Small Acts of Kindness and Their Big Impact

This episode delves into the transformative journey of Lisa Mead Romero, from police officer to beauty educator, emphasizing the importance of making conscious choices in our lives. The discussion navigates themes of empowerment, the impact of societal influences on personal decisions, and the connection between self-care and self-worth.

Lisa Meade Romero

• Tel: +1 954-326-2309
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-meade-romero/
• Website: LisaMeadeRomero.com
• Email: lisameaderomero@gmail.com

• Exploring the crossroads of career and personal growth
• Discussing the transformative power of self-care
• Reflecting on the role of choice in shaping identity
• Examining the impact of societal expectations on personal decisions
• Sharing insights from officer Sarah Adams' interview on global events
• Highlighting the interconnectedness of acts of kindness
• Encouraging authenticity and intentional living

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Chapters

• 0:03 Journey With Fired-Up Business Professionals
• 5:32 Global Unease and Conspiracy Theories
• 14:34 Quotes on Choices and Personal Growth
• 20:40 Empowering Self-Care and Community Impact

Transcript

Voiceover: 0:03

Tales from the wild, stories from the heart. A journey into the mind and soul of fired up business professionals, where they share their vision for the future and hear from a different non-profit organization every month as they create awareness of their goals and their needs. Dive into a world of untamed passion as we join our host, Shireen Botha, for this month's episode of Friends from Wild Places.

Shireen Botha: 0:36

All right, welcome. Welcome, shireen. Here. I am your virtual boutique bookkeeper and QuickBooks advisor. Outsourcing your bookkeeping through Shireen's Bookkeeping Services can save you time, money and help you stay focused on what really matters. Our team of experienced professionals will handle all your bookkeeping needs, from invoicing to payroll and everything in between. With our reliable and accurate services, you can rest easy, knowing your finances are in good hands. Don't let bookkeeping slow you down any longer. If you want to know more, go check me out at www. shireensbookkeeping. com and allow me to keep your books clean, so you don't have to Welcome. Welcome back. You are listening to Friends from Wild Places with myself, shireen, and your amazing co-host, tanya. Tanya, how are you doing today?

Tanya Scotece: 1:31

Oh, doing great. Shireen just got over some influenza and dealing with bronchitis, but things are looking up. So all in all, things are well. Nice new year and new goals, manifestations, so all is well awesome.

Shireen Botha: 1:47

I absolutely love that. So, tanya, why don't you share with the listeners our little extra content subscriptions?

Tanya Scotece: 1:57

yes, so we at friends from wild places have had the podcast for several years now, putting out monthly guests and featured guests, and we also have bonus content. So for as little as five dollars a month, you since you can subscribe to our additional bonus content where we can dive deeper into topics. Everything is raw, unedited, and we are always happy to go deeper into subjects that our listeners like. So if you are interested in hearing more, definitely reach out to us or hit the button to click and subscribe.

Shireen Botha: 2:31

Wonderful. Thank you so much, tanya. All right, well, let's get into introducing our guest, our visitor, for the next couple of episodes on our new series. Lisa Meade Romero is the founder of LMR Services and wears many hats, to include beauty educator, former police officer speaker, former high school teacher and advisory director on multiple non-profits, go-getter, wife and joy spreader. Most often, people ask how do you go from teacher to police officer to beauty educator, how does that even happen? Or the occasional? You don't look like a cop. Her response is simple it's all about people and connections. Each and every stop along the way may not have been intentional or a lifelong goal, but it has led her to where she is now, carving her own intentional path and helping others to do the same. Lisa loves her winding road and there is more to come. Finding an inner joy she hopes to empower others to find and continue to learn along the way is her mission. Welcome, lisa, it's so good to have you on the show.

Lisa Meade Romero: 3:43

Thank you both for having me. It's an honor to be here. Yes, of course.

Tanya Scotece: 3:49

Super excited, lisa, super excited. I just have been wanting you on this podcast forever and I said you know what we? Just now is a new year. We have to get you on and I'd love for you. We're going to dive deep into your stories plural, because there are many, and you do wear many hats and you continue to inspire women and men alike, I should say.

Shireen Botha: 4:11

Yes, absolutely. You know, Lisa. Tanya has been talking about you quite often when we speak about the guests that we want to have on our show, so I've also been looking forward to to have you a part of Friends from Wild Places.

Lisa Meade Romero: 4:27

Now I feel fresher. I'm just kidding. I hope I live up to the expectations Of course, of course, we will exceed our expectations.

