In this fun episode, host Jill interviews Carrie Rohrbach, an empowering educator with a unique blend of skills and experiences. She shares her mission of embracing her authentic self and helping others do the same in their content creation and coaching practices.
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Transcript
Transcript
Hi and welcome to the You World Order Showcase podcast.
Today we are speaking with Carrie Rohrbach and she is an empowering educator.
I'm really excited to hear all about that.
I know she's does stuff that's trauma informed.
She's a comedian.
She's a former French teacher.
I'm really excited to see how all these things come together to do what she does.
So with that welcome.
Thank you so much, Jill.
I love hearing these introductions because they kind of reflect myself back and I'm also interested to see how all of these things come together.
Cause right now I'm in still I would say the beginning stages of the entrepreneurial experience.
And so I'm feeling it out.
You know, I have spent most of my life, my professional life, in class.
Classrooms where I had to compartmentalize myself and I had to be one face for the students and then I got to be like weekend carry or summer carry.
And when I left the classroom due to extreme burnout, I just decided that I wanted to be all of myself.
And that's sort of been the theme over the last two years.
It's like.
Who is Carrie?
Independent from her role as an educator, as a tutor, as a coach, et cetera.
And so.
All of my things are on the table right now for anyone to pick up and say hey, that sounds cool.
I'd like to work with her on that.
So it's really just kind of like throwing things against the wall and seeing what sticks right now.
But I do enjoy conversations.
I believe that my superpower is holding space for people, for being able to take.
Complex ideas and synthesizing them specifically, and to help people connect to their own intuition.
And they do that in.
A myriad ways.
Like your website has lots of different kind of an eclectic feel to it, there's like tarot.
And then there's building workshops and those kinds of things that the workshop building was kind of interesting to me.
And that bringing in your comedic element.
And then your educator.
Hat you want to expand on how?
That looks when you work with client.
Sure. So I've done a couple of one-on-one coaching sessions with other coaches who are looking to create content that lands with their audiences.
But what people tend to come up against is themselves, when they are trying to create content that is reflective of who they actually are.
Similar to what I just talked about, they will, you know, come up against like an old boss or an old teacher where they're like, Nope, I don't know how to do this right.
And then they either power on through, so that way.
They create something that they burn themselves out on and never want to look at again, or it's not quite true to like their authentic nature because they're trying to emulate what they saw someone else do.
So when I work with people, it's as much about the process as it is about the product, because that's the trauma informed lens.
Where we say what's happening in the present moment that is getting us in the way or is getting in the way of what we really want for ourselves.
So in my coaching sessions, I.
Work with the present moment and say OK, what is it that we want from our time together?
What might be in the way of getting to that place and then what is in place to support getting what we want and I weave in my own experience as a teacher.
So I was in middle and high school.
Classrooms for 13 years teaching French.
So I know a lot about pedagogy.
I have a masters degree in curriculum and instruction, so I know how people learn.
And now that I have this trauma informed piece and then, you know, this training as an improviser and a stand up comedian, I kind of like to weave it all together.
So it's not just like this dry experience where you and I are just working on this product that has no life into it.
I want to be able to bring in your.
Unique individuality, just like I'm trying.
To do with my own business.
Yeah, I can see that there's a real need.
For that I've.
Been in courses and been coached on building a workshop and it always felt like.
I like to speak to people I like.
To present to people I've presented to large audiences in my life that this, this one workshop that I put together.
It felt.
Off to me.
And I think part of it was using a template and part.
Of it was just it wasn't me.
That's not how I.
Impart information to people and it didn't have any of my personality and it was just like rephrasing somebody.
Else's words which.
It just felt kind of flat.
And you're speaking to something really, I think important in the entrepreneurial game, which is that we tend to look towards other people to say ohh that person is successful.
So let me kind of look at their blueprint and see if I can follow that, but no one is guaranteed success.
The best thing we can do is show up as our.
Cells and trust that the people who are looking for that type of connection are going to seek us out.
And yes, there's a lot of like BS around the algorithm, and you know, hustling and everything.
But as someone who experienced extreme burnout and decided I don't want to participate that in that anymore, it's been my mission.
To say, well, how can I do things differently?
How can I do them on my terms in my own unique way?
