Julie Shifman

In Julie’s signature talk, her message challenges women to open their minds to the endless possibilities that can result in a fulfilling next act. She begins by granting them permission to dream again, as Julie finds that too many women have buried their dreams in some dark closet. Sometimes that means rediscovering old dreams that have gone dormant over the years, and sometimes it means imagining new dreams. But her message doesn’t end with the Imagining, she also provides practical advice on how to Do It …to actually begin the journey towards fulfilling those dreams. As Julie says “Imagining without the doing is just daydreaming.” Using her own personal story, interspersed with the stories of the many remarkable women she has interviewed, she challenges women to take a personal inventory and walk away with a renewed sense of purpose. For shorter time periods, this talk can be divided in two, with one talk about Imagining and one talk about Doing.

Happiness, quoting Benjamin Franklin, has to be caught, you can’t just sit back and wait for it to happen to you. Using personal stories, humor as well as today’s scientific research, Julie shares her top five “happiness catchers” including

living life with gratitude

performing acts of kindness (what Julie calls Looking for Lurch)

stop sweating the small stuff or ignore the chocolate sauce

finding the funny ( wait till you hear the story of the doped up dog)

creating daily small happiness catchers

Julie believes that by seeking to catch happiness in a proactive way, we actually can live happier lives. This inspirational talk is ideal for women’s groups of any kind or age as the quest for happiness is universal. All participants will leave with specific action items they can practice immediately to live their best lives.

We all know that it’s impossible to wake up one day and just decide to run a marathon… Our bodies would give up in the first few miles because our muscles simply weren’t in shape to tackle this challenge. And yet, we expect to be able to tackle major change in our lives with no practice, no training, or no preparation. So when some major change happens to us – and it always does in today’s fast-paced world – we struggle just like a couch-potato-turned-marathoner. Julie believes that most of us are basically out of Change Shape, but that we can, in fact, Build our Change Muscles to handle this change with confidence, ease and grace. Julie motivates her audience through her own personal stories and the stories of other inspiring women who she has interviewed for her book, articles, and documentary film. Participants learn Julie’s tips and tricks for Getting in Change Shape so that change and transition can be viewed as exciting and energizing.