Michelle Burke & Lilamani de Silva
Michelle Burke is a sought-after leadership coach, facilitator, speaker, founder, and CEO of Energy Catalyst Group, a consulting and training company for well-being. Over her twenty-year career, she gained a deep appreciation and perspective working with people and cultures from all walks of life. Michelle has trained thousands of participants to make positive change—bridging communication gaps getting in the way of a thriving workplace and a joy-filled life. Her mindfulness coaching helps women to be empowered and promoted into leadership roles. Garnering rave reviews, clients include Stanford University, Microsoft, Sony PlayStation, Snap Inc., and HP. She’s been featured in Business Week Magazine, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Wall Street Journal. Michelle is author of The Valuable Office Professional and coauthor of 15 Minute Pause: A Radical Reboot for Busy People. She partnered with coauthor Lilamani de Silva to create Joy Cards, Personalogy™ games, and Teambuilder™, a card game to build collaboration. Michelle enjoys time with loved ones, cooking, fun adventures, reading, sports, and walking her dog Jadie.
Lilamani de Silva, MSc, has had an eclectic career across multiple industries including media relations, TV production, and the creation of innovative products for home, work, and play with coauthor Michelle Burke. She also worked for London Zoo, BBC World, and has helped produce documentaries for Discovery, Animal Planet, and ITV. An avid self-taught painter, Lilamani has sold her artwork worldwide. Her paintings illustrateJoy Cards. Her many experiences have opened her mind to different cultures and perspectives, which are reflected in her artwork and other projects. In her spare time, Lilamani enjoys being active, traveling, reading, painting, and spending time with loved ones.
In today’s episode Michelle and Lilamani share their story about two women from completely different walks of life - how they became lifetime friends, creative partners, and how they’ve cultivated joy. It all started with a chance meeting. They both care about making a meaningful difference in the world and even though they’re separating by an ocean, over the years they’ve learned to embrace technology to make their incredible collaborations possible. Over the last few years they looked for a way to create something that could help them rediscover their own joy and spread joy to others at the same time. Enter the Joy Cards. Michelle and Lilamani’s reflections on joy and its impact will remind you the importance of hitting pause and allowing yourself the opportunity to reflect and enjoy the life you’re living.
“Daily joy can help us deal with the curveballs, which will obviously inevitably come, and let’s face it! Life is really messy. There is an up side and that is joy, which we sometimes miss because we’re so busy.”
“We realized that joy is everywhere if we are willing to take that pause and notice, because joy is in the small things.”
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7bZHrtjAzbksbLWNaak1NM
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stories-of-inspiring-joy/id1510488632
To connect with Michelle and Lilamani visit https://energycatalystgroup.com/personal-development/ and energycatalystgroup.com/joy-cards/
Their recent projects include their online personal developmental programs and workshops. ReEnergize Your Life is a fun and easy online course to create more balance in seven life areas: relationships, soul, body, mind, creativity, career, and philanthropy. JumpStart Self-care helps lower stress and avoid burnout. These courses originated from their book 15 Minute Pause, A Radical Reboot for Busy People. Currently, they are working on their Joy Retreats based on their Joy Cards. They are designed for women who want to reset, recharge, and relax in a beautiful resort setting. It is all about feeling rejuvenated and learning how to rediscover and maintain joy no matter what stressors we might be facing.
Stories of Inspiring Joy is a production of Seek The Joy Media and created by Sydney Weiss. To learn more and submit your story, click here.
*Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Stories of Inspiring Joy.