So I stand out from the crowd. So even if I'm not getting the same breadth of, you know, sharing as maybe some other people who are, quote UN quote considered successful.
People I can be assured that the few people who are engaging with my material.
Are the ones who are like.
I'm really curious about this.
Former French teacher turned entrepreneur with tarot, with comedy, with trauma, informed teaching and everything I am finding like the tiniest little niche.
But if that means I have some really, really great.
Connections with really special people.
That means way more to me than having a huge following on social media.
Yeah, and there's ways around that.
I I'll talk to you about that later, but it's, it's definitely a niche that needs filled and really it's about lighting your candle.
Setting yourself on fire, people will come and watch you.
Burn. You know they.
They'll get drawn to you the people that are supposed to work with.
You and there's.
9 billion people on the planet now.
You're only able to help a handful of those.
You don't need them all.
Yeah, absolutely.
And then.
And isn't that more meaningful, right?
Isn't that more meaningful to say?
I made a deep impact on this many peoples lives and what is the ripple effect that that has?
You know that is something that I think about a lot in my time as a teacher is that, you know, even if I struggled to connect with every single kid in my class.
I know that there was someone in there who is going to remember something I said that's going to benefit them in ways that I can't even fathom and that makes.
Feel like I did a job well done.
And impact so many other lives.
You know, you touch one life and that life touches another life or two lives or 4 lives, and then it just.
Like mushrooms out and that impact is real.
And so it's why I do what?
I do with.
The podcast because I firmly believe Coach.
Is are the wave of the future.
They're really creating the world that I want to live in because they're universally caring people.
They're interested in helping others, often at their own expense, and I just, I want to live.
In a world where.
Connections and people are more important than just making money.
Yeah, well said.
And I definitely believe there's a place for money because often when you invest in coaching or help you shorten your learning curve, you're paying for their information and you're more likely to get better results if you're personally invested.
In what your?
Wanting to learn or to change about your life.
So I say that when you charge what you're worth, your value, you're doing it for the other person, not for yourself.
And I truly believe that it is.
And I want to just speak.
To one thing that you said, which was that coaches are the wave of the future and that they will help you out.
You know, often at their own expense and coming from a profession where that was considered the norm, right?
Teachers are expected to come early, stay late, work on the weekends, grade from home.
Have all of the magic bags in their tricks and saw all of the magic tricks in their bags and solve all the problems of the world.
That's part of the reason why I'm no longer a teacher is because I could not keep up with the grind culture and what I have learned in my trauma informed training is that.
People who have.
Come from backgrounds where their caregivers expected perfection expected.
Performance as a way of earning love.
Those are the ones who tend to go into the healing and supporting professions, so it makes sense that anyone who chooses to be a coach would have that natural inclination to say, well, if I only work harder, if I only get more people to.
Change or if I can save the.
World this way then.
And I will be loved.
I will be accepted.
And my challenge for any coaches who are finding themselves like, really called out right now to say ohh crap I do overextend myself for my clients.
The invitation is to say, well, what would it be like if you didn't?
What would it be like if you did exactly what Jill is saying?
Which is charge what you're worth, not what is going to make you likeable or, you know, make you palatable and work less.
Yes, but work more intentionally on the people that you feel like you have those connections with so that you're not burning yourself out because if you can be the model as the coach who is embodying the principles that you are coaching, then you are going to make an enormous impact, way more so than if you were to.
Be available at all hours of the night and day so that someone else can rely on you cause that also promotes co-dependency, which is something that is also a challenge in this.
Type of world.
And just for my own clarity, what?
Does trauma informed mean?
Great question.
So I've been trained through the Narm Institute, which stands for the neuro effective relational model and basically neuro, meaning from the brain down effective meaning from the emotions up, relational, meaning whatever is happening between two or more people.
That is how we heal.
We can't just focus on the mind.
We can't just focus on the body.
We can't just focus on the relationship, because if the rupture happened.
In relationship then the repair has to happen in relationship, so trauma informed is just taking a present tense approach to what is going on in the moment.
Normally that will come up as you know, a feeling in your body.
So for instance, I applied for a job the other day.
So you know, I'm, I'm trying this, this coaching stuff.
Out, but like, I'm also like oh, I.
Gotta be realistic, you know, here.
And as I was applying for the job.
I had this like.
