Lisa Niver's Blog: We Said Go Travel, page 29
August 29, 2023
How to be BRAVE-ish on Hotter Than Ever
Thank you Erin Keating and Hotter Than Ever! I loved coming on your show.Despite traveling to 102 countries and scuba-diving with shark countless times, writer and travel expert Lisa Niver wouldn’t call herself “brave”. She prefers “brave-ish”. As Lisa explains in her memoir, Brave-ish: One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty, cultivating bravery is like planting seeds—it takes patience and practice to see it grow. Years later, the fruits of those seeds have led Lisa on an incredible journey of self-discovery, adventure, and transformation.
In this captivating episode, Lisa reminds us that it’s never too late to live our own “Brave-ish” life, explore the world, and create the life we dream of.
In addition, Erin and Lisa discuss:
Lisa’s transformation and liberation after getting divorced at 47.
Her pursuit of 50 new adventures before turning 50 and the lessons she learned along the way
The significance of self-care, rest, and reflection in achieving personal growth
Redefining bravery as a muscle that grows through practice and facing fears
The power of embracing change, stepping out of our comfort zones, and taking challenges head-on
The importance of honest self-assessment, finding balance between adventure and community
Crafting a unique, unconventional life path
HOST: ERIN KENTINGWhy are we so scared of change? The second half of your life can be happier, sexier and more fulfilled, but you may need to blow some stuff up. To find out how, we’re bringing you interviews and frank, irreverent, inexpert advice on everything from career and aging to sex and body image in what used to be called “middle age.” Laugh, get honest, break the rules and stop caring what other people think. Join us, and we can be hot together!
OUR GUEST: Lisa Niver, an award-winning travel expert, has explored 102 countries on six continents. A University of Pennsylvania graduate, she spent seven years sailing with cruise lines like Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean, and three years backpacking across Asia. Her articles appear in esteemed publications like AARP and WIRED, and she hosts the podcast Make Your Own Map, featuring interviews with figures like Deepak Chopra and Olympic medalists. With multiple journalism awards and finalist recognition, Niver is also a #3 travel influencer in 2023. She shares her insights on KTLA TV, YouTube (2 million views), and in her memoir “Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty.”
Cultivating bravery, one seed at a time
Embracing change and facing fears head-on
Crafting a unique, unconventional life path
Want more Lisa? Find her online at http://wesaidgotravel.com/ and follow her on:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisaniver
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lisaniver
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisa.niver
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lisaniver
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LisaNiver
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/wesaidgotravel/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisaellenniver/
You can find her book at: https://lisaniver.com/braveish/
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Erin Keating (@hotterthaneverpod)
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Erin Keating (@hotterthaneverpod)
@hotterthaneverpodHow to Be Brave-ish with Travel Expert Lisa Niver
102 countries, countless scuba-dives, and a life that's "Brave-ish" – Lisa Niver's adventures will spark your wanderlust. Join us for an episode that's all about:
Cultivating bravery, one seed at a time
Embracing change and facing fears head-on
Crafting a unique, unconventional life path
Tune in now via the link in bio or find us on your favorite podcast platform.
@hotterthaneverpodMissed out on our captivating podcast episode with @LisaNiver ? Don't worry, it's not too late to dive into her story of self-discovery, transformation, and fearless exploration.
Click the link in our bio or find us wherever you get your podcasts to catch up on all the empowering wisdom Lisa shares. Tune in now and let her journey inspire your own!
#hotterthaneverpod #careeradvice #newpodcast #womenover40 #inspiration #reinventyourself #datingover40 #marriageadvice #adversity #therapy #therapyjourney #midlife #liveyourbestlife #midlifeawakening #braveishjourney #inspirationunleashed #embracechange #wanderlust #selfdiscovery #embracechange #inspirationunleashed #createyourdreamlife ♬ original sound – hotterthaneverpod
The post How to be BRAVE-ish on Hotter Than Ever appeared first on We Said Go Travel.
August 28, 2023
Heroes of the Holocaust: A Small Light
Thank you Tony Phelan and Joan Rater for creating the moving and mesmerizing limited series, A Small Light about Miep Gies, who hid the Frank family from the Nazis during the Holocaust in Amsterdam. I met them at a Jewish Federation Los Angeles screening at UTA and at Stephen Wise Temple. Joan Rater told the audience, “People make choices and choices make history.” Miep Gies believed she was just an ordinary person who made a choice that anyone would make but we know that is not true. Would we choose to help? As Miep would say, “We can all turn on a small light in a dark room.”
A Small Light Screening by Jewish Federation LA at UTAListen or watch our interview on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube or your favorite podcast platformREAD THE TRANSCRIPT BELOW
Lisa Niver:
Good afternoon, this is Lisa Niver. I’m the founder of We Said Go Travel, and the author of Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents, and Feeling Fearless after 50. And I am beyond excited and honored to have the most incredible producer joining me today. Tony, thank you so much for being here.
Tony Phelan:
I’m happy to be here.
Lisa Niver:
I loved meeting you at the Federation event at UTA about your current project, A Small Light. I know it’s available for people to see now, and we are definitely going to talk about this show, which I think everybody should watch. I think they should have it in classrooms. I used to teach at Steven Wise Tempe, I taught in Culver City Middle School. Everybody needs to see your show, but before we get there–You have a long, very prominent, incredible career with movies and television, so can you give people a little bit of background? Who are you?
Tony Phelan:
Well, I am a writer, director, showrunner and my wife, Joan, and I write as a team. We have been on such shows as Grey’s Anatomy, Madam Secretary. We just created a show for CBS this past year called Fire Country.
Lisa Niver:
The top rated new show of last season.
Tony Phelan:
We’re very excited about that. We came to A Small Light having pretty much spent our entire career in television on network. A Small Light, which tells the story of Meap Gies, who was Otto Frank’s secretary and was instrumental in hiding the Franks as well as the other people in the secret annex. What Joan and I discovered through our research was that while she and her husband Jan were hiding the Franks, they were also hiding up to 12 other people in and around Amsterdam. And so this to us, felt like a wonderful opportunity to tell the story of the helpers of people who in Amsterdam during World War II, helped to hide Jews. And tell the story of people who, when faced with bigotry and antisemitism went out, could have chosen to do nothing, but instead chose to go out of their way to help their fellow man. It really felt like an inspirational story and a way to tell the story of Anne Frank from a different perspective. In partnership with Disney+ and Nat Geo, we created an eight episode limited series, which is now available on Disney+ and Hulu and really has some wonderful performances. The intention was to tell a historical story and wipe away the cobwebs and to really tell it in such a way that felt immediate and vital and exciting.
Lisa Niver:
It’s phenomenal. I saw it with an incredible crowd, and my parents saw it the following night at Stephen Wise Temple a big crowd. Everyone I’ve spoken to about it who’s watched it comes away with the same thing that it’s so compelling. For many of us, I grew up with a lot of education about the Holocaust and knowing about the Frank family, but I had no idea, which was one of the things you guys discussed that night, that she was so young and newly married.
Tony Phelan:
She and Otto Frank formed this amazing relationship. When he hired her, she was very young in her early twenties. By the time he asked her to help hide his family, she was newly married. She was just starting out in life, but was a bit of a hot mess. In a way that I think feels very relatable. She herself was an immigrant. She was born in Vienna. After World War I, there was a program to relocate children who were in the war zone to the Netherlands, which had been neutral during World War I. They had food and all sorts of services that were available to children. There was this strange reverse kinder transport that happened at that time that we discovered.
Meep was adopted by a Dutch family, and found herself wanting to stay in Holland. When she met Mr. Frank, who was an immigrant from Germany, they formed an immediate kinship because they shared a language. Mr. Frank then used Miep and her husband Jan, as what they refer to as their Dutch friends. And so put them in contact with all these other German Jewish emigres because they could help them navigate the social morays and the customs of the Netherlands and help them with the language and other issues. So that when it came time for him to ask for her help in hiding his family, she immediately said yes to the point where he said, no, no, no. Take a moment. Think about it. You could be arrested or killed if you were found hiding Jews.
She said, I don’t need to think about it. Anyone would do it. Well, we know that not anyone would do it, because not everyone did, but she did. Our research in the show was really about why was she so open to helping others. We think part of it was the fact that she was an immigrant herself. Part of it was what she later said in life, after the success of Ann’s diary, was that you don’t have to be special in order to help other people. Small acts of kindness can really do tremendous things. That was a message that we felt the world needed right now. We’re thrilled to bring that and the story of Miep and how she was the person who scooped up Anne’s diary after everyone was arrested in the annex and kept it in a locked drawer for Anne when she came back.
When they found out that Anne and Margot were not coming back from Bergen Belson, she gathered up the diary and walked it into Mr. Frank’s office and laid it on his desk and said, this is the legacy of your daughter. And then together, they made sure that the diary found as many readers as possible. After the war, Otto chose to live with Miep for seven years until he remarried, which is pretty remarkable that this boss and employee could eventually move into being really family.
Tony Phelan and Lisa Niver recording our interviewLisa Niver:
That’s a lot of what you feel in the episodes of the show is about chosen family and choices. At the screening you reported that Miep always said– anyone would’ve done it. But we know, looking at the issues with bystanders, allys and upstanders, that she was an original upstander. When called into action, she was committed. I thought the contrast in some of the scenes where the friend is having the party and she’s wearing the fancy dress and skating and the opulence versus these people hiding. You really see how it was so tenuous for Anne every day, wondering if she could get food? Did they have the ration books? What was going to happen next?
Tony Phelan:
Not only that, but how do you live with the fact that you get to go outside? If you chose to, your life was not that different. As the Nazis were systematically ridding Amsterdam and the Netherlands of Jews, if you chose to collaborate or just turn away, your life was relatively unaffected. People ask us did we take some dramatic liberties with the story. We tried to stick to the historical record as much as we could.
But in the example of the friend that you bring up, that was an invented character, because we wanted to show that people who did not make the same choice she did. And how the fact that Meep was hiding this from her family, from her friends, caused huge rifts in her life. Even she and Jan, her husband, had to keep things hidden from each other. That put tension on their new marriage.
Lisa Niver:
All of your shows from Grey’s Anatomy to Fire Country have dramatic tension about real relationships. The smallest details to the largest details of what would you do create compelling shows with so much for people to think about. When there’s an accident in the street who calls 9 1 1? That’s a very small participation that I’ve been involved in different accidents. I worked on a cruise ship for seven years. I was a very highly trained first responder. So if there’s an accident, I’m going to call 9 1 1. I don’t think about it, but not everybody thinks I need to do something. And Miep really stepped up.
Tony Phelan:
These people were her friends. One of the amazing things about Amsterdam is how much of a kind society it was. From the 1600s, Amsterdam had been a haven for Jews across Europe. Not only Jews, but also LGBTQ people. Real people in Amsterdam could not wrap their heads around the fact that this was happening to them and their society. One of the things that we weren’t able to tell, but I thought was really interesting was after the Nazis invaded and took over the country, the Dutch were the only occupied people to launch a general strike against the Nazis. They basically said, you’re doing this to our Jewish friends and neighbors. We are gonna shut everything down and just not participate.
The Nazis couldn’t believe that this was happening. They expected the Dutch to welcome them with open arms being fellow arians. And they brutally put this general strike down to the point of leading the leaders of the general strike out into the street and just shooting them, which stopped the general strike. But that spirit was always there. When the Nazis first imposed Jews having to wear yellow stars, there were Dutch citizens who started to wear little orange flowers or little crosses to depict that they were Christians in defiance of the Nazis. If you’re going to label the the Jews as Jews, we are going to label ourselves as well. These little acts of defiance were pretty remarkable for the time. But yes, Miep did these acts of resistance, and at the same time, not knowing how many other people were doing them since everybody had to be very secretive about what they were doing.
Lisa Niver:
At the Federation event, you and your wife spoke about how this story chose you, that you were with your family in Amsterdam.
Tony Phelan:
We were with our family in Amsterdam. There’s a wonderful documentary about Miep called Anne Frank remembered that came out in the nineties, won the Academy Award for best documentary. That was the first time we ever saw her. And she was well into her nineties and was talking about Anne and finding the diary and her relationship to Anne. Then we took our kids to Amsterdam about seven years ago. While we were there, we were going through the Anne Frank Museum and reading the signs, and we were reading a sign about Miep. Our son had just graduated from Columbia, very smart, but hapless. He was just starting out in life and he was figuring out things. We read about Miep’s age when she first started working for Otto.
Tony Phelan:
And we thought, she’s just this young woman who does not know how anything works. And all of a sudden she has all these lives in her hands. So the act of figuring things out is the story. She and Jan were not super spies. They didn’t know what they were doing. They had to cobble it together as they went. And then, we left the museum, rented bikes, and we rode the route from the hidden annex to the Frank’s apartment about 45 minutes. We got there and we saw the Frank’s apartment building, and then we were going to get ice cream. We turned around and we saw there’s a park across the street from the Frank’s apartment, and we saw these 10 year old girls doing cartwheels. And we had this revelation of that’s Anne.
Anne was just a 10 year old girl doing cartwheels when history overtook her. The desire to make these people human and relatable became our stated goal. Many times when I watch historical dramas, the language and the way that they’re shot, there’s a real barrier between the viewer and the people. They speak in a different way. They wear different clothes. We wanted to clear all that out and have them speak in a more contemporary way and shoot it in a more realistic, grounded way so that barrier wasn’t there, so that the audience could really immediately relate to these people, and put themselves in the shoes of the characters and say, what would I do?
Lisa Niver:
There’s a interesting parallel that this story found you through your family, and you are a successful creator working with your spouse. How did you and your spouse find each other and find your way into being writing partners?
Tony Phelan:
We first met in 1988 in New York. I was a young theater director, and Joan was an actress. We met through mutual friends. Joan was always complaining about the fact that she hated auditioning. She wasn’t having much success. We would go to parties together. I would watch her tell these incredibly humiliating stories about her dating life before me. I finally said to her, that’s a show –you telling these humiliating stories is a show. Don’t wait for somebody to give you a job. We can create a job for you. We started writing together, and we went into rehearsal space with a tape recorder and recorded her telling these stories and then transcribing them. And then that was a script. Gradually over time, she started doing these shows and found a lot of success doing them.
We toured them around the country, and she had regular sit downs at various theaters and, and got a following for doing these. Over time we got some grants to write. I got a grant through the Williamstown Theater Festival to first write a play, and then do it. Once again, I had no idea how to write a play, but what I would do is I would find people on the street and say, can I have 10 minutes? We’d sit down and I’d press play on the recorder, and then I’d tell the story of the show. In telling the story over and over again, I found that I started deepening the characters and discovering connections between them. We all have that capacity. We’re all storytellers, but many of us have fear of actually taking a pen putting it to paper.
In telling, I got over that fear, and we started doing these adaptations of novellas. That’s how we started. And by the early two thousands, we were playwright /director/actors in New York. And were pulled out to California because we did a reading of a play that we’d done off Broadway that had had some success. And at this reading in LA nobody came except a few of our friends. It was very disappointing. After this woman walked up to us, at intermission of the reading and said, have you ever thought about writing TV because the dialogue in your play is really great. And we had not ever think of that. And she said– just stay an extra day, meet my boss and see if it’s something you’re interested in.
We’ve been banging our heads in New York for 12 years and met some success, but not as much as we’d like, so we thougth why don’t we try this? We moved out here with a three-year-old and once we got out here, met with a lot of open doors and a lot of encouragement. That’s how we did it. Those 12 years in New York were really instrumental in teaching us how to rewrite ourselves, how to work with actors, how to be open. Since TV is such a collaborative art form it is perfect for us. We’ve been very lucky. We’re at a point in our career now where we can really determine what kinds of shows we want to do. When we were first talking about Fire Country, the thing that drew us to that show was the fact that in California there’s a program for prison inmates to work on fire crews, and by doing that, they work time off their sentence. That felt like a great way to tell a family story about redemption and essentially retell the story of the prodigal son.
Lisa Niver:
All of your stories are focused on what we spoke about the night when I met you was about educating to activate and how does content shape culture. I definitely feel that as a theme in A Small Light and Fire Country and some of the themes in the early Grey’s Anatomy that you were part of. Another thing that’s really resonates for me is that you spoke about with Meip that after all that she did, that she still felt like a failure.
Tony Phelan:
In her mind, the people who she was in charge of were arrested, and only one of them survived. Despite her best efforts, despite her walking into Gestapo headquarters to try and bribe them free. She really genuinely resisted people calling her a hero because she just felt like she did what anybody would do. The thing that made her unique was she famously said that if she hadn’t done what she did, she didn’t think she would be able to live with herself. Something that we can all adopt, especially now that we live in such a divided country and a divided world, and especially now that we see the rise of antisemitism again. When I was growing up myself and many of the people that I was growing up with thought that anti-semitism was something that happened only in the past.
