The day I started this podcast, I knew I’d eventually interview my best friend, Michelle Cordero. She is kind, courageous and resilient, having overcome a childhood filled with domestic violence, depression and a broken home — I’ve always wondered how she managed not to dwell on the things that could have held her back.
Today she shares what she’s learned from her past, from the recent death of a close friend of cancer and how parenting her high-energy and uniquely sweet little boy, who is 5, taught her how to trust her gut even when teachers and experts told her something different. Spoiler alert: Her gut was right.
Michelle says this of her challenging few years raising a rambunctious boy:
“Trust your gut. You know your kid…you are your child’s only advocate and you have to stand up for them. Don’t let one teacher tell you what’s best. You know what’s best as their parent.”
Michelle is also mom to a 3-year-old girl and works full-time at the Heritage Foundation, commuting 1.5 hours both ways each day to Washington, DC from her home in the suburbs of Virginia. Despite her busy life, she manages to make time for bettering her marriage, taking care of herself through exercise at Orange Theory (we hear that a lot on this podcast!) and doing all kinds of really memorable things with her kids each weekend.
You’ll love her “list idea” for keeping yourself happy and on track — and she talks about how it’s helped her in her frequent struggles with depression. We also talk about about false stereotypes of conservative women and why would would both give our right leg to have a long, drawn out sit down dinner with one of our favorite writers, Elizabeth Gilbert.
What we talked about:
- Heritage Explains Podcast
- Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday “Your Own Truth” episode
- The Happiness Project podcast
- The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Anchor
- Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
- My tribute to Liz Gilbert for inspiring me to finish my book!
- WorkLife podcast by Adam Grant
- Michelle’s Cookbook: Jelly Shots (so many fun recipes for parties!)
Connect with Michelle: