[00:00:00] Hey everyone Lynn Vartan and you are listening to the A.P.E.X Hour on KSUU Thunder 91.1 In this show you get more personal time with the guests who visit Southern Utah University from all over. Learning more about their stories and opinions beyond their presentations on stage. We will also give you some new music to listen to and hope to turn you on. Use them and. You can find us here every Thursday at 3pm or on the web at suu.edu/apex. But For now, welcome to this week's show here on Thunder 91.1
[00:00:49] OK welcome to the A.P.E.X Hour everyone. As you know I am Lynn Vartan and man have we- I feel like I do say this every week but this week I mean it even more than others. I am here with. We are affectionately officially calling you K.P. because we are friends. Now I think.
[00:01:09] Yes, we are.
[00:01:10] But Kirsten Plehwe in the house and she gave a talk today all about particularly about the lessons that she learned from her time as being a ranger in Africa but welcome into the studio KP.
[00:01:26] Thank you so much Lynn.
[00:01:27] It's such a pleasure to have you here. And just a little bit of background for our guests. I mean the great circle the great network that APEX is becoming is something that I'm so proud of. And those of you who are listening are big fans of the podcast may remember Dr. Bertice Berry, who was here with us last April and had such a good time and we connected on stage together so well. But she was the one who said you have to have Kirsten come so the international global circle of A.P.E.X events is expanding so we are here welcoming Kirsten from Germany and I'd love to just start by having you tell our listeners a bit about your history and who you are.
[00:02:16] Well first of all let me say how happy I am to be here. You know it is a long travel from Germany to Utah. But I love every minute of it. I loved it. I love being in America. I love spending time here. It's not enough I have to leave tonight unfortunately but I will be back hopefully. And sure, I mean my history is I define myself as an entrepreneur all my life although I just had my first business when I was 18. So, it was a lie before I was 18 but I really feel that the happiest times in my life were one in my childhood when I lived as a child in Africa and South Africa. And then when I had the chance to work with so many great people doing my career with Olympic athletes and top politicians and corporate leaders and I was able to help them along the way. At least they said so which is always good.
[00:03:12] I am sure you help them you've helped us already today.
[00:03:16] So I am. What can I say. I'm just I'm just I'm just me.
[00:03:24] Now you always had quite an affection for the United States and I was quite shocked to hear that. Tell us a little bit about how that that's just always been there or something that came and developed. How did that come about?
[00:03:41] I had no clue where it came from. When I was young but I always had it. I mean before I finished high school I said as soon as I'm done here I'm going to America so always and my family was not very America oriented. They loved traveling and loved seeing the world. But there was not as such. I was like a fan. I had you know the American flag in my bedroom I still have that by the way not in the bedroom but of the terrorists of our house. And so, I didn't know where it came from and it was just later on that I learned that some of my roots are in America actually and some of my family lives here which shouldn't surprise me at all. And I think that as a child I had the talent which I lost later on as an adult for some time. I got it back thankfully. But as a child I had the talent to listen to an inner voice kind of thing right. So, I knew that I love America. I knew that I wanted to go there. And I just did it and my business and my hectic times of my career I somehow lost that connection with understanding what I really want and what my passion is. But thank goodness you get clues from life like I did. And we're going to talk about that. I know.
[00:04:57] Yeah.
[00:04:58] But sometimes life helps you and then you just need to listen. Open the door and go through.
[00:05:03] Do you know was it any one thing. I mean was it the fashion or the culture or was it the sense of freedom or the audacity. I mean was it anything in particular about the U.S. or was it just that it was over there and foreign in a way.
[00:05:19] Mainly I think it was the feeling of freedom the and the positivity of the American people about new ideas whatever you think he everybody would be like oh my god that sounds great. Why don't you. Good good. Go for it. You know the Germans are very you know careful in their judgment and slow and very detail oriented especially. They're not as open to new ideas and I think we urgently need new ideas and new leadership so I felt just very home with the sort of the cultural setting. And this is also what makes me a bit sad today that I feel that the American people are just so caught up in political fights against one another instead of you know talking and sharing and this is what for me the American spirit and the American story is but I mean times change so I guess when politics change or when people have the audacity to you know not to step back from democracy and not go vote. But in the opposite. You know reach out and talk to the friends and talk to neighbors. No matter of whatever their political background is and just say you know we're all in this American dream and we want to make it happen. So, we have to find solutions and not blame one another and stupid things.
[00:06:43] Exactly. And you've really dealt with that firsthand being in the political arena for so many years. Can you talk a little bit about that history and you were a part of different projects and campaigns? And what that time period was like for you.
[00:07:00] For me in that time period was very exciting. I had to cover... I was with a German TV station besides my job as a political analyst and I had the opportunity to be with three campaigns the Bush campaign the two Obama campaigns and then the Hillary Clinton campaign and I covered that and analyzed that for a German TV station. And I love doing that because you sort of get into the background of things. And since my own company was you know advising political parties on you know strategies of you know voter turnout and those kinds of things. I just learned so much and I met so many people just across many many states. And I was just since I was in love with America anyways for me it was just such a deep experience of diversity across the state so I just love the time. And when the last election results came in I was in a German TV studio and realized really for the first time in sort of intense moment of clarity how much the society and the media world had changed because nobody expected this result of the election in Europe. And also, how the media played out to be in this election that it was in many phases shocking for me. So, I thought this is not what politics should be about. You know with fake news that are bought and with robots and all those things so I do have a big hope and this is why I'm so happy to be speaking at universities and the hope is the young people who simply say no to that kind of media that kind of politicians and you know sort of stand up for what they feel is right. Because my feeling is it's crazy. It has become a bit crazy and it needs people who say no more of that bullshit. You know we need something else something real something we can trust and something we can hope for for a good future for all of us.
