Feb. 28, 2024

LEADING WITH COURAGEOUS KINDNESS with Mindy Corporon

LEADING WITH COURAGEOUS KINDNESS with Mindy Corporon

 YOU JUST NEED TO BREATH! In Episode 68 of the Shining Brightly Podcast Show, (links in the comments), titled LEADING WITH COURAGEOUS KINDNESS, I welcome a dear friend, interfaith advocate and best-selling author of “Healing a Shattered Soul” – Mindy Corporon. Ten years ago, Mindy lost her father William Corporon MD, her oldest son Reat Underwood and a third victim Teresa LaManno (may there memories be only for a blessing for all who knew and loved them) were killed by a white supremacist in a domestic terrorism shooting at the Jewish Community Center on April 12, 2014. We discussed the last ten years and Mindy’s nonprofit SevenDays Foundation – teaching empathy and kindness to children / teens and her work with companies and human resource groups with Workplace Healing, a Human Recovery platform. Lastly, we bring the talk to the current shootings at the Oxford High School in Michigan, Uvalde School in Texas and recently a shooting a the Superbowl parade in Kansas City. Please come listen, download, share and review this emotional and powerful episode.

Mentioned Resources –


About the guest –  

Mindy Corporon, Co-Founder of Workplace Healing and the Human Recovery Platform™ helps employers transform how they support an employee experiencing a life disruption. By balancing the head-based corporate environment with empathetic heart-based support, leaders preserve long-term productivity, retention and morale. The former CEO of a successful wealth management firm, Mindy was in the middle of raising two talented boys when her father and oldest son were murdered by a white supremacist intent on killing Jews. Author of Healing a Shattered Soul (2021), Mindy delivers inspiration from her unique life experiences and mentors how to lead with courageous kindness. 

About the Host:

Howard Brown is a best-selling author, award-winning international speaker, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, interfaith peacemaker, and a two-time stage IV cancer survivor. He is also a sought-after speaker and consultant for corporate businesses, nonprofits, congregations, and community groups. Howard has co-founded two social networks that were the first to connect religious communities around the world. He is a nationally known patient advocate and “cancer whisperer” to many families. Howard, his wife Lisa, and daughter Emily currently reside in Michigan, and his happy place is on the basketball court.

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Transcript
Howard Brown:

Hello, it's Howard Brown. It's the Shining Brightly

Howard Brown:

Show. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome another amazing show on tap

Howard Brown:

here. I have the incredible Mindy Corporon with me, Mindy,

Howard Brown:

how are you?

Mindy Corporon:

I am wonderful, Howard, I'm so excited to be on

Mindy Corporon:

your show.

Howard Brown:

Oh, It's amazing. Unfortunately, we're gonna dig

Howard Brown:

deep a little bit today, we got some topics that make make

Howard Brown:

people a little uncomfortable. But we have to deal with some of

Howard Brown:

that, as I call it, him and I booked darkness in order to

Howard Brown:

shine our lights. And we're gonna we're gonna dig in,

Howard Brown:

because I think it's really important that you share your

Howard Brown:

story and how it actually goes out into the world. And people

Howard Brown:

have to be able to deal with their resilience, their

Howard Brown:

emotions, their feelings in today's world. So let me tell

Howard Brown:

you a little bit about Mindy. Mindy is impressive. And I will

Howard Brown:

make a quick disclaimer and a shout out to front edge

Howard Brown:

publishing and read the spirit magazine. We share the same

Howard Brown:

publisher our books, and so will shout out to them. They did a

Howard Brown:

great job for us. Were best selling authors and publish. So

Howard Brown:

it's really great. So Mindy Corporon is the co founder of

Howard Brown:

Workplace Healing, and the Human recovery Platform, which is

Howard Brown:

trademarked and we're going to talk about that and what that

Howard Brown:

is, she helps employers transform how they support an

Howard Brown:

employee experiencing life disruption. By balancing, head

Howard Brown:

base, corporate environment, and empathetic heart based support

Howard Brown:

leaders preserve long term productivity retention, and more

Howard Brown:

Raul, and you are the former CEO of successful wealth management

Howard Brown:

firm. Mindy, you are in the middle of raising two talented

Howard Brown:

young men, young boys, your sons and your dad and your oldest son

Howard Brown:

were murdered by a white supremacist in a domestic

Howard Brown:

violence act, intent on killing views. And in this heytvelt

Howard Brown:

environment today, this is really relevant. You are the

Howard Brown:

author of healing of a shattered soul and 2021 you deliver

Howard Brown:

inspiration from your unique experiences, and mentor how to

Howard Brown:

lead with courageous kindness. I just have to let that sink in

Howard Brown:

for a second Mindy, because it's it's it's so powerful. And I

Howard Brown:

just want to actually always start by saying that your dad

Howard Brown:

and your son made their memory be for a blessing for all of us

Howard Brown:

who loved and knew them. That's a Jewish prayer. But we we have

Howard Brown:

to we are honouring their memory by speaking about them today. So

Howard Brown:

thank you. Tell me something and tell my audience something that

Howard Brown:

we may not know about you.

Mindy Corporon:

When you asked me that question earlier, you

Mindy Corporon:

said the okay, you're gonna be prompted to answer this

Mindy Corporon:

question. I was like, I feel like I am such an open book.