Bubbling sensation in the pit of my stomach.
That was like.
But if they know you're a terrible person, they're not gonna hire you.
And that was this.
Like fear coming up to say, like, don't show your full self carry, that's not safe.
The trauma informed approach then is to say, oh, I see that like, I recognize that instead of just shutting that down and applying anyway, I say, oh, wow, fear you've been here for a really long time.
I see you.
It makes sense that you've been scared because in the past you had to compartmentalize so that way you could exist as a teacher.
We're not in the past anymore.
This is a long standing.
Old pattern that doesn't actually serve anymore.
So what would it be like if we just stretched our window of tolerance to something a little scary, like in the stretch zone, not the, you know, panic zone.
So that way we can experience like what might be possible if we show up as our full authentic selves.
So it's just taking.
In trauma, informed just means like when I'm face to face with someone, we're talking about the moment we're not getting stuck in the story.
We're not projecting into the future.
We're saying what's coming up for you right now.
That might be in the way between us and what we.
Want for ourselves?
How did your interview go?
Did you decide to go first?
Oh, it hasn't happened yet.
We'll see.
Yeah, this is like, brand new.
And this is something that I'm noticing has come up in a couple of different situations where I've been scared to throw my full self and similar to what you said when we prior to recording, you were like, I'm a little confused about, like what you do because there's so many different things on your website.
And I was like.
That's really good feedback.
And also I'm still figuring it out.
So for me to say like.
This is me putting everything out there and saying I have all of these capabilities.
There's some way that they're going to fit together in a in a puzzle piece that everyone's going to see and then realize.
But right now I'm trying to do something that's never been done before, which is to weave all of these different elements of like spirituality and comedy, and coaching and education together.
It feels like a chance for me to say.
I don't know what's gonna happen, but I'm gonna show up as myself in whatever community I'm trying to be a part of so that I know that it's safe for me that I don't have to hide anything anymore.
And that, to me is a big indication of the progress I have made since leaving the classroom a couple of years ago.
And deciding that this is the space I was willing to take up.
Wow, that is, that's really.
Courageous of you.
I see things around people sometimes and I see.
I see you.
Having a powerful impact around the space of helping people.
Actually create.
Workshops, we'll just call it that.
Webinars, just ways of imparting information that in a way that it can be received that's fully authentic for themselves.
You have just.
Like so many gifts and talents around that piece, I.
I think it's a.
Powerful place for you to be.
It's a, it's.
A powerful space for you to be in.
And I think it could, you could be.
Very successful in that in that space you just have all of the tools to make that happen for you.
Thank you, Joe.
It's so exciting to hear that.
Usually tell people.
To do but.
Actually I shouldn't.
Say I don't tell people what to do.
I tell.
People what to do?
All the time.
I'm just sharing that with.
No, I appreciate that.
And I.
And I'm curious, I mean, if you're willing to go into it like when you said you like, see things around people.
Like what form does that take for you?
Because I'm always curious for people who.
Kind of have that.
6th Sense sort of outside of what we consider.
Again like normal perception.
Like what does that?
How does that show?
Up for you.
It shows up in a couple of ways, like sometimes I can see auras like you have a kind of a yellowy aura.
I can see in.
Some places that don't ask me what it means.
I never remember what the auras mean.
I just can see them.
Sometimes not even all the time, but sometimes I kind of.
My superpower is problem solving so I can look at what somebody's got like their skill set and say.
Yep, Yep. Right there, that's.
The sweet spot and show them how to get there because.
That's what I do.
You know when you're working in?
That place?
That's your zone of genius.
It's just like.
So easy.
We other people, they're like.
Really good at you know I.
Interviewed Joanne Homestead and you know Joanne such.
A kick, but.
She's like she is totally in her zone.
Of genius and she is genius, I.
I'm hard to impress.
And she impresses.
Me a lot.
Yeah, I actually. So, Joanne's the reason that I'm on this podcast and I had a mentor who sent me a podcast interview that Joanne did like, a year or two ago.
And just because of that podcast and looking at her website, I was like, I'm curious about this person and their services.
And she does e-mail marketing for anyone who doesn't know her.
Joanne Homestead desk, desk.
Plant creatives.
And or tiny to yeah, something like that and.
