genevieve Piturro: It's easy, it's genevievepiturro.com. I'm always available to contact, gen@genevievepiturro.com to brainstorm, we have to pay it forward. People mentored me and I love to listen to, sometimes people just need an ear. A lot of people are now rethinking their path. Peace is the number one priority for every person who has a job, that's thankful. Who doesn't have a job for whatever reason, things have changed, needs to put food on the table, that's a priority. So some people can't jump and maybe they hope to, but I also say you can slide something in, it'll also make you happy. Spend an hour a week doing that, don't just push it further back on a burner that's further away because that will just make you sad. We need to be uplifted. We need to see hope and feel it. So if you fly something in, that does change your attitude about everything. So people just need to listen and they don't need a whole masterclass. But I do have 10. I did them, started doing them virtually because I couldn't speak in front of people. It's all about the topics in the book. How do you listen to heart voice? How do you empower your team? How do you bring meaning into your work? All those types of topics that are touching people today because of what we're going through together.
“Some people can't jump in, maybe they hope to. But you can slide in.” -Genevieve Piturro
Shirley Owens: I love that. So if you're out there listening and you're confused, you know there's something there but you don't know how to start, please contact Genevieve. I think this is such a great thing. I am a huge believer in mentors and coaches. Let's just all help one another and have that power. Thank you so much for being here.
Genevieve Piturro: Thank you for inviting me. Your enthusiasm is contagious, I love it. I feel like we're in parallel paths, we believe in giving everything we can.
Shirley Owens: And helping one another, and I love it.
Genevieve Piturro: Yeah, me too.
So great! Thank you all for inviting me to share my story!