Mindy Corporon:

Because I wrote a book. And it was all about me. So I know,

Mindy Corporon:

this isn't like the easiest thing. You're thinking, why

Mindy Corporon:

don't you just have something off the top of your tongue?

Mindy Corporon:

Because I think so much about me is out there. So I think what

Mindy Corporon:

might be helpful is to say to people, especially listening to

Mindy Corporon:

your podcast, and after they hear everything, and they hear

Mindy Corporon:

what I've done, and you just read my bio, and even I listened

Mindy Corporon:

to him when I listened to my bio, I'm like that, that is

Mindy Corporon:

impressive. That is a lot of effort. That was a lot. And I

Mindy Corporon:

look back, and it's a lot of effort. I will say what people

Mindy Corporon:

probably don't know about me is that frequently I wake up in a

Mindy Corporon:

cocoon. And I wonder what is next? I do not always know, what

Mindy Corporon:

is next. You know, I think we I think that we look at people who

Mindy Corporon:

achieve, and we think they got it going on. They're always on

Mindy Corporon:

top of things. And I frequently wake up and think what is next.

Mindy Corporon:

So what people might not know about me is that when that

Mindy Corporon:

happens to me, I pray, I meditate, I pray, and I journal

Mindy Corporon:

and I write out my thoughts. I write out my fears, immediately,

Mindy Corporon:

and I and then I and then I have gratitude. And I turn that into

Mindy Corporon:

gratitude. And then I kind of let it flow. So I think that

Mindy Corporon:

might be really helpful for people to understand about me,

Mindy Corporon:

so that as we go on and have our conversation, they'll they'll

Mindy Corporon:

look back at this and say, that is something that helps her move

Mindy Corporon:

out of that stuck moment. So I get stuck, and to move myself

Mindy Corporon:

out that those are the things that I do.

Unknown:

Well, this is your moment. So you share it you

Unknown:

share that and that's what you do your your journaling and

Unknown:

you're writing it down to to get through the moment. So thank you

Unknown:

for sharing that. So this show is all about the human resolve.

Unknown:

And when we step into darkness, we can learn from that darkness

Unknown:

but hopefully not stay there too long. And I am all about get

Unknown:

back up again. Use your light to get yourself back up and then go

Unknown:

lift up others and you have certainly a model for that. So I

Unknown:

would like an eye I get I'm sure it's painful every time that

Unknown:

could you give us a little from your book, I'll recount a little

Unknown:

bit about the situation. What happened on that dark day at the

Unknown:

Jewish Community Centre in Kansas City?

Mindy Corporon:

Yes, Howard. I can. It's been 10 years this

Mindy Corporon:

April marks the 10th anniversary of losing my Dad and son. And it

Mindy Corporon:

seems like yesterday. And it seems like forever ago. Do you

Mindy Corporon:

just look at the time when time marches on And anyway, I can, I

Mindy Corporon:

can just remember what I felt like it after your one and after

Mindy Corporon:

your two and now I'm sitting at your, at your 10. And I don't

Mindy Corporon:

have to pick up my book and read it to remember it because I

Mindy Corporon:

remember it so vividly. So sometimes I can't remember where

Mindy Corporon:

my car keys are. Or, you know what, what I'm supposed to do

Mindy Corporon:

next. But I remember April 13 2014. So, so vividly. And it's

Mindy Corporon:

important to say and I'll go through it rather quickly for

Mindy Corporon:

the sake of what we want. I know what we want to get to today.

Mindy Corporon:

But on April 12, we were a family of four. And on April 13.

Mindy Corporon:

We are a family of three. That's my small unit, my larger unit.

Mindy Corporon:

We also lost my dad. So I lost my dad and my son on the same

Mindy Corporon:

day. heard me on April 13. And the way it transpired is I was

Mindy Corporon:

supposed to drive my son Reat to an audition. He was a performer

Mindy Corporon:

as singer a dancer, vibrant, he could memorise books from the

Mindy Corporon:

age of four, he was just this amazing gift. And he was also at

Mindy Corporon:

genius level. So we've had him tested, he was off the charts.

Mindy Corporon:

He was in the special, you know, gifted classes, and he was in

Mindy Corporon:

Boy Scouts. He was just he was just so much. And he really

Mindy Corporon:

lived a very full life could have lived so much more. But

Mindy Corporon:

it's I'm so grateful that he lived as much as he did with the

Mindy Corporon:

time that he ended up having. My dad drove my son Reat to the

Mindy Corporon:

Jewish community centre, because I needed to be at our younger

Mindy Corporon:

son's lacrosse game. So as a parent of two boys, I'm a boy

Mindy Corporon:

mom, and they were in sports. They were in activities. Right?

Mindy Corporon:

It was in theatre. And this was his third performance third

Mindy Corporon:

audition, I had to get him to the other two. And he had

Mindy Corporon:

already made them so he was already going to be in Tom

Mindy Corporon:

Sawyer for the summer, and he was already going to be in this

Mindy Corporon:

great performance troupe for the year. It was a 12 month

Mindy Corporon:

programme Starlight stars for the year. And those he had just

Mindy Corporon:

received acknowledgement of him getting in those groups. And now

Mindy Corporon:

this was the third one. It was at the Jewish Community Centre.