Yeah, I guess spot desk, plant creatives.
And we had like our 15 minute, you know introductory session or whatever, she's a former teacher as well.
And we went through this whole experience where we, like, talked about what I would want.
So it was very trauma informed, even if Joanne hasn't had that, like, explicit.
Meaning she still, like, went through the process.
And at one point I had like.
A deep, deep.
Pain, like right in my forehead and she was like we'll be OK if we like, sent that some love and, like, could we, like just do a little visualization and we ended up spending like 20 minutes, like 20 extra minutes.
Just like working on the resistance that was coming up for me.
Around engaging her services and engaging my voice in this e-mail marketing campaign, which was something I had always wanted to do, but like kind of did haphazardly and she gave me all these amazing tools to be able to say like this is how you can do it in a way that works for.
For you and that became like our motto, which was like, how can Carrie do this?
For empowering educator on her terms.
And so it was very much what we were talking about before.
It's like, yes, there are certain, you know, procedures you can follow.
There are templates that are here.
But ultimately what's going to make you successful.
Is you working within your capacity?
Because if you're overextending yourself, you're not in your zone of genius.
Yeah. And it's showing.
Up fully as you and not as somebody else.
You can she?
Does have templates, but they're her templates are around helping you tell a story and an it's an empowering it it's not.
I and I was telling her I've taken a lot of courses and paid a lot of people a lot of money to learn how to do copywriting, but it's almost universally by men and it's marketing.
It's about.
It's kind of icky.
Honestly, it's Manipur.
Station it's trying to manipulate people into doing things that they.
It's not really in.
Their best interest?
And that doesn't feel good to me.
I don't like doing that and I.
I've been in sales my whole adult life and I have found that it's better if you're just helping people.
And if working with you is the next logical step, then they'll.
Work with you.
If it's not, and then they're not your people.
Or they're not your people right now.
It's not about trying to like.
Twist arms.
It should always be about the service to the other person.
And their relationship, honestly, you know, like I want to benefit from being around empowered, innovative, authentic, creative individuals as much as they would benefit from being in my presence and with my skill set.
Because to me, it's a mutually beneficial.
Situation I used to have this situation where I would tutor a lot and I tutored free.
And there was such a difference between tutoring like a 7th grade boy who just wanted to get a BA in French class, then to tutoring like a home schooled 9th grader who was taking French for the first time and was curious about the language and wanted to know more.
Which one did I have more fun with?
Clearly the one who is invested, not the one who's like mom made him get my services, basically.
And that's exactly how I feel with coaching, which is I want to be with you if you want to be with me, I want to help you.
And I want to help me because in relationship.
Again, being a teacher, I had a lot of tough students for much of my career, and I would take a lot of things personally when things didn't go well with students or parents or administrators.
But when I had those students that I connected with, which is the same thing that I see when I, you know, coach certain clients, that's when I blossom and that's when they blossom and it has to go both ways or else we're not serving anyone.
That's where the repair is happening.
We're repairing these relationships where we've had these authority figures.
You have told.
Us one thing, but you know, done another thing who have belittled.
Us or who have, you know, dismissed.
Us and it's time for us to really step into our authentic power to say I don't have to do it the way anyone else has told me to.
I get to do it my way from now on.
I love that.
That's how the world is forming right now.
There are a lot of people out.
There that are all doom and gloom.
Ohh you know this and that.
And the other thing that's happening and the other shoes gonna drop tomorrow.
Or in 15 minutes, but.
I think right now is.
The best time to be alive.
There's so many positive things happening and so many people just stepping into their power.
And like you, you're really being courageous and.
That you're.
You're up front.
I am just.
Seeing where my superpower is going to.
But there's so many.
People that are just like you that are staying, I want.
To be the.
Change I want to see in the world.
I want this place to be a fantastic experience for the people coming up behind me and I.
All I have.
To do is just like 1 little.
Thing the thing.
I was created to do and put here to.
To help others with.
And then just, you know, let my light shine and.
People that are supposed.
To buy me will.
Find me instead of trying to squish ourselves into these occupations and.
Careers that are.
Really not fulfilling and they just like.
They suck the life out of you.
Oh yeah, and.
Based on what you said before about these marketing courses that were made by men, it's like, well, yeah, why do we think it's not working for us?
