Let’s change the world! Marty Ward is back to chat with Neva Lee Recla about making a difference. Marty is amazing and has been on SPK before: Being Confident. Marty is passionate about uplifting kids to be themselves and to help them eliminate bullying. Neva absolutely adores Marty and her mission. The two have a great time making funny faces and sharing that it is possible to change the world. Marty says that you can change the world, but you have to change yourself first. She sponsored Neva’s book, When Pigs Fly: The Parents Guide to Inspire Your Young Entrepreneur. It is because of Marty and all the other sponsors that the book was even a possibility. Listen in to hear these two amazing lights share their insight on how we can change the world.

Hey, Marty.

Hey, how are you?

I’m good. How are you?

Wonderful to be with you again, Neva, and so much, I was so excited to get your book and I read it and you’ve got such wonderful advice for parents and kids and how to become an amazing entrepreneur like you and how to believe in themselves.

Well, thank you.

Find your passion.

Thank you. So today since we’re talking about let’s change the world, I want to know how are you changing the world? And what are you doing in the world now?

So how I’m changing the world is I’m making bullying, obsolete and civility a way of life around the world.

So how I’m changing the world is I’m making bullying, obsolete and civility a way of life around the world. So I work with teachers in America, teachers and administrators and nurses, caregivers, to develop skills so that they can communicate with you guys, you kids, in a way that builds you up, makes you feel great about who you are, develops your confidence and so that you feel great about who you are and can believe in yourself.

So no matter what anybody says to you, that you know who you are and I’ve also taken that message to Africa and I’ve been to Uganda twice and we have an organization over there and I’ve actually reached over 80,000 children in Africa and parents and teachers and pastors, with the message that being you matters because Neva what’s so important is for parents to give the kids the message that they matter so that they won’t hurt themselves or others.

So by doing that, kids can believe in themselves, do better academically, they’ll cooperate more, but they really need to have that, your wonderful superpower idea and look for the superpowers in their children; their talents, abilities and gifts is what I call them.

To do that and then when they, when kids feel that they’re seen for who they are, like your amazing parents who have seen you for who you are your whole life and let you just be Neva and let you develop and grow and evolve the way you have, and so you’re evidence of what can happen when parents allow that to happen organically.

Yeah, I agree.

So my question is why do you target kids specifically?

Why do I target kids specifically?

Why are kids your market?

That’s a great question. Well, how this, I guess because I’ve always worked with children.

I’ve been a teacher, I’ve been a school based social worker, I had a sailing school and Neva, you would’ve loved it, on the Hudson river and I built the programs, designed programs for autistic and emotionally challenged kids. I guess it’s because as wonderful as my childhood was, I felt swooshed. I felt that I kept being swooshed. You just want to be the center of attention and no, sit right. Do this, do that. Wear this. Do that. I felt swooshed and when I ran into an article about a little girl named Ashland Connor on the internet one day in 2011, and Ashlyn was actually an honor roll student. She was a cheerleader, but she didn’t want to go to school that day and to do that, unfortunately, and very sadly, she killed herself.

I said, that’s it. I burst into tears and I said, that’s it. I don’t want another bright light of a child snuffed out, to feel that you didn’t have any choices and I didn’t want that for any other child.

So I became impassioned about this mission and I’ve been bullied most of my life, so I know what that feels like. What I realized in Neva, is that if you don’t believe the bully, then you won’t be hurt. So by having kids know that they are okay, that they vowed that they matter, and that they’re talented, able and gifted tag; we tag kids for success, talents, abilities and gifts and when they know that they have value, like you do, that you’re a writer, an artist, a speaker, a trainer, a leader, a guide, and that you have a gift that you give our world as you do, when all kids have that inside, we all came in with talents, abilities and gifts, every one of us has them and it’s just like you figuring out what’s your talent, ability and gift and expressing that to the world.

So I’m impassioned to have every child know that they matter.

Yeah, I agree. I like that and some kids, I find that in being bullied, when you believe what that person is saying, it hurts more because you’re the one who’s saying it to yourself on some level.

Something my parents have taught me is that bullies or people are just mirror images of ourselves. So somebody being mean to us, good chance is that that is in our aspect of ourselves saying, “Well maybe this is time for this piece of mood to be released,” and to go on and not hurt other people and to uplift yourself and uplift others.

Sometimes for me, I’ll have dreams about some lake if I’m releasing a part of my ego or if I just like having fear about something, I have dreams about them when that piece was being released and so it comes up in reality. So something I’ve learned is that I trust in my higher self to do what’s right and sometimes for me that’s just kind of sitting and talking to myself and going, I am enough and I’m worth it.

You can’t stop the bully from doing or saying whatever they want to do. It’s just how you respond and you have some good strategies that you shared that tell people, children and adults, how to manage that.

Sometimes I’ll go in and write in my journal or I’ll write in like sticky notes and then I’ll place it, the sticky notes, all over my room or door saying, “I am enough, I am worth it,” and this person who I don’t like or this person who hurt me is just being fearful and they are just taking it out on me and then just kind of giving myself affirmations and I always make sure that if it’s on my door, it is eye level with me, so that no matter what in the morning when I open my door, I see it and that way I sit and read it. Then in the morning I wake up and I mostly have a good day.

Wonderful. I you gave lots of such wonderful tips for everyone to think about. So that’s a wonderful way to handle that and I agree that what the bully does is awaken us to believe so strongly in ourselves and to say, that’s their opinion. You can’t stop the bully from doing or saying whatever they want to do. It’s just how you respond and you have some good strategies that you shared that tell people, children and adults, how to manage that. So that’s wonderful.

So we are going to have to take a quick break and I’d love to keep talking about this topic more.

Where can people go to find out more about you and your life and how years of seeing other people in the world? 

Well, if they go to Confidencebuildssuccessacademy.com. Confidencebuildssuccessacademy.com, they can learn all about our programs. 

Awesome. Definitely go check Marty’s website out because she is so amazing.

So we’ll be right back after the break. We’ve been talking with Marty Ward about Let’s Change the World. We’ll be right back.

To listen to the entire show click on the player above or go to the SuperPower Up! podcast on iTunes.