Mindy Corporon:

And I expected to drive him and Lucas had a lacrosse game. My

Mindy Corporon:

younger son had a lacrosse game. Reat stepped in and said Mom, I

Mindy Corporon:

think you know Popa ended up picking me said I think you

Mindy Corporon:

should go to Luke says lacrosse game. So now on April 13. I am

Mindy Corporon:

fidgety because I thought I should be driving him and my

Mindy Corporon:

dad's coming to take him. And in the kitchen, I'm waiting on my

Mindy Corporon:

dad to get there and Reat comes bounding down the stairs and

Mindy Corporon:

he's wearing a suit and a tie and a fedora. And I can just see

Mindy Corporon:

him coming into the kitchen and and I said the mom thing. You

Mindy Corporon:

need to warm up your voice. And he did. He did all the me me me

Mindy Corporon:

and warmed up his voice. And then he sang the 36 bars of on

Mindy Corporon:

the street where you live. And then he's saying You're gonna

Mindy Corporon:

miss me when I'm gone. He said mom, they might let me sing two

Mindy Corporon:

songs. And the second song is this one and he's saying You're

Mindy Corporon:

gonna miss me when I'm gone. And I just stood there so proud of

Mindy Corporon:

him and listened to him sing. My dad showed up. The last words I

Mindy Corporon:

said to my son were I love you. Good luck. And he said I love

Mindy Corporon:

you too. Mom did not know those would be the last words he would

Mindy Corporon:

say to me. And I showed up at the JC I showed up at the

Mindy Corporon:

lacrosse game. And here's the interesting thing that lacrosse

Mindy Corporon:

game got cancelled due to weather. I went to the Jewish

Mindy Corporon:

Community Centre I got there before he would have even

Mindy Corporon:

started his audition and I thought this is miraculous. This

Mindy Corporon:

is miraculous that I'm driving in and they he shouldn't have

Mindy Corporon:

even maybe been here or in the building. And I found my dad

Mindy Corporon:

already murdered next to the truck. I pulled into the parking

Mindy Corporon:

lot. And my dad's body was lying next to the truck. And it was I

Mindy Corporon:

was hooked. FIDE, and I pressed on the gas pedal more, and I

Mindy Corporon:

pulled the car. And I just ran to my dad. And it was so

Mindy Corporon:

apparent that there was nothing I could do for him. And it's so

Mindy Corporon:

important for me to share this with you, Howard and all of your

Mindy Corporon:

listeners, because there are, you're gonna call it God, I call

Mindy Corporon:

him God, you can call it the spirits, you can call it, you

Mindy Corporon:

know, people who've crossed over, I was leaning into my dad

Mindy Corporon:

and I felt this pressure on my shoulders, pressure to push

Mindy Corporon:

back. And visually, I knew I could not help my dad and I felt

Mindy Corporon:

this pressure and I stepped back. And I heard the words,

Mindy Corporon:

your father's in heaven, go find rate, loud and clear. And there

Mindy Corporon:

was no one around, there was no one around. And I looked to the

Mindy Corporon:

left, and that would have been an easier path to go to the left

Mindy Corporon:

around his body. But I didn't take that path. I took a harder

Mindy Corporon:

path and I went around the truck. And I found my son in the

Mindy Corporon:

arms of two men. And so the shooter had shown up only

Mindy Corporon:

minutes really before me, and he'd murdered my dad on contact.

Mindy Corporon:

And he had shot rate through the winch through the driver's side

Mindy Corporon:

door. And people had heard gunfire, and they had come

Mindy Corporon:

running to help. The gunman had shot up the place. There was

Mindy Corporon:

glass everywhere. He evidently had shot at about 17 people on

Mindy Corporon:

the way out of the facility. And I had just missed this like,

Mindy Corporon:

barely missed it. I pulled in, probably as he was pulling out

Mindy Corporon:

or at the stoplight past me. The police had even asked did you

Mindy Corporon:

see this white car, they described it, I had not noticed

Mindy Corporon:

that I'd seen it nor had I seen some crazy man driving out. And

Mindy Corporon:

these two men are holding my son in their arms. And after that a

Mindy Corporon:

lot of chaos happened. A lot of chaos. I didn't go with him in

Mindy Corporon:

the ambulance to the hospital because I wasn't there when the

Mindy Corporon:

ambulance showed up. I had been placed inside. So much, Howard,

Mindy Corporon:

I talk about it in detail in the book. And I go through every

Mindy Corporon:

painstaking detail of what happened. But about 30 minutes

Mindy Corporon:

later, my husband and younger son and my mom and my and my

Mindy Corporon:

younger brother and I are all in a car, driving to the hospital

Mindy Corporon:

where we know that they have taken rate, my son. And we know

Mindy Corporon:

that my dad has been murdered. And we're just, it's

Mindy Corporon:

unbelievable. It's an unbelievable feeling. And then

Mindy Corporon:

we got to the hospital. And within about 10 minutes, the

Mindy Corporon:

director of trauma I didn't know that was his role at the time,

Mindy Corporon:

he was the director of trauma and he had been in the emergency

Mindy Corporon:

room. They had called him when Reat was brought in. And he came

Mindy Corporon:

in and he said to the room really no one in particular

Mindy Corporon:

because he didn't know who was who and he said, the young man

Mindy Corporon:

who was brought in from the headshot wound did not survive.