Because women do things differently.
Non binary people do things differently.
Trans people do things differently.
We are allowed to think outside of the white.
CIS heteropatriarchal capitalist bucks because that has not worked for many of us, which is why many of us have been in these unfulfilling careers and situations because that's what we settled for.
That's what we expected.
We were going to do and now I really feel like connecting to ones intuition.
And authenticity and play and power is what's going to liberate all of us because we're deciding that those boxes no longer fit us and that it's time for us to breakthrough.
Ohh, I couldn't say it any better.
I just like how many so many really amazing things coming about in the world and it's just from people who.
We're all different, OK?
None of us fit in that box, and I think women in particular are starting to really.
Take hold of their own identities.
And we are all different, but it's only been since 1964 in the United States that women were actually like, considered equal with men, white men specifically.
The Civil Rights Act.
That didn't just liberate black men, it liberated women.
Of all colors which?
Is like.
My mom used to complain about it.
I'm old enough to remember that ramifications of it and now women are just like they've forgotten that part, but they're just like they're stepping into their individuality.
And it and it blossomed into other.
Other groups of people who are doing what they want to do and why not?
You know, you're only here one time.
Just embrace it.
And be your weird self.
Yes, we're all weird.
Yes, I mean, I honestly believe that everyone's superpower is their authenticity is their unique intersection of their learning, their privilege, their background, their education, their art.
And yes, we have to say that like, not everyone has the same privileges.
As everyone else, and so some people don't have the choice to be able to pursue a career that is actually fulfilling because they just.
I'm not going.
Need to put money on.
Be a basketball player, an NBA basketball.
The table.
I mean, it's just I could have won.
I did.
That from a very young age, I.
Could have tried as hard as I.
Could, but I'm a short white female.
I I'm not playing for the NBA.
Happening even with steroids.
So everybody is privileged differently and has there been a lot of white, male, predominantly white Protestant males have controlled this country and they still control this.
Country to a large extent and they got.
Money out of people and they have enslaved.
A lot of people.
I feel like the rest of us are saying no, we're not doing that anymore.
It's just it's just not.
It just doesn't sit with.
Us and we're stepping up and we're making a difference and it's just one, one coach at a time.
Yeah. And I truly believe that when people step into their authentic power, that's how they can liberate others around them, because even if they're not directly engaging with that person's, you know, services or.
Offerings just by virtue of seeing them and saying, wow, I have never seen that collection of intersections in one human who is courageous enough to stand up and show themselves those ramifications and ripple effects are beyond what anyone else could imagine.
Even just by seeing them.
So I think it's so, so important that people embrace their authenticity, their vulnerability, their creativity, so they can expand into the space like we're here for a reason, like you said.
You know, I did not come onto this planet to stay in a middle school French classroom my entire life.
Here I am a few years later figuring out how I can take my unique set of skills and turn it into something that's going to be a sustainable and fulfilling career.
And I'm doing that one step at a time and figuring it out as I go.
And I think everyone has the.
Right to do the same.
I couldn't agree with you more.
So what's the one thing that you want to leave?
The audience with today.
I think my.
Invitation is just for people to take one minute after this and look out the window at something beautiful and say, where have I hidden part of myself that wants to come out into the light?
And just asking that question is the first step.
You don't have to have an answer.
You don't have to make a plan.
You don't have to get sucked into a story.
But if you can.
Come up with one little dark corner that you want to shine a flashlight on. That's going to help you shine even 1% brighter then I feel like this conversation has led to something special.
Yes, absolutely.
So how can people get in touch with you?
I am mostly active on Instagram and then my website has sort of a collection of all of the things offer lots of different coaching tarot readings, and then I'm going to be I'm just finishing my certification as a yoga instructor.
And the social, emotional learning facilitator.
And I'm going to be starting a doctoral program at the end of.
Of August, so probably by the time this comes out.
So I will be in and out depending on my capabilities.
But I have all these skill.
Sets and if they are anything that you're interested in learning more about, probably Instagram or my website or my newsletter would be the best way to kind of keep up with the things that I've got.
Going on, which you can sign up for on my website.
And we'll put those links in the.
Show notes below.
Thanks so much for joining me today.
Carrie, it has been.
My pleasure chatting with you.
Thank you so much, Jill.