Shireen Botha: 4:38

Absolutely so, lisa. Let's start off with the beginning of our podcast. We always do a little bit of an icebreaker for our listeners and listeners. You know that Tanya and I seem to be a little bit of crime enthusiasts, but today we want to talk about conspiracy theories. Yes, you heard right Conspiracy theories. And listen. As a South African watching the world right now, it's quite interesting to observe. So before I continue that conversation, let's get into the interview with Sarah Adams.

Shireen Botha: 5:32

Officer Sarah Adams sat down with former Navy SEAL and agency contractor Sean Ryan during the latter's December 13, 2024, episode of the Sean Ryan Show. A thousand al-Qaeda trained militants were in the USA and were seemingly planning a coordinated attack on American soil, something similar to the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023. When asked how certain she was that something would happen in 2025, sarah told Sean I'm certain we'll either have the embassy attacks in 2025 or the homeland attack, or both. Sarah Adams' comments came less than a month before back-to-back attacks in the USA on New Year's Day 2025 in New Orleans and Las Vegas, both suspected terror attacks. Amid these, her interview has now gone viral with a whole lot of conspiracy theories that have come along with it.

Shireen Botha: 6:29

So you know, as I was saying, as a south african sitting and watching the world, you know, I'm sitting here and I'm watching russia versus ukraine, and I'm watching Hamas versus Israel, and now I think it's Israel versus Iraq, and then there's the two worldly governments. You know the two teams. You're either going to be on the NATO side or you're going to be on the BRIC side. What team you got to pick a team? You know, and I feel like the whole world is in this nobody make a false move. Everyone stay really still, because if anyone does one bad move, I feel like something's gonna blow. You know what that feeling feels. So now, seeing this, I think my biggest question, ladies, is what do you guys think? Do you think that you know Sarah, what she says is actually going to happen and transpire in 2025? You know what are your thinkings? You know, I want to hear everyone's thoughts over this whole thing. You know, go ahead.

Lisa Meade Romero: 7:48

Lisa. It's hard to be know. Go ahead, lisa, of course, of course. So I obviously have a little bit of a. I have a background in law enforcement, so I can probably understand multiple sides this a little bit better than the general public.

Lisa Meade Romero: 8:01

I think that what Sarah has to say is intriguing for several reasons. One is you cannot discount somebody's experience in a world that we don't understand right. So in general, americans are blessed to live in a bubble. We are so blessed that we tend to only look at what's going on in our house, in our neighborhood, in our state, in our country, and we have been without a lot of the strifes and struggles that a lot of other countries have had. So somebody who has lived it before or is living it or has been in that space, has a wealth of knowledge and understanding that we really just can't even framework in our normal life.

Lisa Meade Romero: 8:53

And I think that at times, whether it be the government or people in general, we have a hard time admitting we're wrong. We have a hard time admitting I don't know everything, I don't have all the answers, I haven't figured it all out yet, and that's what makes everybody so uneasy right now is, I think, because of this information age and the world has become so much smaller in connection and it's easier to get every place so quickly that us not knowing everything and the instantaneous timeline that things can happen makes for a lot of unease at this point in society. What's going on right now?

Tanya Scotece: 9:58

Interesting, interesting Tanya word exploit, because that's probably not the exact word that I'm looking for, but it's the closest one that I can come up with at the moment and it's almost like, as Lisa said, you know, general public, from wherever anyone sits, to high level people in certain positions, there's definitely a disconnect of information, right? So sometimes when information gets gets I don't want to maybe use the word exploited, shared, disseminated, whatever word you want to use, sometimes it's I want to know what. The intention is Right, because intention is OK, creating mass hysteria amongst people that are living in a society that really don't have the authority, the knowledge, the experience or the education to do anything about it, and it creates a hysteria. So I do question and I'm not that familiar with her personally, I have seen the interview, I did dive a little deep into her background and, with all due respect to her education and experience and history, I guess my question is why that platform and why in that mode of delivery? So I guess I'll leave it at that.

Lisa Meade Romero: 11:17

Yeah, I think that she has reported in the past to many different state departments in many different countries and a lot of the frustration is at times like okay, I feel like I got some good information and I want to share it right with the people who are the right people to take action in such thing, and it's not getting done maybe in the fashion that she would have handled it, like in her previous career or in her previous station.

Lisa Meade Romero: 11:49

And I think that what happens is we're removed from September 11th, we're removed from a personal connection to things. So those people who had that personal connection and really had that fight, they have much more passion, or or they think things should be going at a faster pace than maybe things are going in their minds and maybe things are going at a faster pace and we're not privy right to all of it. I think that that's part of it too. Right, she can provide open source information in an open source format, but if it's being actioned on in a classified manner, we're not getting that back. So we're kind of in this like what's really going on? Is anything really happening? But it could be happening, we're just not allowed to know about it right now right right I.