Mindy Corporon:

We lost his heartbeat in the ambulance. And that sentence

Mindy Corporon:

just sent us all on the floor, just that sentence and it was

Mindy Corporon:

earth shattering. And it's earth shattering to feel it again, and

Mindy Corporon:

to say it. And so my life shattered, our lives shattered.

Mindy Corporon:

And then from that moment, we really had to start thinking

Mindy Corporon:

about how are we going to put the pieces together again, and

Mindy Corporon:

that's and then that just changes who I became it

Mindy Corporon:

literally changed the trajectory of, of where I would go in my

Mindy Corporon:

life and for the past 10 years.

Howard Brown:

Thank you, I'm I'm shaking a little bit. I mean, I

Howard Brown:

know you and, and I know your story. I have your book, right

Howard Brown:

here, I read your book, and just hearing you say those words are

Howard Brown:

getting a little bit of emotional, because I'm feeling

Howard Brown:

I'm feeling empathy, but I'm feeling sorrow. I'm feeling a

Howard Brown:

lot of things right now. And two things I want to tell you, I

Howard Brown:

noticed when you were describing Reat, singing and warming up his

Howard Brown:

voice, but even saying that you're gonna miss you when

Howard Brown:

you're gone. And your last words to him. You lit up your light

Howard Brown:

was beaming, beaming, beaming, beaming. So I want to tell you,

Howard Brown:

I noticed that and then the thing that I actually didn't

Howard Brown:

pick up from the book and knowing you, you were like

Howard Brown:

driving into an active shooter situation. I did not know that

Howard Brown:

as well. And this is horrifying. And God I just so many things

Howard Brown:

are you're not Jewish. You were there for a play. You know, it

Howard Brown:

doesn't matter is bullets are indiscriminate. And I you know,

Howard Brown:

I do a lot of work in the interfaith world and in the hate

Howard Brown:

world. So I consider anti semitism Islamophobia Asian You

Howard Brown:

know, bias, it's all hate. And we have to learn that somewhere

Howard Brown:

we don't choose, you know, we can choose to hate, but we can

Howard Brown:

also choose not to hate. And so your world got turned upside

Howard Brown:

down. I weld you know, two times with stage four diagnosis, it

Howard Brown:

comes to a screeching halt. What are you supposed to do next?

Howard Brown:

Right? What are you supposed to do next? You lost your dad and

Howard Brown:

your son in a blink of an eye. It's really, really incredible.

Howard Brown:

So if I can

Mindy Corporon:

answer, I first want to answer what do you do

Mindy Corporon:

next? And what I will, what I'd like to say is you breathe, you

Mindy Corporon:

breathe, you just breathe, okay? Because it's hard to breathe.

Mindy Corporon:

It's hard to find your breath, I felt like a building had fallen

Mindy Corporon:

on top of me. And I couldn't breathe. And so that is such a

Mindy Corporon:

heavy, heavy feeling that we get. And I just, it still comes

Mindy Corporon:

to me on occasion. And so I want people to know, what do you do

Mindy Corporon:

next. And literally, the first thing that you do is you

Mindy Corporon:

breathe. And you just breathe, you just breathe again and you

Mindy Corporon:

start breathing. And and then the other thing I wanted to make

Mindy Corporon:

sure that you know this, I think that you do you and I completely

Mindy Corporon:

share the whole interfaith world. So because they were

Mindy Corporon:

murdered by a white supremacist, which it took me probably, I

Mindy Corporon:

don't know, maybe four days to understand to understand that

Mindy Corporon:

and figure it out. I didn't we didn't understand how this

Mindy Corporon:

happened. And so that then clearly we know and we learned

Mindy Corporon:

very, very quickly, that he was a white supremacist and was

Mindy Corporon:

intent on killing Jews, but but part of my initial healing

Mindy Corporon:

process was to find out everything I quote about

Mindy Corporon:

Judaism. And while I was finding everything I could about

Mindy Corporon:

Judaism, I thought I'm supposed to be Jewish. I didn't I thought

Mindy Corporon:

I'm supposed to be Jewish, and I and I talked to some a rabbi, I

Mindy Corporon:

talked to many of my Jewish friends. I talked to them about

Mindy Corporon:

Jesus, what do they know about Jesus? Because I was raised a

Mindy Corporon:

Christian and we had a lot of conversations about that. And

Mindy Corporon:

then the middle of that Howard. months, four months into that

Mindy Corporon:

five months into that a Muslim boy was murdered in Kansas City.

Mindy Corporon:

And his friends wanted me at the vigil, his friend said, can read

Mindy Corporon:

Underwoods mom come to the vigil. And I thought, Okay, God,

Mindy Corporon:

I'm Christian. I was thinking maybe I'm supposed to be Jewish.