Anti-semitism is on the rise again, and it’s being weaponized by people to take power and frighten people. We have to be vigilant and we have to educate and we have to reach people at a young age. One of the things that I’m most excited about is the fact that A Small Light is on Disney+, which means that it has a worldwide reach and that it has a reach to young people who can access it, even if they might be in a community or even in a family where the ideas and aspirations of A Small Light might not necessarily be in vogue.
They can have access to it. I think that’s exciting. The other thing that we talked about the other night was when you and I were growing up, I was surrounded by Holocaust survivors. I had the opportunity to meet them, talk to them, hear their stories, and know when you would see people’s grandparents or parents who had tattoos know what that meant. That living testament was right there in front of you. And unfortunately, now that generation is leaving us. It’s incumbent upon us to figure out how do I keep the story alive? How do I reach that next generation who isn’t going to be able to speak to those people one-on-one? In its own little way, A Small Light can reach that generation and bring these stories to people in a way that they find accessible and they find terrifying. But relatable.
Lisa Niver:
I agree that it is at times terrifying, but incredibly relatable. Those small moments where it becomes clear that people knew what was going on–when he shows up with extra potatoes and the special strawberries. It’s clear that people knew and they wanted to participate in their way. They might not have been able to take the leap that Miep did instinctively.
Before we close, I am asking all my guests related to my book about feeling brave and taking challenges. Obviously we know that you and your wife have had this incredible experience with this story that chose you. But is there something additionally that you’re most proud of or something where you’re still reaching for a brave choice or a challenge, a story that you really want to bring to the world next, or something personal?
Tony Phelan:
The challenge is that you find a story like Miep’s that is so compelling. And it sets a high bar. We are talking about a couple projects that we find exciting. The story of Meep and Jan and the Dutch resistance is a once in a lifetime kind of thing. But we will certainly continue to tell stories that celebrate the human spirit and celebrate people in very real situations, having to make difficult, gray moral choices. Because it’s very easy to make a black and white choice. To make choices that go on day after day that take a toll and that are gray is much more challenging. And that’s certainly what I aspire to both in my work and in my family too.
Lisa Niver:
I, myself, and I know a lot of other people, really appreciate that you’ve brought into our homes, Grey’s Anatomy, Fire Country, and now this incredible, A Small Light. I loved what it said about Miep that we make choices every day and we can choose to do something good. And I love the quote that the title comes from Miep, that anybody can turn a light on, a small light on in a dark room. I really do think that’s what you’ve done with showing people what was it like day to day there during the Holocaust, during the war, and that people can make a choice to really help someone else in the community.
Tony Phelan:
That is Miep’s lesson — you don’t have to be special and even a secretary or a teenager, I mean, Anne always knew she was going to be a writer, but had no idea the impact that her diary would have, and she did it because she loved writing.
Thank you, Lisa for having me on the show. I hope your audience will check out A Small Light because it’s a show that we’re very proud of.
Lisa Niver:
Everyone can watch on Disney+, Hulu and NatGeoTV . Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me.
Tony and Joan speaking at Stephen Wise TempleI met Tony Phelan and Joan Rater at The Jewish Federation’s Entertainment, Media & Communications (EMC) Professionals Network and Sylvia Weisz Women’s Philanthropy exclusive screening of A Small Light, the inspiring, real-life story of Miep Gies, who played a critical role in hiding Anne Frank and her family during the Nazi occupation in Amsterdam. Following the screening, there was a conversation with Creators/Executive Producers Tony Phelan & Joan Rater and Executive Producer Peter Traugott.
The Jewish Federation is the central organization of Jewish Los Angeles. We put Jewish values in action to meet our community’s needs and make our voices heard on issues ranging from antisemitism to social services to ensuring a strong Jewish future. We care for our most vulnerable, inspire Jewish journeys, connect with and support the people of Israel and Jews around the world, and actively engage in Los Angeles civic life to build bridges with other communities. We accomplish this by working with our dedicated partners, our generous donors, and our passionate leadership.
LISTEN on APPLE PODCAST: MAKE YOUR OWN MAP
Lisa’s book: Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty
Sharon Spira-Cushnir and Lisa Niver at A Small Light screening at UTA
The post Heroes of the Holocaust: A Small Light appeared first on We Said Go Travel.
August 25, 2023
Unlocking Book Promotion Success: Insider Strategies from PR Experts (Part 2)
More Expert Tips from PR Pros: Navigating Book Promotion Part 2
Thank you to the many book promotion professionals who shared tips for aspiring authors with me! In Part One, read about treating your book launch like a campaign with consistent social media and a newsletter.
Lisa Niver and Patricia Schultz speaking at the Travel and Adventure ShowGOALS MATTER
Kathleen Schmidt told me to write down clear goals for my book. Schmidt said, “When I have an initial call with potential clients, I ask them what their goals are. If you are an author, having realistic goals is healthy. Goals like “get on the New York Times bestseller list” or “get my book picked for Reese’s Book Club” are pie-in-the-sky and not easily attainable. Start with small, achievable goals like getting a bylined piece you wrote published, so you gain name recognition.” I agree that setting expectations can really help. When I started my YouTube channel, I was happy with every small win. I celebrated when I reached 100 views and then 1000 views and now I have nearly two million views on my videos! It is important to recognize our accomplishments. I am excited that I have a book and cannot wait for my upcoming launch!
BE A GREAT GUEST
Stand out in today’s noisy world as a guest on a podcast. Liz H Kelly recommends that authors focus on a targeted podcast campaign to reach readers. Kelly told me that “one of the best things is to invest time in a podcast campaign to reach your niche audience. Start at least 3 months in advance of your book launch, search for top podcasts and pitch the hosts with a personalized email. Find podcasts that have a similar audience as your book, and actually listen to an episode before pitching. After an interview is secured, ask the host if they can publish it close to your book launch date, so you have a burst of PR to promote sales.” I love being a guest on podcasts and I even started my own podcast called Make Your Own Map in December 2022. So far people are listening from 36 countries on 6 continents.
MAKE YOUR OWN MAGIC
Joseph Pastrana practices what he preaches and tells authors to “start contacting organizations, book stores, anything relatable to the subject of your book about an appearance, reading, book signing. I have been hosted by different types of organizations including a menswear shop. It’s always important to go out and try. Once you book an event, you can parlay that to more coverage by reading out to media that cover appearances.” Joseph said, “hire a professional that knows the “who” and “how” and even “when” to reach the appropriate media to help with publicity for the book.
Laurie Graff agrees that there is nothing like an in-person event to engage a reader with you and your brand. While an author can arrange their own event or signing at a local bookstore or thematically related venue. Graff wants authors to ask themselves, “Who will relentlessly promote the event? Who will take photo-ops of the author with their strategically placed book and send it out to local media? A publicist can elevate the author from writer to expert, to make them a newsworthy interview across all platforms.”
Desiree Duffy, Founder of Black Château, Books That Make You and The BookFest told me that “speaking at events has evolved into an array of opportunities for authors. Virtual events give us a platform as well as real life events. Plus, there are many hybrid options with live events offering livestreaming and recordings to those who can’t attend in person. This means authors have more options than ever before to reach a wider audience. The BookFest, for example, reaches people from all over the world with impressions in the millions. One could never pack that many folks into a room at an in real life conference. Yet, the networking and ability to connect with others in person can never be totally replaced. I recommend authors to do both types of events if possible. And when it comes to speaking, being able to deliver an array of topics and types of talks is valuable. You never know what an event producer might be looking for, so you should be prepared to offer an array of options. Consider homing your speaking skills when it comes to doing readings, speaking on panels, offering workshops or demonstrations, participating in conversations or interviews, and delivering keynote addresses.” In fact, I will be a featured author at The BookFest on Saturday Oct 21! I had reached out to Desiree to learn more about her project and asked to be considered!
I agree with Desiree that “speaking at events helps authors elevate their areas of expertise. It can have a big impact on their business and personal brand. When an author speaks, they are seen not only by readers, but other event producers, media and press, potential collaborators, and even film and TV production companies, directors and producers. One of our first BookFests led to a participating author getting a film deal for his book series. By putting yourself out there, wonderful things can happen.” Now cross your fingers for me about what will happen when I speak at BookFest this year!
If you are still wondering about if you need a professional, Justin Loeber CEO of Mouth Digital + Public Relations explains, “Just like a real estate broker is the go-between the buyer and seller, the publicist brokers media. And if you could call Oprah on a Monday and book an interview on a Tuesday, there would be no industry called PR.”