Tanya Scotece: 12:38

What do you think?

Shireen Botha: 12:40

yeah, I, I, I love your points of views, ladies, and I wanted to hear what you both had to say, because see what each of you said something really interesting and and so it kind of made me think, all right, that that is a different way of looking at it and as, again, as a South African, I'm going well, finally, maybe these kind of information, pieces of information starting to slip through the government's hands, because I feel like for such a long time the government has had such control over us, because social media wasn't as big, you know, media wasn't as big years ago, and so they had that control over their people and I'm talking about us as well, you know, governments in general, over all countries.

Shireen Botha: 13:36

They had somewhat control over their people and what they could and could not listen to, and what gets leaked and what does not get leaked, and so it is very interesting and more and more of this kind of information is starting to get leaked, and, granted, you can't believe everything that you hear, but to what extent? If you're hearing a certain amount of different people from different areas coming with the same pieces of information and you kind of go, okay, wait, you know this is, this is quite interesting you know.

Shireen Botha: 14:14

So, yeah, I think. Thank you, ladies. I think it's a nice little chit chats. Icebreaker. Um, it is a very interesting chat and I think we could actually continue because I have a lot to say about all these different conspiracy theories, but I mean that could be an entire podcast, honestly. So let's leave it there and move on to quote of the day. Our amazing lisa has given a very special quote that she goes by and it goes. We are where we are by the choices we have made or we have allowed others to make for us. By Linda Tupin if I get her name, is it Okay? So I want to know, lisa, what does that quote mean to you and why?

Lisa Meade Romero: 15:05

Lisa. What does that quote mean to you and why? Thanks, shereed. So this is the quote that I heard in my Mary Kay journey and it made me go. Oh, like. It really made me look inside myself and be like is that really? Is that true, right?

Lisa Meade Romero: 15:26

Am I where I am because of the choices I have made or allowed others to make for me? And I think it resonates with me because, at the core of who I am, I'm a freedom and choice person. I love the fact that I have the freedoms that I do and I love the fact that I can choose what I want to do when I live in such a free country, what I want to do when I live in such a free country. That being said, it also makes me think are there choices I could make? But I don't feel like I have the option to make and therefore I'm allowing other people to determine which direction I go.

Lisa Meade Romero: 16:00

So that old adage of not making a decision is a decision unto itself, right, right? So sometimes it's like do we go to college because it's really our choice? There was a choice made for us because our parents were like oh, this is your next step, you're going to go to college Right, or your path in your career, whatever it is. At times we might feel like, well, I can't go on that vacation because of my financial situation situation.

Lisa Meade Romero: 16:32

All of those small things are choices that we're making in our head. Are we really putting thought and intention behind the choice? Or are we just choosing the path of least resistance and not making a conscious choice? Or are we making the choice that's going to benefit other people without actually taking our own needs or wants into account? So choice is like such a big thing for me and that's one of the things I like to talk about with women a lot is there is no balance. Right, there's no life balance. Just accept the fact there is no balance. It resides in choice. What you determine or what you design out of your life is just a sum of your choices. There is no illusion of balance that you're we're trying to attain right, right, that is so good.

Shireen Botha: 17:18

That's so good and funny. Tanya, you know I'm always talking about I mean tanya and I. I read a book and we talk about it on the extra content sometimes, where we read a little excerpt out of it. But you know, and what I took out of the book was the quote you get to decide, and it's along those same lines where, you know, the author speaks about how so many of the decisions we make are, um, very much been had other inputs being put into it.

Shireen Botha: 17:53

That's helped us make the decision that we've made and many times, for some people, they've allowed too much input from other parties, whether it be friends or family, pastors, whoever and eventually realizing, hey, you know what I get to decide, I get to decide. There's no right or wrong answer. I get to decide and it might offend some family members, but at the end of the day, I'm on this journey. This is my piece of canvas. I get to paint it with any color or however I want to paint it, with any sort of paint I like, and there's no. You know, every splash of paint is a part of the collage that you're creating and it's really. It's all you and, honestly, you're not wasting one moment in any decision that you've made. It's really all part of making you the person that you are today. So thank you, lisa. I really appreciate that. That's quite a good quote to go by. So, lisa, can you give us a little bit of a background of who you are?