Mindy Corporon:

And now I'm going to Muslim boys vigil. So my world was twirling

Mindy Corporon:

at best like whirling, topsy turvy. And and I did a, I still

Mindy Corporon:

do a deep dive and am very open and and ingratiating to

Mindy Corporon:

interfaith conversations and learning about others. And just

Mindy Corporon:

like you said, we are not born with hate, we are taught hate,

Mindy Corporon:

and the shooter in particular was taught hate, particularly by

Mindy Corporon:

his father, I'm not going to pull his mother in I don't know

Mindy Corporon:

anything about his own mother. This man was 74 at the time, I

Mindy Corporon:

mean, he he, quote, should have known better but didn't because

Mindy Corporon:

he was filled with hate he he just had a diatribe of hate. And

Mindy Corporon:

the district attorney said to us, we have never looked someone

Mindy Corporon:

in the eye, who is more evil than this man. So I have come

Mindy Corporon:

face to face with evil. I know it exists. So I wanted to share

Mindy Corporon:

breathing, and our and our joint love as the interfaith work, I

Mindy Corporon:

thought that was important to just pull in right at that

Mindy Corporon:

moment.

Howard Brown:

I appreciate that. Thank you for sharing that as

Howard Brown:

well. And, you know, I have a whole chapter in my book on

Howard Brown:

interfaith relations. And I actually look at it from an

Howard Brown:

openness of getting to know the other culture The food's the

Howard Brown:

history, though. It broadens you, okay. But many people close

Howard Brown:

that off. They want to live in a in a closed loop or a closed,

Mindy Corporon:

we call it a shtetl or a lower, it's safe,

Mindy Corporon:

but they want to live where it's safe. I

Howard Brown:

know. But that's not the world we live in. The

Howard Brown:

world we live in is made up of all sorts of people of different

Howard Brown:

colours and origins and backgrounds and ethnicities and

Howard Brown:

religion. I think it makes it more interesting. So you're an

Howard Brown:

iron. Yeah,

Mindy Corporon:

you're right. It's safe isn't the right word.

Mindy Corporon:

I meant comfort. Like say like, I wouldn't feel comfortable.

Mindy Corporon:

They want to people want to stay where they're comfortable.

Mindy Corporon:

They're comfortable. So I didn't I know when we use the word safe

Mindy Corporon:

that nowadays people are like, Oh, was there a live shooter?

Mindy Corporon:

You know, I mean, our world define defining the word safe is

Mindy Corporon:

difficult. I should have said people want to stay where

Mindy Corporon:

they're comfortable. And they want to be around people that

Mindy Corporon:

make them feel comfortable. And so that is usually what we look

Mindy Corporon:

like. We want to be around people that we look like rather

Mindy Corporon:

than people around that we don't look like or we don't understand

Mindy Corporon:

their foods or their cultures. And and I put myself into many

Mindy Corporon:

people's homes and many people's places of worship Hindu, Muslim,

Mindy Corporon:

Sikh, to find and Jewish to find out more about people when that

Mindy Corporon:

happened. And so the foundation that we opened, was initially

Mindy Corporon:

called Faith always wins. And it was an interfaith foundation and

Mindy Corporon:

isn't interfaith, it still is an interfaith Foundation. We just

Mindy Corporon:

changed the name to seven days. So I know well, we can talk

Mindy Corporon:

about that. Let's talk about that. No, but it was all about

Mindy Corporon:

interfaith the first four years. I mean, everything was

Mindy Corporon:

interfaith, everything. Yeah, well,

Howard Brown:

I want to hear just a little bit because we

Howard Brown:

don't have all the time in the world. But just to take a little

Howard Brown:

bit about how you put the pieces back together again, as best as

Howard Brown:

you could. And then tell me about what you've been doing

Howard Brown:

this, I want to hear about the seven days foundation, I want to

Howard Brown:

hear about workplace healing. So let's let's dive into those

Howard Brown:

those areas. So putting

Mindy Corporon:

the pieces back together, we put pieces back

Mindy Corporon:

together, but it doesn't look the same. Right? It's a totally

Mindy Corporon:

different mosaic. And I should say, I think it's important that

Mindy Corporon:

I say, We, my husband and I and our our younger son, who is now

Mindy Corporon:

21, he was 12. When this happened, he was 12 years old.

Mindy Corporon:

And we look back at time that we lost, not only because my dad

Mindy Corporon:

and Reed were murdered, I mean, I mean, that is the catalyst, so

Mindy Corporon:

we lost them. But we also lost so much. Alright, so we lost

Mindy Corporon:

their lives, and then we lost so much. And so to help our son

Mindy Corporon:

Lucas, thrive, he was kind of surviving, but to help him

Mindy Corporon:

thrive, we had to make significant life changes, and

Mindy Corporon:

significant life decisions. And so we put the pieces back in a

Mindy Corporon:

different mosaic is what we have done. And so to talk about seven

Mindy Corporon:

days, so our foundation was originally called Faith always

Mindy Corporon:

wins. And it was named by a Jewish man, a Jewish friend of

Mindy Corporon:

mine, who was originally on our board of directors. His quote to

Mindy Corporon:

me was, Mindy, every time we talk, you have said you, you are

Mindy Corporon:

surviving because of your faith. And so what if we named the

Mindy Corporon:

foundation faith always wins. And so we named that foundation

Mindy Corporon:

faith always wins. And then just a deep dive and, and more

Mindy Corporon:

pragmatic, because I'm very pragmatic, about four to six

Mindy Corporon:

years in, we still were not quite raising the funds that we

Mindy Corporon:

wanted. People say, oh, I want to learn about that. I want to

Mindy Corporon:

know about interfaith, but they don't find it, they do not find

Mindy Corporon:

it, you know what they find, they find kindness, they find a

Mindy Corporon:

kindness, which is if you're inclined to someone who isn't

Mindy Corporon:

like you, that could almost look like interface. But if you don't

Mindy Corporon:

call it interface, and you call it kindness, it's just easier to

Mindy Corporon:

fund it. And the corporation's won't find something that says

Mindy Corporon:

faith in it. They have bylaws that say they won't find faith,

Mindy Corporon:

it took too long for us to talk about the story about who we

Mindy Corporon:

were. So we changed it Howard to seven days and seven days means

Mindy Corporon:

seven days, make a ripple change the world. So can you be kind

Mindy Corporon:

for seven days? Okay, can you be kind for seven days, and that's

Mindy Corporon:

been our mantra from the beginning. We also we teach

Mindy Corporon:

kindness, our specific mission statement is we overcome hate by

Mindy Corporon:

promoting kindness, through education and dialogue. And it

Mindy Corporon:

took, I don't know, three strategy sessions to get to that

Mindy Corporon:

several different years, different board members. And

Mindy Corporon:

it's amazing, it's just it really has been a fantastic

Mindy Corporon:

journey to meet and greet and get the breadth of seven days

Mindy Corporon:

into for sure our region, our Kansas City region, and then now

Mindy Corporon:

we're in about 13 other states. And what that means is when I

Mindy Corporon:

say we're in 13, other states, we offer grants to schools,

Mindy Corporon:

middle schools, high schools and elementary schools who want to

Mindy Corporon:

have a kindness club, or they want to have a kindness walk. So

Mindy Corporon:

we have applications on our website for that. We focus on

Mindy Corporon:

the youth, Howard, because when you and I were younger, I know

Mindy Corporon:

adults said to you adults said to me, youth are going to change

Mindy Corporon:

the world. You kids, you guys are going to change the world.

Mindy Corporon:

And you know what, Howard, you and I we believed them? Yeah, we

Mindy Corporon:

did. We did I believe them. And look where we are you and I are

Mindy Corporon:

making a difference in the world? Well, when we look at our

Mindy Corporon:

youth now, people are complaining about them. They're

Mindy Corporon:

complaining about how much they're on social media. They're

Mindy Corporon:

complaining about what they're wearing, or what they're not

Mindy Corporon:

wearing. I mean, just people are complaining, you know what they

Mindy Corporon:

are, they are also who's going to change the world. So we focus

Mindy Corporon:

on the youth and we give them a chance to play in events. We

Mindy Corporon:

give them a chance to make do activities. We mentor them in

Mindy Corporon:

philanthropy. We mentor them in what does it mean to be kind and

Mindy Corporon:

we are helping them learn to be kindness influencers. So that is

Mindy Corporon:

what has morphed and transformed from the very first day to the

Mindy Corporon:

foundation now called seven days.

Howard Brown:

That's beautiful. Take me into just a teeny bit

Howard Brown:

about workplace healing as well.

Mindy Corporon:

Thank you workplace healing. So in the

Mindy Corporon:

middle of running a seven days as the executor, and President,

Mindy Corporon:

I did that for nine years, and writing the book that the

Mindy Corporon:

healing a shattered soul. And I just want you to hold the book

Mindy Corporon:

up one more time because you have it and I want to show

Mindy Corporon:

people. Okay, so you can see my Silhouette really well, but you

Mindy Corporon:

can't see the background of the book yet. Hmm. Hold it really?

Mindy Corporon:

Behind you. Yes, I know. That's what I want to show the

Mindy Corporon:

background is this painting, right? So I, when someone sees

Mindy Corporon:

the book, they're gonna say, I saw that somewhere else, it's

Mindy Corporon:

gonna be the painting behind me. So I dived into writing,

Mindy Corporon:

healing, a shattered soul to really work on healing. Again, I

Mindy Corporon:

journal, I wrote, also many feelings and emotions and

Mindy Corporon:

specifics about what happened. So I had the foundation and I

Mindy Corporon:

was writing the book, and the book was, you know, kind of in

Mindy Corporon:

process, but at the same time, Howard, shootings kept

Mindy Corporon:

happening, people kept losing other people, I was back at

Mindy Corporon:

work. And I realised that no one knew what to do or say for me,

Mindy Corporon:

and that I was helping them along the way. I was training

Mindy Corporon:

them on what to say and when to say it. And then many people in

Mindy Corporon:

my network are in the C suite. Because I was a co founder and

Mindy Corporon:

owner of a wealth management company, many of the people when

Mindy Corporon:

I went to events, you know, I was, and I'm just don't mind

Mindy Corporon:

going up and saying hello to anybody. So I met a lot of

Mindy Corporon:

people in the C suite. And they would come to me in on in live

Mindy Corporon:

events. And I would say, can I talk to you about my employee

Mindy Corporon:

whose husband died, like, okay, and I realised that there's a

Mindy Corporon:

huge gap, that we have HR resources, we have employee

Mindy Corporon:

assistance programmes, but we don't have training on when

Mindy Corporon:

someone really has a significant life disruption, cancer, stage

Mindy Corporon:

four cancer, how do you talk to someone who has stage four

Mindy Corporon:

cancer, right? If you're thinking, Oh, my gosh, stage

Mindy Corporon:

four cancer, this person may die? What am I going to say to

Mindy Corporon:

them? Right? What am I going to say? And so you, I know have

Mindy Corporon:

helped people talk to you. So I experienced this horrible

Mindy Corporon:

tragedy. And I realised that I was helping people talk to me.

Mindy Corporon:

And workplace healing was born, I wanted more empathy in the

Mindy Corporon:

workplace, I wanted leaders to understand that they could take

Mindy Corporon:

a role, they could have some responsibility, and take a role

Mindy Corporon:

in re engaging employees and helping employees along the way.

Mindy Corporon:

And so workplace healing was born in 2018. And, and now it's

Mindy Corporon:

a, we have a software, I'd laugh because I never thought I would

Mindy Corporon:

own a software company. So that's kind of why I chuckle

Mindy Corporon:

about it. But it was consulting. And now it's human interaction.

Mindy Corporon:

And it's innovative technology. And it's an empathy

Mindy Corporon:

implementation tool for companies. And that's, that's

Mindy Corporon:

what we're working to do is help companies help their Grievers

Mindy Corporon:

get back into the fray of work.

Howard Brown:

And you're still teaching kindness. And I'm still

Howard Brown:

what you call courageous kindness, which is your which is

Howard Brown:

your tagline as well. So I want to take this to a real life

Howard Brown:

right now. Because we here in Michigan, we had a high school

Howard Brown:

shooting, there's been many, the Oxford high school shooting,

Howard Brown:

which and I will actually just honour by reading the names

Howard Brown:

Madison Baldwin, Tate Meyer, Hannah St. Juliana, Justin

Howard Brown:

shelling, they were killed, there was many more that were

Howard Brown:

wounded. And I have to tell you that that hit home because it's

Howard Brown:

only about 45 minutes away from where I live, it affected so

Howard Brown:

many people. And I, I know that I think you even called with the

Howard Brown:

Uvalde school shooting, they called on your expertise there

Howard Brown:

as well. And I know you might have spoken to some folks down

Howard Brown:

there, and there's just somebody to mention. And then just

Howard Brown:

recently, and I know that you've are now in Florida and not in

Howard Brown:

Kansas City, but that's your home base, but just at a

Howard Brown:

celebration for the Super Bowl at the Kansas City Chiefs that

Howard Brown:

in your hometown. Basically, there was a shooting and these

Howard Brown:

are younger kids shooting and many injured in one death. And I

Howard Brown:

just I'm kinda again numb, you know, it's just that where's the

Howard Brown:

the world gone? And on all this violence and, and just it just

Howard Brown:

really hurts me because I live in the world of cancer. And I

Howard Brown:

know that 53,000 People are going to die from colorectal

Howard Brown:

cancer in the US this year. doesn't make it any easier. But

Howard Brown:

the shootings? God,

Mindy Corporon:

it couldn't be stabbed. Yeah. The shootings

Mindy Corporon:

could be prevented. That's the right word that you use the

Mindy Corporon:

right word. The shootings could be prevented. Yes, and you thank

Mindy Corporon:

you for mentioning the students names Who who passed from the

Mindy Corporon:

Michigan shooting that you're talking about? Lisa Lopez Galvin

Mindy Corporon:

lost her life. In Kansas City. There were 1,000,001 million

Mindy Corporon:

people at the Chiefs parade. 1 million people there, and 22 to

Mindy Corporon:

23 other people were injured. And as you said, many of them

Mindy Corporon:

children, and I don't, I don't know their names and I wouldn't

Mindy Corporon:

read them off because they're minors and their and their

Mindy Corporon:

living and they they deserve what privacy they do want. But I

Mindy Corporon:

do know that Children's Mercy hospital had children who had

Mindy Corporon:

gunshot wounds, from age six to age 15, age six, and, and it is

Mindy Corporon:

preventable and looking at the murderer who murdered my dad,

Mindy Corporon:

and my son and Terry Romano. So there were three people

Mindy Corporon:

murdered. So I said that he shot at other people at the JCC. And

Mindy Corporon:

then he drove in his car and he went to Village Shalom, and he

Mindy Corporon:

shot it to more people and murdered Terrell Amano. So the

Mindy Corporon:

three of them lost their lives that day, so he had been taught

Mindy Corporon:

hate. Now, I thought, this is something really interesting. I

Mindy Corporon:

thought, after dad and Reed and Terry were murdered, that when

Mindy Corporon:

people murder or use a gun to to injure someone they must hate.

Mindy Corporon:

And I was corrected very quickly by a mother, who is the she runs

Mindy Corporon:

the chapter of mothers in charge in Kansas City. And, and her

Mindy Corporon:

group focuses on helping people. Right after there's been a

Mindy Corporon:

shooting, they go down and help, especially if there's a student

Mindy Corporon:

involved, but I think they go down for every shooting in

Mindy Corporon:

Kansas City. Unfortunately, they're very busy. So it's

Mindy Corporon:

called mother's in charge. And she said to me, I don't know

Mindy Corporon:

maybe eight to nine months after the murders, I was getting

Mindy Corporon:

invite, you know, could I come? Speak at this? Could I come to

Mindy Corporon:

this? Could I do this? So in the, you know, nine months to

Mindy Corporon:

two year timeframe, I met her. And I said something about?