DO THE WORK
Christine Chitnis’ “number one tip for authors is to plan to invest as much time and effort into the marketing and publicity of their book as they did into writing their book.” I agree with her that “the workload involved with the publicity push often comes as a surprise to authors, as they expect their publisher to do the heavy lifting. However, a successful campaign depends greatly on the author’s efforts and the leveraging of their personal network. A good campaign needs a broad and deep approach.”
Chitnis recommends “pursuing a multi-prong approach that includes: social media, print, TV, radio and digital press, podcasts, events, brand partnerships, speaking gigs, and more!” If you feel exhausted just hearing that list, she told me, “that’s why you might consider hiring a professional; to help with the planning, organization, communication and outreach necessary to pull off a broad, deep publicity campaign which will not only sell books but also broaden their client’s overall brand awareness. A professional will also have their own network to leverage, and that can only help!”
INVESTIGATE
Invest in your success by spending time online. Andrea McKinnon told me that “one of the benefits of the Internet is the limitless, really infinite, wealth of knowledge and resources. It may take some effort but one can really hone in on websites, outlets, podcasts, writers whose “beat” covers the genre, themes or topic of your book. Steampunk? Cookbook? Self-help? Poetry? no matter the subject, there is a community writing and talking about it! The vast majority of publications & outlets have information on how to contact them – just follow their rules & suggestions!”
DO NOT WAIT
Start promoting your book EARLY! Janet Appel explained that many reviewers have a lead time of four to six months especially the trade reviewers like Publishers Weekly and Library Journal and most print magazines.
Appel believes that authors need to be on the social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn as well as the media sharing networks like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube AND the discussion forums like Reddit, Digg and Hive. I am on all of the social and media sharing networks I can think of but Appel was the first one to recommend the discussion forums to me. She recommended using all of your platforms to “amplify the visibility and awareness of a brand, book, individual” as well as working with a seasoned professional to take advantage of all opportunities.
HOW DO I GET SALES?
Every author wants to sell more books. Appel told me that in order to drive book sales, you must target the right audience for your book. “It’s really a combination of book signings, obtaining book reviews, media coverage in magazines and newspapers, TV appearances, radio and podcast interviews, digital outlets, relevant websites, blogs, Amazon reviews, blogger reviews, virtual book tours, a powerful book trailer on the author’s website, social media, consistent speaking engagements to target audiences, live videos on Facebook, blog posts to your website and LinkedIn, SEO ranking (i.e., using keywords that your target audience will likely search for) and making sure that the book can be preordered. These are some of the key factors that will drive book sales!” I am working on many of these and I will keep you posted how that turns out for my book, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty. You can check out my progress and make sure that I update my events page for my book launch!
READ MY NAVIGATING BOOK PROMOTION SERIES
PART ONE PART TWO PART THREE
The post Unlocking Book Promotion Success: Insider Strategies from PR Experts (Part 2) appeared first on We Said Go Travel.
August 24, 2023
CANVAS REBEL talks to LISA NIVER about writing
Thank you to Canvas Rebel for interviewing me.
Today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lisa Niver. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below. Hi Lisa, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?Mary Tyler Moore said, “Take risks, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.” My book, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty, launches on Sept 19, 2023. It is about my 50 challenges before I turned 50 after my divorce as I worked to reinvent myself.
Writing a memoir and launching a podcast both come with challenges and uncertainties. I have faced a myriad of obstacles. I have grown both personally and professionally.
Each setback has fueled my determination to improve. I have come to understand that there are no mistakes just opportunities for learning and a chance to practice bravery and push the boundaries of my comfort zone. Through storytelling, I have forged meaningful connections with individuals around the world. My podcast is now reaching people in 33 countries on six continents. My episode with Deepak Chopra was nominated for an award.
As I continue this journey, I am fueled by an unquenchable passion for growth and a desire to make a positive impact. With my book and each podcast episode, I strive to deliver valuable content, inspire others, and spark meaningful conversations. With Mary Tyler Moore’s words resonating in my heart, I continue to take risks, and embrace the journey with courage and enthusiasm.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.I am an award-winning travel expert who has explored 102 countries on six continents. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, I sailed across the seas for seven years with Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Renaissance Cruises and spent three years backpacking across Asia. Find my articles in publications from AARP: The Magazine and AAA Explorer to WIRED and Wharton Magazine, as well as my site WeSaidGoTravel.
On my award nominated global podcast, Make Your Own Map, I have interviewed Deepak Chopra, the Irish Ambassador to the USA, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors, and as a journalist have been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. For my print and digital stories as well as my television segments, I have been awarded three Southern California Journalism Awards and two National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and been a finalist twenty-two times.
I was named a #3 travel influencer for 2023, and talk travel on broadcast television at KTLA TV Los Angeles, my YouTube channel with nearly 2 million views, and in my memoir, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?In the aftermath of the September 11 tragedy, the company I worked for Renaissance Cruises faced a devastating blow as the travel industry plummeted, leading to bankruptcy within a week. It was a time of immense uncertainty. I chose to embark on a new chapter after traveling full time for seven years.
Leaving behind the world of travel, I returned to teaching. I channeled my energy into making a positive impact in the lives of students, instilling knowledge, and fostering a love of physics and chemistry for my 8th grade students at Culver City middle school. They loved my stories from around the world which inspired me to keep writing.
I also taught science at Brawerman Elementary School and Curtis School, where I went to 5th and 6th grade! Over the years, I started to travel more and made another transition to journalism. I am excited for this adventure as an author with my book in bookstores! I hope to see many of your readers at my upcoming events.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?To grow in my writing career, I went to conferences and workshops, which has been an absolute game-changer in my journey.
I started to attend workshops with David Hochman at UPOD Academy. I have also worked with him one on one which was immensely helpful in my book process. The Facebook group he runs has really helped me with finding the right editors and selling stories.
A friend recommended that I join the Los Angeles Press Club and I have made so many connections and gone to incredible events.
Taking classes has been like a launching pad for my knowledge and skills. Each course I took has empowered me with valuable insights, practical tools, and a deeper understanding of my field.
By actively engaging in networking activities, attending industry events, and connecting with professionals in my field, I’ve built an amazing web of contacts. These connections have opened doors to my book being published in September! I highly recommend getting involved in these groups which have really made a difference for me.
Contact Info:
Website: https://lisaniver.com/braveish/ and https://www.wesaidgotravel.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisaniver/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisa.niver/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisaellenniver/Twitter: https://twitter.com/lisaniverYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@LisaNiverPODCAST: Make Your Own Map: https://lisaniver.com/makeyourownmap/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/wesaidgotravel/_saved/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lisaniverMORE: https://bit.ly/m/lisaniverTHANK YOU TO CANVAS REBEL for interviewing me!
The post CANVAS REBEL talks to LISA NIVER about writing appeared first on We Said Go Travel.
August 22, 2023
BRAVE-ish on GOOD DAY DC
Thank you FOX5 Good Day DC! I loved the opportunity to talk to Marissa Mitchell about my book, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty, on your show.
Good Day DC: CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO FROM FOX5Feeling fearless, the author of BRAVE-ish joins us live with new challenges to tackle and tips for that Bucket List birthday project.
Our next guest is a testament to live life to the fullest. Her story could actually inspire you to cross off those bucket list adventures. We all have them and you can get on yours today. Joining me right now is award-winning travel host Lisa Niver. She’s also the author of the upcoming book, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents, and Feeling Fearless After 50. Hey, welcome Lisa to the show.
Thank you so much for having me. I’m so honored to be here.
Marissa Mitchell:
Your book is a gem. I’m so happy to encourage our viewers to dive in. Before we get into some of the specific parts of it, why did you decide to embark on this 50 things before 50 Journey?
My 50th challengeLisa Niver:
That’s such a good question. First of all, again, I’m so honored to be here and it really makes me so happy to hear that you enjoyed my book. Thank you. So what happened was I was traveling with my was-band but then he was my husband. I came home back to America and I’d always had some problems with my eyes. So as part of my divorce process, I was fixing this issue with my eyes and I always thought I was clumsy. It turns out I’m not clumsy. I had a problem. As part of that, my amazing doctor, Dr. Alan Brodney recommended, now that we’ve got your eyes working, you have to do some challenges. And that led me to try new things and reinvent myself through the 50 challenges.
Marissa Mitchell:
I know one thing you talk about is your fear of water, right? but you did so many things, water related, including underwater dancing! So how did you kind of get rid of that phobia at the same time?
