Rechelle Conde-Nau – 65

About me

Rechelle Conde-Nau is a podcaster/blogger who created Unabashed You “because you’re already good enough.” Other roles she’s enjoyed: elementary school teacher (5th grade is the best!), director for children’s performing arts programs (creating, mentoring, celebrating – so fulfilling), author of Standing Tall: A Collection of Hope(after the death of her infant son with lots of gifts after loss). In addition to teacher, Rechelle is a servant-leader– any role/opportunity that encourages.  She aspires to inspire.

What do you do and why do you do it?

Once you’ve had a double-whammy happen (in my case a rebellious teenager going off the rails along with a friend’s surprising betrayal – aren’t they always surprising?), you can come out of that bitter or better.  You’ve got a choice, really.  Once I felt all the feels, processed, and began to recover, I felt a sense of starting over in a profound way.

I asked myself, What qualities are so important to you now that you will insist on embodying them yourself and be drawn to the same in others?  For me, the answer was simple.  Authenticity.  Transparency.  Vulnerability.   Sure there are lots of other good ones and I hope people see more in me but these three are the trifecta of beginnings.  

I also had all this creativity bubbling up inside of me that needed an outlet.  I’m an educator by profession and while that’s not a sexy word it means wanting to impart, wanting to instill.  I’ve been doing it professionally and personally for years.  That’s one of the benefits of aging, the experience that comes along with it.  

Enter the podcast and blog Unabashed You.  Each guest comes as they are and shares a part of their story, along with their passion.  We have a conversation and both leave feeling more complete and connected.  I get to do many of the things I’m good at, and the ones I’m not, I learn about.

My purpose is to encourage authenticity.  I want those I connect with to feel permission to be uniquely who they are.  We’d all have more fulfilling, expanded lives if we each did.  BECOME WHO YOU ALREADY ARE and do the thing only you can do.

What changed for you after age 50?

I felt more freedom to be myself, I cared less what other people thought.  I was willing to take risks and see where it all led.  I built on experiences that were successful, along with the ones that were not.  I continue to “ING” as in my fuel is learnING, creatING, connectING, collaboratING, etc.

What would you tell the 20 or 30-year-old YOU?

Believe and trust in yourself more, care what others think far less.

What do you think you’ll tell yourself in retrospect at the end of your life?

You loved well and you used your gifts for good.

What impact do you think increased visibility can have on your business?

Tremendous!  If no one really knows what you’re doing then how can they become a part of it?

Who or what inspires you and why?

Each guest on my podcast!  As they come on the show and we have that time to connect in an authentic, real way, I leave the conversation very inspired by who they are, and what they’ve shared.

Something else I’d like to share

Three different questions come to mind when considering the driving forces on my journey.

1. What are you waiting for?  This showed up in more than one instance so I knew I needed to listen.  The time was here to take the risk instead of wondering what would have happened if I had only tried..  “Then the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” — Anais Nin 
2. Who would you be if you weren’t afraid?  A great one to work through your fears.  You owe it to yourself to figure out who you are.  The discovery can be fun and is very freeing.  Accepting the whole package: strengths, weaknesses, they make you who you are.  “To achieve all that is impossible, we must attempt the impossible, to be all that we can be, we must dream of being more.” – John C. Maxwell
3. What’s the worst thing that could happen?  Worst-case-scenario is a great strategy.  It helps to take the wind out of fear.  Once you dial it down you realize if nothing else you will take your newfound knowledge with you and you will pivot.  There is nothing wrong with that.  “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” — Wayne Gretzky