Show Notes - Karlyn Percil – Empowering Women through Conversations

Today’s guest is Karlyn Percil and she is the president of Sistertalk Group which is a women's leadership network as seen on Oprah's Lifeclass. She is a Leadership Coach who empowers women to break their personal glass ceiling & realize their full potential. Here are some highlights from our episode today:

-        She got to where she was in her life right now as she had also been in the place of struggle herself. She believes every woman has her own “Elephant Story”. An Elephant Story is a shame/guilt/fear based event/experience that has happened to you over the course of your life.   The shame/guilt/fear slowly seep into our beings influencing our goals, our dreams as well as the kind of decisions we make in life and love. 

-        She was at that stage in her life where she wanted more but she knew that something was holding her back – back to mediocrity and averageness and that was holding her from her greatness. Karlyn realized that you will never be able to rewrite that chapter of why you are not happy until you take ownership of your story.

-        It was at a point where she was in a role when she wanted to do more than what was just given to her that Karlyn knew that she needed to be where her passion is. A lot of her transformational points happened at work. A lot of people who were pivotal in her questioning why she was there and that she needed to move on. She got out of that role and went on to the other, and she encountered a lot of cultural differences and she almost lost her voice because she felt cornered and bullied.

-        Karlyn says that what motivates her is the power of what women can do. She is able to leverage her elephant story and she was able to find ways to utilize her gifts to create opportunities for herself. The potential of who we are and what we can accomplish and the collective power that women have is what motivates her.

-        She says she is constantly enriching her personal and professional know how by continuously educating herself through webinars, reading blogs and taking everyday lessons from life itself. The women that she serve keep her focused and sharp so that she is always available to serve them at her best.

-        She got invited to be on Oprah’s Life Class with her group, SisterTalk. The SisterTalk Group bring women together from all walks of life to have a meaningful conversation that goes beyond the boys, the bags and the shoes and they have conversations talking about the things we were taught not to talk about in public.

-        Karlyn said, to begin with, she never really knew what SisterTalk was all about other than it was an honest and open conversation of women. She knew that they were doing something important as she could see that transformation in the lives of the women they were working with, but at that time, Karlyn confesses that she didn’t have the capacity to take the group beyond the Oprah’s Life Class guesting. After their first episode, she had to put everything on hold, membership wise, and over the years as the conversations and memberships grew, she was able to direct the group into the direction it is taking now through the help of continuous training and learnings she had along the way.

-        She came to a point where they had to outsource some of the processes so they could cater to more individuals who are in need of their services. She had to hire a system where they could automate their emails, but the system was not fully automated and she still works closely with the people who are involved with the program. She also hired an editor but she concedes that it is not always easy to find people who get what you are doing and who are as passionate about what you are doing.

-        We were taught to discount things that came naturally – we were taught that we need to work hard for things to happen. Our default programming is that when something comes to you easily, you usually cast it aside.

-        There are moments in her career when Karlyn feels that she should just stop and just go back to her 9-5 and let it be, but when these feelings hound her, there is always that feeling of validation that comes from an email or call telling her that her work has been able to transform lives, and that really makes a difference. You cannot be a healer without being healed yourself.

-        The best advice that she has ever received came from a quote which said “Don’t let Shame tell you who you are”. When shame tells us who we are, we pass that as worthiness and we forget that who we are is enough and we have everything we need in for that journey coming ahead.

-        If there should be a business do-over at this point, Karlyn feels that having another person to help on the administrative side of running things. Every business persons should not be doing their business alone and that in order to grow, you need to acknowledge that you need help.

-        She is most proud of the fact that her business is adding value and changing lives. This, for her, should be the main motivation for each business person. Today she is proud of the fact that her group is empowering women to redefine leadership and success to include our elephant stories because it is part of our success.

-        She recommends reading is the book, The Four Doors: A Guide to Joy, Freedom, and a Meaningful Life by Richard Paul Evans. It talks about the four doors and how we can have meaning in life and how the four doors can lead us to more fulfillment in life.

You can know more about Karlyn through her website, www.karlynpercil.com and you can connect with her through her various social media networks on Facebook (www.facebook.com/karlyn.percil), LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=10502796), Twitter (@KarlynPercil) and Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/user/kpercil).