Video from Carnival Breeze Waterslide one of my 50 before 50 Challenges!Lisa Niver:
On the video, this is me on the water slide on a Carnival cruise. I did have a near-drowning as a child and I was afraid of the water. One of the ways I felt better was I took these really tiny baby steps and one of the baby steps was that in college, my roommate taught me — re-taught me to swim. And now you can see in the video, this is me scuba diving underwater. And like you mentioned dancing, andhaving such a good time underwater. The thing that I think repeatedly in my adventures has been, if you never take that first tiny step, you never get to the bigger step. You’re never going to scuba dive with bull sharks if you didn’t feel more comfortable swimming in the water. We forget sometimes that you have to take those little steps first, even if it feels like nothing. When a friend says, can you meet me for coffee? And you decide, yes, I’m actually going to go that you’ve gotten outside your house.
Marissa Mitchell:
Absolutely.
Dancing underwater at Beaches Turks and CaicosLisa Niver:
And then you can get to the next step. I started hula hooping for exercise and I’ve been traveling with my hoop and my friends were filming me. I filmed in Kenya, I filmed in Mexico, and then one day I filmed hula hooping while flying a kite. This video has more of my adventures in Indonesia. I was a teacher first and I love to meet children around the world.
YES! I hula hooped while flying a kite in Loreto, MexicoMarissa Mitchell:
Absolutely. I love teachers. I have a family full of teachers. I also love too that you are a cruiser. Viewers by now know that I love a good cruise. I know you mentioned that at length as well, but you talk about getting over the fear and doing it anyway. I love the line where you say, after the divorce and everything, you go completely and utterly disoriented. “I knew I had to get on the plane, but part of me still did not even know why.” It’s okay to not know.
Lisa Niver:
That’s true.
Marissa Mitchell:
You still have to put one foot forward and keep moving. And along with the book, I know that you share about that on your podcast. Talk about that as well.
Lisa Niver:
It has been so exciting to have a podcast. I recently got to interview the ambassador from Ireland, and she was the Irish ambassador to the Security Council. It’s just incredible to learn from people. I was able to speak with Deepak Chopra and he was so interesting and kind. I had interviewed his daughter, and so I introduced Deepak Chopra as Malika’s dad.
Marissa Mitchell:
Oh, . I love that. I’ve interviewed him too. You can just feel it. You have to be a good interviewer to sit down with him. I know you’ve been invited to cover the Oscars and the United Nations. So many things came out of that list, right? You didn’t envision all of that for yourself?
Lisa Niver:
Not only did I not envision it, I quit about 1 million times during this project. I was not finishing the list, I was not finishing the book. I was always quitting. And it’s okay to take a break and start again.
Marissa Mitchell:
At any age. Well, thank you so much, Lisa. I wish we had more time. This was a lot of fun. Her book, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty isavailable for pre-order.
Lisa Niver:
Yes my book is available everywhere books are sold. Walmart, Amazon, Target, Bookshop. You can find my book all over the internet!
Marissa Mitchell:
Thank you so much. I would say you’re brave. I know you put the ish on there, but you’re very brave and courageous. Thank you for joining us.
Lisa Niver:
Thank you for having me on your show.
Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty
Lisa Niver and Marissa Mitchell on FOX5 Good Day DCThe post BRAVE-ish on GOOD DAY DC appeared first on We Said Go Travel.
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August 21, 2023
Empowering Humanity with The Good Road Hosts Craig and Earl
Discovering the World’s Hidden Gems: A Behind-the-Scenes Interview with Craig and Earl from ‘The Good Road’ on PBSThank you to Earl Bridges and Craig Martin, longtime philanthropologists and best friends, who trek around the world to meet people who are making a difference, for taking the time to talk with me on my podcast. On their show, The Good Road, they share “a raw look at the messy and complicated business of global charity. Two philanthropy veterans and globe-trotters set off around the world to find good.“
Listen or watch our interview on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube or your favorite podcast platformREAD THE TRANSCRIPT BELOW
Lisa Niver:
Good morning. This is Lisa Niver from We Said Go Travel, and I’m here today with Craig and Earl from The Good Road. Hello!
Earl:
Hey. How’s it going?
Craig:
How are you, Lisa?
Lisa Niver:
I’m doing great. I can’t believe you just wrapped season four of filming for The Good Road. Congratulations.
Craig:
Thank you.
Earl:
It’s hard for us to believe, too. I think it’s when you start down this road you have no idea if you’re going to ever get through season one and now we’re at season four, looking at season five.
Lisa Niver:
It’s incredible. So, if there are people that don’t know, The Good Road is on PBS, and the two of you are long-time friends and philanthropists who are sharing incredible stories from all over our planet. Could you tell my listeners a little bit about how did this happen? You have both lived around the world. You care about our planet, and you have many interesting stories especially about water and the ocean. What made this happen? What made you wake up and say I want to be a filmmaker and we’re going to walk this road together?
Earl:
Craig, you want to kick it off?
Craig:
Earl and I went to school together in Bangkok, Thailand at the International School of Bangkok together. I was actually born and raised there, and Earl was raised there. His father started as an Air Force pilot during the Vietnam era. Then I was there because my parents were Baptist missionaries, so that’s why I was in Thailand. But we’ve known each other a long time. About five or six years ago, the company Earl and I were at evolved.
Earl asked me at the time, he had a company called Good Done Great. So, he asked me if I’d travel with another friend of ours from the International School of Bangkok, Patty DiMartini-Williams. So, they took me along to be kind of the shooter and storyteller on video for both of their companies. It was on that trip to Myanmar, Nepal, and Vietnam that Earl said he had an idea for a TV show which was like Bourdain meets philanthropy and I said- I kind of love that.
That kicked off our Good Road story. Incidentally, and somebody asked us this the other day when we were filming in New York, whether or not we had done a lot of stuff together through the years after our time in Bangkok. The reality is I had not seen either Patty or Earl since high school when we took that trip. We had stayed in touch on Facebook and things like that, but it was a cool reunion of our high school days. The three of us and then Earl and I of course continued on with our good friendship for many, many years in person embarking on this project together.
Earl:
I mean the idea is not very many people want to watch a movie about doing good. They don’t want to watch charity videos. Quite frankly, that’s the kiss of death. So when we first started, we called the show Good All Over, and people just wouldn’t watch our trailer. So, we wrapped it into this travel format, made it The Good Road, and the idea is that we’re going to take you to Thailand or Canda or Uganda or wherever and we’re going to show you some people that are going to introduce you to a world you may not have thought about. The formula basically is we’ll take you somewhere. We’ll try to highlight an issue. We’ve done anti-poaching, prison reform, maternal health, and all these other things. But the story that I like that I think illustrates the formula of the show best is when we went to Yangon, Myanmar.
We were trying to figure out, Burma has one of the oldest running civil wars in the world. It’s got the Rohingya crisis. It’s got this interesting kind of mixture of different foods and different ethnic minorities, and we were trying to figure out who is it that would make a good interview for us. We ran across what we thought was the perfect interview the second we heard about it. It was a punk rock band called Rebel Riot. You don’t expect to find punk in Myanmar because its oppressive military government, they’re super-conservative Buddhists, and yet this lead singer Joe-Joe is this tall guy with this big mohawk and the kindest face ever.
And it was those guys that were really tied into not only the larger punk community but the downtown community, the street kids. So, they’re feeding kids, they’re doing literacy classes in the middle of a median in downtown Yangon. I think that’s what we do. We flip whatever narrative that you thought you knew about a place, and we try to expose that place in a different way but it’s really character driven. It’s can we find somebody that can represent this area and show it to you in a way that’s very different than you’ve seen it before. That’s really the show. That’s The Good Road.
Lisa Niver:
I love that. I myself have traveled a couple of different times in Myanmar, and you’re right. It’s such a unique place. I loved being out on Inle Lake with the leg rowers. When people see the video there are surprised that they row with their legs? I think you’re right. Travel is such an amazing lens into what’s happening.
Craig:
I was just going to say part of the format comes from the fact that I referenced Bourdain earlier. Part of the format is, and we got a lot of affirmation from people in the TV business because of this but most people travel with a friend, a family member, just a really good traveling partner and his show, he was always kind of in one sense by himself. Not to be cliché but it’s kind of a buddy series because Earl and I, not only are we best friends but we both love to travel. So, we experience the travel together. That’s a huge part of the fun of it, so most of the things that people see on camera are very natural. When Earl and I experience somebody cool who’s talking about making big changes in their community. We were just in New York at Food Bank NYC, and we’re talking to these seniors at this community kitchen. I mean some of their stories are crazy.
There’s this guy, Gregory, who was working on Madison Avenue for decades as a writer, and Earl sees he’s this thin African American guy with a really nice suit on but he’s there to get his dinner. He says to Earl, where did you grow up? Where are you from? Earl says, Bangkok, Thailand and he says, hell, I know it’s Thailand. He was almost offended by the fact that Bangkok had to be clarified with Thailand.
Earl:
What other Bangkok is there?
Craig:
Yeah. What other Bangkok is there? We just love it. We just enjoy so much, and it does matter that we get to do that together. I think that’s an important part of travel is sharing the experience with somebody else.
Earl:
Yeah.
Lisa Niver:
I think you’re right. The other thing that you bring to the show is your long, long history of travel and living outside the United States and many people have visited Thailand but not many people have lived there. I studied abroad in college, but to have studied abroad at such a young age and be immersed and not study abroad, you lived there.
Earl:
We speak Thai. I always say that’s our bar trick, but it worked really well in a Thai bar. In America, no one cares if you speak Thai in a US bar. Having grown up there and then Craig went on to film in dozens of different countries for the organization that he was with and I had worked internationally. So, for us it’s always one of those if you get to know the places you know some of the language and you actually get to know the people.
What you won’t see on our show is us doing the top listicles- five place dive bars in Gurkha, Nepal or something like that. But you will see people. You’ll get to know people that are doing some interesting things. That could be professional baseball players, sculptors, activists. We were in New York City with a good friend of ours, Mickela, who has this Bare Feet show on PBS. She had us voguing in downtown Brooklyn. So, if you were there this last weekend, I apologize to everyone who saw that.
You talk about pride and it’s standing up and it’s having confidence and going down the street and being really proud about who you are as a person and just being with someone in that world wasn’t just a cutesy little dance that Madonna did. It was much, much more once you get to know why people do that. I think that’s what we get to do is expose it by the people that really care about it, and we find out just like the viewers do about some cool people all over the world.
Craig:
I would add, too, there’s an element of the way we grew up. There’s a cross cultural experience that happens only if you grow up in another country, and that cross cultural experience leans into the fact that we should all love and respect each other. We should try to identify and learn and understand another person’s culture before we made any kind of critique about it. In fact, it’s probably best to not critique other people’s culture because if you’re not part of it, if you’re not part of that group it quite frankly is annoyingly for you to be a critic of it.
So, for us that means being able to talk to…in the case of the voguing thing, we’re there for gay pride. I’m a heterosexual male, but you’re there amongst a lot of gay people. In that cross cultural experience, the only thing that I felt bad was I was screwing everything up because I’m such a bad and uncoordinated dancer.
Lisa Niver:
But anyone who’s watched Mickela’s show or danced with her, she’s such a great teacher. She’s so enthusiastic. She’s so welcoming. I think you’re right it’s a cross cultural experience. You talked about growing up in a specific faith-based reason for being in Bangkok. Can you talk about Season Four in Iraq with the kids in school?
Earl:
I was a missionary kid and not necessarily the best representative of the church always. And we all have our own journeys. So it’s not really a faith-based thing. In fact, I didn’t want to really go down the road of doing a lot of faith-based things. I just want to mention one little story.
We went to Mbale, Uganda, and we started to cover this husband and wife team, Adam and Kathy. Kathy was a neonatologist. Adam is an anesthesiologist. They were working in a really remote town. They had two tiny, little girls at the time. I remember saying why in the world? Because you can work in the UK where they were from and just crush it and then just send money down to someone else that could work in a maternal health clinic that was getting 200 kids referred in and they had a 50 percent mortality rate and see all the deaths. I mean to have someone else make your money and send it somewhere else to do it.
So, when we were asking them, why is it that you’re doing it? Were they to have said it’s because we believe that this is God’s will for us and things like that, I would have gotten it. I totally would have gotten it, but it quite frankly would have bored me because that story I’ve heard a million times. Instead what Kathy and Adam said is we’re not Christians. We’re Atheists. There was no mandate. It’s just humanity, seeing other humans, and then kicking in. So, sometimes it’s those things that, again, flip the narrative.
Iraq was interesting because Iraq is…Mosul is one of the most diversely religious cities in the world. They have thousands and thousands of a really large Christian population that’s been there for hundreds and hundreds of years. They also have the Muslims. You have some Jewish folks.
When we were there, most of what we knew about Iraq was really war coverage that you would have seen on the news. Now we’re inside of an elementary school. It was the 20th anniversary of the US’s involvement in Iraq. As we’re going into some very conservative schools where they were held by ISIS and there’s still ISIS folks that go to those schools. You started seeing people that had parents who were ISIS and kids whose parents were killed by ISIS in the same classroom.
You say how can peace happen when these kids who are 11 and 12-year-old girls…they’re all one sex. So it’s either girls or guys. In this case, the girls, it’s like how do you ever trust that other person that’s right beside you. So, the organization that we were highlighting, Hardwired Global, does a lot of curriculum around religious pluralism and just getting to know each other. That’s a metaphor for the rest of travel. I mean you have to be together. You have to see each other and you have to see each other as humans. That’s what travel does.
So, we can watch travel shows but when you’re there all of the fears that you may have had going into a country beforehand, our first time going to Iraq, there’s a lot of misconceptions. By the time you leave a couple weeks later, you’re like I see them as people very differently than I saw it, and I think that’s the beauty of real travel.
Craig:
I would add to that in terms of Iraq that one of the hardest days that Earl and I had there was when we listened to these really young girls talking. One of the things that they said was a smack down on all of us adults and all of the people who really are complicit in warfare. There was this one girl who had lost her father because he was an ISIS fighter. She said–we children want not to have war. That’s just what we’re asking for — We just don’t want fighting.
Out of the mouth of an eight or nine-year-old–That’s pretty profound. What a message for the world. Earl and I both were shedding some tears.
Earl:
That was a heart-wrenching episode.
Lisa Niver:
You’ve gotten to experience so many different cultures. One of the things I noticed is you’re also looking at how does our planet continue. Looking at sustainable farming or stoney coral disease, Atlantic sturgeon. You have a focus on some of the crisis in our planet. Is there one place that sticks out for you that is the good news or the good road where they’ve really made great strides with helping?
Earl:
You mentioned the sturgeon. We did an episode right outside Richmond in the James River. For decades people thought that the great sturgeon were no longer in the James River. Now they’re coming back and actually they’re coming back in droves. The point from one of the scientists, he said, we didn’t do any remediation. We didn’t go through and do a lot of clean-up. What we did was we stopped messing up the river. We just stopped polluting it, and it restored. A lot of times, with almost anything, it’s like the doctor code- first do no harm. It’s stop doing bad and there’s space for good to happen. That’s the story of the sturgeon but that’s also a metaphor for a lot of travel.
Craig:
The same in the US Virgin Islands. The stoney coral disease came over from Florida where they had been dumping sewage into the ocean and it made its way and wound up in the US Virgin Islands. In St. Thomas at the University of the Virgin Islands, when we interviewed them in the water, which was kind of cool. I had never really done an interview underwater. But in the water you’re looking at these coral that may never be able to bounce back from this disease. It’s like Earl said about the river. You can try to be reactive to the things like this disease, but you’ve got to really be proactive and think about what we’re doing before everything goes to hell.
Earl:
I think when you talk about a connection and community, air, water, all of these things we all share. We’ll see the impacts in a country from something that’s happening very far away. In fact, when we were in New York City this last time, you started to see the ash from the wildfires that were happening in Canada. Look, we’re connected very closely and when you start to see the impacts that are happening in one place that impacts all of us…it doesn’t feel like the borders are so rigid anymore. It starts to feel like we’re occupying the same space. I think that’s another area that we get to explore with this show in the format that we do. Who is it that has these worldwide, global problems that they’ve received from elsewhere and then how do they take care of themselves?
There is a lot of stuff that just show how interconnected we are.
Lisa Niver:
Well, it’s interesting how it’s all sort of the same layer, right? The children are saying you’re making war and it’s hard for us to live. The fire in one place but the air doesn’t know where the border is. We’re all connected, the water. The lionfish is a huge issue that I’ve been writing about. This invasive species, rivers with pollution. Your show is very aspirational about how can we dream bigger, how can we work together and How can we find the good road?
Earl:
Yeah. That’s it.
Craig:
Earl referenced space earlier. I will say that last season, we did a couple episodes about space. One of the things that we talked about was the overview effect and being able to look back at the planet and realize that all the borders and all the things we put on it for ourselves, Earl, what’s the comment from the astronauts?
Earl:
They say once you’ve seen the Earth from afar then it changes everything. They call that an overview effect. They say that astronauts leave the planet as astronauts and come back as conservationists because you see the world from such an unlikely existence and how subtle any little changes are and how connected they were. So, I love that because if travel has the ability to change your mind or help you understand the world better then space travel even more so.