Mindy Corporon:

Well, you know, they everybody that murderers hates, and she

Mindy Corporon:

said, Oh, no, they don't hate. She said her son was murdered

Mindy Corporon:

for a watch. There was no hate. There was I want that. Greed.

Mindy Corporon:

They don't know how this man who murdered her son didn't know how

Mindy Corporon:

to have a conversation or just be angry about something or just

Mindy Corporon:

want something and realise that he couldn't have it. He wanted a

Mindy Corporon:

watch that her son had. And he came in and shot her son and

Mindy Corporon:

took the watch. He's she said there was no hate involved. And

Mindy Corporon:

that just really threw me for a loop. And so I don't know who

Mindy Corporon:

the juveniles are at all, that have that have been arraigned

Mindy Corporon:

for the most recent shooting in Kansas City. But the

Mindy Corporon:

conversation that's happening amongst many, many people right

Mindy Corporon:

now is students in our area need more? Not just parental but

Mindy Corporon:

parental and adult interaction parental and adult guidance.

Mindy Corporon:

And, and yes, there is, you know, how did they get guns and,

Mindy Corporon:

you know, getting guns out of their hands and all of that, but

Mindy Corporon:

there's also why would anyone that age even want a gun, if

Mindy Corporon:

they had enough adult, you know, engagement that was really

Mindy Corporon:

helping them find a different path.

Howard Brown:

I think it's education that you know, giving

Howard Brown:

them mentorship and guidance so that they they know boundaries.

Howard Brown:

It's a complicated, and it's a whole nother episode that will

Howard Brown:

have you back on and we can dig deep on and all that. That's

Howard Brown:

heavy, it weighs heavy on me. I want to actually turn our from

Howard Brown:

our conversation and put on our sunglasses. We're going to shine

Howard Brown:

the spotlight on you now Mindy. And I want you all look at those

Howard Brown:

glasses. Those are hot. All right. But I want you to tell my

Howard Brown:

audience how they can best get a hold of you. And then I want you

Howard Brown:

to leave, leave with a little inspiration of a quote or a

Howard Brown:

story or lesson and then kick the show back to me to close.

Mindy Corporon:

You know what Howard? I what I want to say is,

Mindy Corporon:

you know for inspiration. I watched the sunrise for

Mindy Corporon:

inspiration. I think about my son's quote, my son's quote is

Mindy Corporon:

live life to the fullest and never give up. He had that quote

Mindy Corporon:

on an Instagram page or whatever social media he was using at the

Mindy Corporon:

time. I had no idea. So I always say live life to the fullest and

Mindy Corporon:

never give up. Because we don't know when our last day is.

Mindy Corporon:

Nobody knows. And I don't want to waste one minute of one day I

Mindy Corporon:

am living life for my dad. I'm living life for my son. I'm

Mindy Corporon:

living life for myself. And I'm living life to help others do

Mindy Corporon:

the same. live life to the fullest and never give up. So

Mindy Corporon:

Howard brown I'm moving it back to you. Thank you so much for

Mindy Corporon:

having me. I'm shining brightly because you shine brightly well.

Howard Brown:

I appreciate that. You missed one thing. How should

Howard Brown:

people get in touch with you?

Mindy Corporon:

Oh, Howard, I always forget about that part.

Mindy Corporon:

I'm sorry. I was thinking so much about the quote. How should

Mindy Corporon:

people get in touch with me? Well, Mindy Corporon, mindy Corp

Mindy Corporon:

or O N, it's super easy to find me LinkedIn. seven days is

Mindy Corporon:

SEVENDays.org. That's our foundation. So it's dot org. And

Mindy Corporon:

workplace healing is workplace healing spelled out workplace

Mindy Corporon:

healing.com. I'm on Facebook. I'm on Instagram, but I really

Mindy Corporon:

don't know how to use Instagram. I need a tutorial. But LinkedIn

Mindy Corporon:

is great. And I would love for people to get hold of me through

Mindy Corporon:

you because I'd like us to stay connected. Well,

Howard Brown:

they can certainly contact me I'm going to include

Howard Brown:

your links in the show notes and also on social media posts and

Howard Brown:

all that. And please, if you want to learn and take a deeper

Howard Brown:

dive into Mindy's story, and learn how to use courageous

Howard Brown:

kindness in the world, healing a shattered soul. It's on Amazon,

Howard Brown:

you can find it on her website and her link pages as well.

Howard Brown:

Mindy, thank you for being here and sharing part of your story

Howard Brown:

and how you've chosen to make the world a better place. And

Howard Brown:

that's what shining brightly, you know, means means to me.

Howard Brown:

I'll give again, a shout out to front edge publishing and read

Howard Brown:

the spirit amplify you my podcasts house. And I just you

Howard Brown:

get a hold of me at shining brightly.com This has been such

Howard Brown:

an amazing episode. And please consider downloading listening,

Howard Brown:

sharing and reviewing. And if we choose to shine brightly, just a

Howard Brown:

little bit each day, which we have today, Monday for

Howard Brown:

ourselves, and then go lift up others and our communities and

Howard Brown:

our neighbourhoods and the world. We will all be in a

Howard Brown:

better place. So thank you. Thank you for being here.

Mindy Corporon:

Thank you, Howard.