Lisa Meade Romero: 19:03

Oh, great question. I always say I am who I am, like you get what you get. I'm a very honest person up front and my mission is really just to add joy and add value wherever I go. And I think that's because at times I haven't had that right we all and now that I've come into my own, I want other people to have that. I want everybody in the world to have their peace. Whatever that is for you, right, whatever that is for you, I want you to feel joy. I want you to have peace, I want you to have meaningful relationships. I want you to feel good about yourself and if I can do anything to help you on that journey, like I'm there and that probably has come from just, I've always had more of that servant heart. That's just been my outlook my whole life, you know, like as a little kid, like, oh, I can help with that, you know, give me something to do. And it led to not only my teaching career, right, and then into law enforcement, both helping other people and even in my beauty business. It's that adding value right Me noticing later in life that I had lost a part of myself right, I had lost that feminine part of myself and recognizing my struggle.

Lisa Meade Romero: 20:40

That was the same for other women like I'm. I'm not comfortable putting on makeup. I don't want to look like a crazy YouTuber. I, you know, don't want to be looking like I'm trying to be 12 when you know I'm 43. All of those struggles are I don't even really know how to take care of my skin, like my, my mom God bless her. She was, you know, a very young, or you know young, mom. She didn't have those skills Like hey, let me teach you how to wash your face properly, let me teach you how. None of those. So I struggled with that my whole life to realize those small things, those small self-care moments, add so much to your self-worth, add so much to your self-worth.

Lisa Meade Romero: 21:24

And if I can help a woman or a man or a teen have that confidence, it can change a community. It really can, right? So when you change a mom, you change the family. When you change the family, you change the neighborhood. You can change the community. Like everything is so interconnected that that small act of kindness makes a difference.

Lisa Meade Romero: 21:46

You know, like the things that always make me smile is like you go in and out of Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks or whatever it is, and I will always hold the door Like I don't care if you're like halfway through the parking lot, they're like trying to. I'm like just wait, like it's cool, it's fine, like I'm here, and then I smile because they hold it for somebody else and next person, like it's like a trickle of fact, and I'm like, ah, like that's the one change I affected today. Like all those people now have a smile on their face because that didn't happen yesterday morning. You know, like the door hit him in the face. It's just like, ah, like people want to be seen, they want to know that they're valued. Um, and we can do that in small things. It doesn't take big things.

Shireen Botha: 22:32

So right, right, that's amazing, tanya and I. You know, when tanya chatted about you the other day, the one question that I asked you and tanya, you can carry on after this I just wanted to know from you what made you decide to go out on your own instead of remaining in the you know police force or working for someone else. You know you can still help people by that way. So that's, you know what made you decide to go out on your own as opposed to that?

Lisa Meade Romero: 23:03

Well, I think so. I had my business and I was a police officer for a long time, for eight years. Okay, yes, and I think that for me, mary Kay reminded me that I was a woman, reminded me that there are happy people in the world. I can knock on somebody's door and they have a smile. I'm not bringing them the worst news of their life, I'm not in the middle of the crisis with them, right, it was a whole different side of the world when I'm helping people feel beautiful.

Lisa Meade Romero: 23:32

And when my long enforcement career ended right in its normal course, I was just like I don't want to let this go. Like I, I, I don't need, I don't need to work, I'm blessed, I do not need to work, I do not need to go out and make money. I, you know I have a beautiful pension, but it's such a vehicle for me to see people's lives change that maybe it's like, okay, it's a little bit selfish, right, like I love it and I don't want to give it up. Like I love to be part of that journey with people. Um, you know, to have a woman in her seventies look in the mirror and say I finally feel pretty.

Lisa Meade Romero: 24:07

I'm like, oh, like, oh, I want you to feel beautiful all the time, like that's it's a gift, like it's a gift I get to give but I get so much back out of it. And now it's opened up the doors to so many other things. I think because I've grown in the process. It's opened up. Now, what else? Like how else? How else can I add value outside of cosmetics, outside of skincare, to make the world better? How else can I value?

Shireen Botha: 24:52

and then you were a police officer alongside that. How did you know that? Okay, now I'm done here. It's time you know. The police, being a police officer, has come to a point where it's over now and I just want to focus on my business.

Lisa Meade Romero: 25:01

You know, yeah. So I think that I knew going into my law enforcement career that I my goal was to hit my pension mark and go To me. It was a tool. I love law enforcement. It has changed a lot since I've been in it, and not just because society has changed, I mean, just people have changed. Leadership styles change, and for me in my law enforcement career, there was no place I could grow right. There was no place. Could I have advanced in rank? Yes, could I have moved in different positions? I've probably done a dozen different positions in the police. I could do all of those things. However, that career no longer afforded me a vehicle to grow as a person or to affect change in the way that I wanted to affect change.

Tanya Scotece: 25:58

Tune in next week for part two from Friends from Wild Places.

Voiceover: 26:03

You've been listening to Friends from Wild Places with Shireen Botha. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast from the links to catch every episode and unleash your passion.