They talk about how transformative that experience can be. So, we highlighted an organization called Space Perspective that does exactly that. They’re starting to launch balloons into space so you’re 100 thousand feet in the air. It’s two hours up, two hours in space, two hours descent. You get that experience to see the world in a very different way. Travel is all of that. Travel is that experience that can really change you.
When I said you first go to Iraq and you’re not sure what to expect, I know for myself that if I have blind spots, misconceptions, or stereotypes, that it probably makes sense for me to go somewhere. I went to Sudan in January of this year. Again, it was a brief period while it was peace, and I was so blown away with how great that experience was afterwards because I had no clue what these people were like. Their Muslim traditions, they’re so welcoming. There were a million things I learned and saw about their hospitality, and way of life.
I think at the end of it, once you’ve gone and come back, then you start seeing those people, as not very different. It just breaks down all of these barriers that you have in your mind. For us, that’s the beauty of travel.
Lisa Niver:
Well that was an amazing summary of how fantastic your show is and why you’re about to launch season four on PBS. Again, congratulations on all of the awards and all the destinations and really bringing the issues around our planet into people’s living rooms. Before I let you go, could you just let people know first, season four, when is it coming? If they haven’t seen the first three seasons, where can they find you?
Earl:
There’s a couple different ways that you could see it. You could see it on PBS.org in their Passport app. You can also see seasons one through three on Amazon Prime. It’s ad supported, so it’s free. It’s on Delta Airlines and Roku. Google The Good Road for more options.
Season four will start airing in September of this year, 2023. It’s eight episodes per season. They’ll run them in primetime spots beginning of September.
So, season four will run September through October and then it’ll rerun for the next two years on PBS channel, so check your local listings or check it out on TheGoodRoad.TV.
Craig:
We’ve gotten into a cadence. Season five will probably also be in the fall, so we’ve gotten into a cadence now where you can see it every fall but also all year through Amazon Prime and PBS.org.
Lisa Niver:
Thank you so much for spending this time with me. I’m so excited for season four and to learn more about all the incredible characters and destinations and philanthropy projects. Thank you both for being here.
Earl:
Thank you so much for having us.
Craig:
Thank you, Lisa. Appreciate it.
Craig entering a school in Iraq season 4
Season FOUR GALLERY
The new season of The Good Road, Season 4 launches in September 2023 on GBH-WORLD and then on all PBS stations in January 2024 through American Public Television.
SEASON TWO: “In THE GOOD ROAD, Earl Bridges and Craig Martin – longtime philanthropists and best friends – trek around the world to meet people who are making a difference in their communities. In season two, the hosts explore places closer to home like Virginia, South Carolina and Puerto Rico, and destinations abroad such as India and the Burmese border, where the duo discover inspiring change-makers and the limitless power of good.” Watch on Amazon Prime more on Facebook and Instagram.
Earl Bridges is a self-proclaimed “philanthropologist,” filmmaker and tech entrepreneur who believes that authentic storytelling is key to fixing the world’s most pressing problems. He also advises, speaks and writes about the potential of corporate social responsibility, company culture and engagement for good.
Craig Martin is a TV and film producer, director, writer and editor who has spent the past 30 years filming in war zones, disaster zones and remote villages in more than 85 countries. Craig has produced hundreds of projects, both long- and short-form, including the feature-length docudramas ‘The Insanity of God’ and ‘Free Burma Rangers;’ the Philanthropology podcast; and Confessions of a Philanthropologist.
Craig, Lisa and Earl recording for Make Your Own Map
TV
TGR HOSTS
You can now watch all of Season 3 of The Good Road online: https://t.co/e1lMdN3hf2
— The Good Road (@thegoodroadtv) October 30, 2022
LISTEN on APPLE PODCAST: MAKE YOUR OWN MAPWe’re in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina, filming more of Season 4 of The Good Road.
— The Good Road (@thegoodroadtv) May 31, 2023
We kicked off our trip with a kayaking expedition. pic.twitter.com/FB217MXO4T
Lisa’s book: Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After FiftyThe post Empowering Humanity with The Good Road Hosts Craig and Earl appeared first on We Said Go Travel.
August 18, 2023
Navigating Book Promotion: Expert Tips from PR Pros
PART ONE: Navigating Book Promotion: Expert Tips from PR ProsIn the ever-evolving world of book publishing, bringing your literary masterpiece to the forefront and connecting with readers can be a daunting task. As an aspiring author with a heartfelt story to share, I understand the challenges of navigating through the vast landscape of book promotion.
While we may not all achieve overnight success or witness our books soaring to great heights immediately, there is no shortage of possibilities to explore and avenues to try. That’s why I sought the advice of seasoned Book Publicity Professionals who have honed their craft in promoting books to broader audiences.
In this series of articles, I’m excited to share their expert tips they’ve graciously imparted – practical and actionable guidance to improve our book’s visibility and give it the best chance to resonate with readers. You can hire one of these professionals to open more doors and take your books one step closer to success!
Lisa Niver and Pauline Frommer speaking at the Travel and Adventure ShowCAMPAIGN FOR OFFICE
The advice that helped adjust my mindset the most was from Justin Loeber, CEO of Mouth Digital + Public Relations who told me, “The most important tip for an author is to treat their PR campaign as if they are campaigning for political office. Do every kind of media, shake everyone’s hand, and send thank you notes to those who have booked you. The audience is over saturated with content and the only way to compete is to go wide.” I really thought again and again about what he said when making choices about how to spend my time for my upcoming book launch next month.
ASK FOR HELP
I met Amy Stanton, founder and CEO of Stanton and Company, when I wrote about her book for Ms. Magazine. Her top tip is to “think about all of your relationships and how they can help – this is the time to call in favors! Ask your friends with a social media following to post and make it easy for them with prepared social media assets, ask your friends that run companies to buy 50, 100, 500 books, go through your contact list and use this as an opportunity to reconnect with old friends and colleagues and let them cheer you on (and support you) with this endeavor. People are always happy to help and appreciate being asked.” I love this suggestion to invite people to buy copies for their business or as holiday gifts or for an event. Remember to lean into what makes you different, Stanton loves to dance and had a launch event at her favorite studio which was one of my favorite book parties ever!
START YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA
Audra Leslie Boltion Ortiz of The BGPR advises new authors to build a dedicated social media profile for their project on all the relevant channels from Threads to TikTok at least a year in advance. She recommends that you “post at least 3x a week and engage, engage, engage. Embrace being on social media and become an active part of the community. Think of yourself as a participant in a town hall meeting. Follow others, comment on their accounts. Encourage others to follow you. It takes time to build a following and multiple accounts can be a lot to manage, but laying the ground work is important. These are the places where you can explore angles that resonate with your audience, find your voice, and become a source of information for media outlets. Unless your project is about your social life, your account should be about your book and angles germane to the topic versus your personal account which might focus on dinner with your family or a feature a great selfie you took while on vacation.” I agree it is never too early to build your platform and I actually took different advice which was to use my name @LisaNiver for all my social media. I had grown my platform under my website, We Said Go Travel, and moved all my social to my author name. Whichever way you go, START BUILDING! I can see that social media can make it work as your name or your book name or your company name depending on your goals. When you hire a professional, Audra told me that they “work on campaigns from a holistic point of view–the success of a project is marked by a savvy plan and the ability to explore every avenue. We don’t pitch a contact once. I’m not waiting for it to come to me–every media hit matters. It’s about building a profile, building a brand.”
PREPARATION STARTS NOW
I went to the University of Pennsylvania and love to quote our founder, Benjamin Franklin, who said: “By failing to plan, you are preparing to fail”.
Jane Tabachnick does it all including book coaching, indie publishing and pr she told me that authors should be prepared! What does that mean? Jane says, “Be ready for your close up. Prepare your media assets including your bio in both short and long form, a media one sheet press kit, a professional head shot, high-resolution book cover graphic, a book synopsis, interview topics, and your best contact information and make it so these are easily found on your website – typically on the media or press page, or author website.” This advice resonates with me as a journalist who has interviewed many authors for my podcast. I always wonder why is it so hard to find the book cover photo and the author photo so when I made my book page on my website, I have all of these things in one section as well as on my press page.
START A NEWSLETTER
Educate yourself about books and PR in the amazing sub stack called Publishing Confidential by Kathleen Schmidt. She told me one thing authors can do is start a newsletter. “Audience acquisition is valuable because you are landing in people’s inboxes. Social media algorithms are chaotic right now, so even if you have 25K followers or more, it doesn’t mean all those people, even a fraction of them, are seeing your posts. What do I mean by that? I mean that audiences are fragmented with so many social media platforms, and the attention economy is more competitive than ever. Writing a compelling newsletter and capturing emails means you can speak directly to the audience for your book.” I host my newsletter on Aweber, some people use mailchimp or other providers. Wherever you host it, make sure to share it on your social media.
WHAT MORE CAN YOU DO to PROMOTE your book? Look for more articles in this series coming up soon! Thank you to all the Book PR professionals who offered their advice. You can message them and hire them and pre-order my book too! It is a #1 HOT NEW RELEASE ON AMAZON for both paperback and digital!
READ MY NAVIGATING BOOK PROMOTION SERIES
PART ONE PART TWO PART THREE
The post Navigating Book Promotion: Expert Tips from PR Pros appeared first on We Said Go Travel.
August 17, 2023
Loreto: Exploring the Aquatic Wonders On and Under Water
Step into the enchanting world of Loreto, a coastal paradise nestled in Baja California Sur, Mexico, where the magic of the ocean beckons travelers from all corners of the globe with its extraordinary offerings both above and below the water’s surface. From the vibrant dance of the blue-footed boobies along the shoreline to the playful antics of the sea lions in their natural habitat, Loreto is a realm where aquatic wonders abound. Its pristine waters and diverse marine life have earned it the revered title of “The Aquarium of the World,” a tribute bestowed upon this remarkable destination by the renowned oceanographer, Jacques Cousteau.
Dive into the extraordinary world of Loreto with Loreto Sea and Land!
On our way to scuba diving—we saw a pod of dolphins, explored an enchanting cave, and encountered blue-footed boobies–they are not only in the Galapagos! 
Unforgettable moments that will leave you breathless! Experience this incredible marine paradise, so close to home! Just a quick 2-hour flight from LA to Mexico! 
Enchanting Loreto Dive Journey: Unveiling Hidden Gems!
On our way to Danzante Island, we marveled at the majestic Iguana Rock and discovered the breathtaking beauty of Honeymoon Bay. A true oasis within a marine park! 
As the only dive boat in sight, we embarked on a short boat ride to our underwater paradise. Dive in and embrace the serenity! 
After scuba diving, unwind with refreshing drinks at Bajamar by the Beach in Loreto!
Sip on delicious cocktails while taking in the stunning ocean views. And as the sun begins to set, join us for some kite flying and hula hooping near the shore. Let’s make unforgettable memories together as we celebrate the magic of Loreto at sunset! 
https://youtube.com/shorts/hlv2DIV3Xb8 Unveiling Hidden Treasures: Loreto’s Captivating Water World!
Explore the wonders beneath the waves, where crystal-clear turquoise waters reveal playful sea lions, graceful stingrays, and captivating blue-footed boobies. Relax on stunning white sand beaches like Ensenada Blanca (White Bay). Witness colorful Sally Lightfoot crabs scurrying along the shore. We dove near enchanting Coronados Island with its stunning volcanic rock formations and the magnificent Arch of Coronado. Loreto’s aquatic paradise and marine park awaits your discovery!.
Unleashing the Magic: Hula Hooping while Kite Flying in Loreto, Mexico!
Experience the thrill of my first time hula hooping while soaring with a kite in the mesmerizing beauty of Loreto. Captured in enchanting slow motion by Erik from The Global Trip, this exhilarating moment will leave you in awe. Join me as we embark on this unforgettable adventure! 
Dive into Adventure, Savor Pizza Delights, and Embrace Joyful Moments in Loreto! 
Whether scuba diving in the pristine waters of the Sea of Cortez, indulging in mouthwatering treats, or taking a leisurely stroll in the vibrant town square, Loreto offers an abundance of experiences to cherish. From stunning sunrises to endless exploration, this captivating destination offers so much to see, do, and enjoy. 
Fly with me! Direct from Los Angeles, California to Loreto,Mexico 
As we bid farewell to Loreto, we carried with us cherished memories of this aquatic wonderland. The experience of witnessing the blue-footed boobies, sea lions, and the living aquarium had left an indelible mark on our souls. Loreto’s charm and allure will forever hold a special place in our travel memories, serving as a reminder of the beauty that lies within the heart of Mexico’s coastal treasures.
Should you ever find yourself drawn to the call of the ocean and the embrace of a magical Mexican pueblo, Loreto awaits with open arms, ready to immerse you in its captivating world of aquatic wonders. Until we meet again, may the spirit of Loreto’s blue-footed boobies and sea lions inspire you to explore the mysteries of the deep and revel in the magic of this extraordinary destination.
Read my article about Exploring the Enchantment of Loreto: A Magical Mexican Pueblo: Where to Stay and Where To Eat
Learn more about all of Lisa Niver’s adventures in her book, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty
The post Loreto: Exploring the Aquatic Wonders On and Under Water appeared first on We Said Go Travel.
August 16, 2023
From Silos to Solidarity: Combating Antisemitism Together
By Jeffrey I. Abrams, Regional Director, ADL Los Angeles and Rabbi Noah Farkas, President and CEO, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles
In February of this year, our Los Angeles Jewish community was gripped by a sadly familiar fear, when two identifiably Jewish men in the Orthodox neighborhood of Pico-Robertson were shot after leaving morning prayers. The suspected shooter had a history of sharing antisemitic, conspiracy-laden beliefs, and purposely sought out locations in L.A. where he knew members of the Jewish community lived, worked, and prayed.
Just two weeks ago, the FBI raided a house in Reseda and arrested an avowed white supremacist and antisemite who threatened the mass murder of Jews. They found, among other items, bomb-making materials, “ghost” guns, and 3D printers to make firearms. This suspect not only espoused his hatred of Jews; he was also building the capacity to act on his deluded schemes.
Over the last several weeks, groups of online trolls have sought to disrupt Jewish prayer services in Los Angeles and throughout the country by calling in fake bomb threats targeting synagogues, “swatting” synagogues that livestream their in-person services.
We live in difficult times. Antisemitism is no longer a marginal threat; it is a clear and present danger. For too long, Jewish leadership has tried to “go it alone.” This approach has helped no one – not our respective supporters, volunteers, and staff, not our national counterparts, and certainly not our local communities. Often, the siloed approach leads to inefficient and confusing outcomes with multiple press releases, clashing statements, and uncoordinated actions. Even more importantly, this approach can hurt the coordination of vital information between Jewish institutions and law enforcement.
The time has come to move from competition to cooperation, from silos to solidarity. We must put the dire needs of our community over the ideologies of self-promotion. Since last year, a group of organizations have formed an Antisemitism Roundtable to do just that. The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), American Jewish Committee, Holocaust Museum LA, and the Board of Rabbis have met bi-monthly to build trust, mutual support, and to place the greater mission of the Jewish people at the center of our work.
Today, we are pleased to announce an outcome of these conversations when it comes to communal security. The Federation and ADL Los Angeles are launching the Southern California Jewish Security Alliance (SCJSA). We will merge ADL’s long-standing expertise on extremism and intelligence-gathering with the proficiency in training, assessments, and local intelligence monitoring of the Federation’s Community Security Initiative (CSI). ADL’s Center on Extremism will embed an intelligence analyst shared with CSI, focusing on threats in Southern California. These combined efforts will be a force-multiplier, adding strength to strength. Additionally, a third organization, Community Security Services, will join SCJSA and have an office at CSI to coordinate training of volunteers in our community to protect themselves. We hope to add additional members to the SCJSA in the weeks and months ahead.
The FBI raid in Reseda is an example of the power of collaborative information sharing. CSI’s close partnership with law enforcement led directly to the apprehension of the suspect. These relationships, which ADL and CSI have established over years of hard work, also helped to mitigate the disruption caused by internet trolls recently targeting a number of synagogues and Jewish institutions in our city. We believe SCJSA will replicate this sort of collaboration on a broader scale.
While we are proud of the new security alliance, this is just the beginning. In the past, we may have feared competition from one another for a limited pool of donors and influence. Now, the leadership of the Antisemitism Roundtable and the members of the SCJSA understand that speaking in unison makes our voices stronger. We encourage others to join our effort to put the community first by focusing on symbiotic outcomes. We look forward to growing our collaboration with other like-minded organizations, to create a more resilient, safe, and well-connected Jewish community.
By Jeffrey I. Abrams, Regional Director, ADL Los Angeles and Rabbi Noah Farkas, President and CEO, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles
Condemn Antisemitism
Oppose Hate and Extremism Driven by Antisemitism
Make Communities Safe from Antisemitism
Block Antisemitism Online
Act Against Global Antisemitism
Teach about Antisemitism
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