[00:09:16] And is that the general German perspective right now or do you feel that that's more your perspective with your affinity to the U.S. or do you feel that many people in Europe are looking sort of at us and saying that.
[00:09:31] Well many people tend to all over the world tend to jump to very fast conclusions because they read something and they hear something they think oh this is the case they're in there and that makes me sad because you know there's such a vast amount of information out there on the Internet and on Facebook and all of that so that we lose the ability to really judge what you know what's real and reality is that the Germans love the Americans. I mean we owe America so much and nobody has forgotten that. But many Germans today and many Europeans they simply can't understand how a nation from the outside view changes so much and that's so different values are displayed now. So, and nobody tells nobody gives them a reason. So, if you don't give people a reason to understand then they have our time and they distance themselves. And the same thing I see on the American side when I used to come visit a couple of years ago everybody was like oh you're from Germany. You know I have German roots. My grandfather served and it was stationed in Heidelberg whatever and nowadays it's like oh you're from Germany really. How is it there with all the refugees? And I say yeah, we have refugees but we still you know we are a safe place. And its just so much really craziness out there in the media about who's doing what and you know what life in Germany or in America is like that I think the only chance is how to sort of escape from that craziness is reaching out to real people talking to them sitting down with them having dinner or being in a talk show and just talking and being open to. How is your life right now you know without a preconception of OK I'm like oh my God you know they are like this and they are like that and just be open and realize what's going on because many many Europeans love America and we're very sad. We're actually scared to lose the leadership and the global community.
[00:11:39] Right. OK. Well that gives us a little bit of the political background and also you have a huge corporate background but we want to get in and maybe tease a little bit into the conversation about Africa. So, can you lead us we'll just to spend a bit sort of teasing everyone and then we'll have our first musical break. But can you tell everybody you sort of had an aha moment and decided to change everything.
[00:12:08] Yes. I thought those aha moments just exist in American TV on The Oprah Show or something but I actually had this aha moment on my life in a little little office in Dublin and I had gone there to do the work for one of my books which was on female leadership and I had interviewed a female leader Caroline Casey also just like me a TED speaker about her life and how she got where she was and what she wanted to share with the next generation. Kind of advice for life kind of thing. And she asked me a question that sort of created my aha moment. And the question was what was your biggest dream as a child. What did you want to be? And I remember looking at Caroline and like having like no clue no clue.
[00:13:04] Amazing.
[00:13:04] And I thought this is not possible. I'm just 40 years old. I mean I must. You know I must have at least you know an idea of what it was. I had no clue. And I promised Caroline that I would try to remember and if it felt good and if it would bring the memory of it would bring a smile back onto my face that I would try to do it.
[00:13:25] Wow.
[00:13:26] And you know Germans love to keep promises so I did remember on my way back from Dublin. I saw me as a little girl in South Africa living with my parents standing in the living room and saying that you know with the pride that only children have with that ultimate believe this will happen saying when I grow up I'm going to be a ranger in South Africa. Kruger Park when I was 10 years old.
[00:13:52] That's beautiful and when you had that moment when you were returning from Dublin were you what was that. I mean were you in a car or were you in a hotel. Was it a moment of stillness or did it just kind of hit you in the middle of another thought or...
[00:14:07] No it didn't hit me and I really had to sort of direct my brain and I describe that in my book which is unfortunately not available in English yet.
[00:14:18] But we've been begging.
[00:14:20] So if any publisher listens to this please consider it was a bestseller in Germany and Austria. So maybe the wisdom of the elephants and I describe where I say I was looking out of the window in an airplane you know so beautiful because you see the clouds and everything else you distance yourself from the world down there. And so, I try to remember the happiest time of my life which was my childhood and I knew immediately that was in South Africa. And so I just sort of dozed with open eyes into that time and I saw our house in South Africa and I'm a dog lover I'm an animal lover anyways but I'm a dog lover and I had a little cocker spaniel Timba was her name and I saw us being in that house and then all of a sudden I describe in the book as like a curtain is pulled away and the fog lifts.
[00:15:14] Wow.
[00:15:15] And I could see myself being in that house and the fog lifted even more ice. I was standing in their living room in a short dress with two...I don't know why it's called the English the hair. Pig Tails?
[00:15:31] Pig tails or ponytails.
[00:15:32] Ponytails sticking away from my head and saying you know with that ultimate belief I will become the ranger in Kruger Park not knowing that two years later we would return to Germany. I'd go back to school I'd go to university or start a corporate career and having no idea about that I believe that I would be in Ranger.
[00:15:52] And and inevitably it did happen.
[00:15:55] Yes it did.
[00:15:55] We will come back and talk about it. I can't wait to talk about it more. Well Kerstin I requested some African music today and as you know I love to get me into the World Music zone so I have a couple of different examples they're all quite different. This first piece that I'm in a play it's called imagination and the artist is Fahed Mujuru. And yeah go check it out. It features the instrument the Mbira which is also called the thumb piano and the album is a journey of the spirit. Again, this is imagination. KSUU Thunder 91.1.
[00:19:55] OK. Welcome back. KSUU Thunder 91.1 We are talking to K.P. Kirsten Plehwe and she's here from visiting from Germany and talking about her time where we where we last left you on the show was that she had rediscovered her childhood love and desire to be a ranger in Africa. And you made that happen.
[00:20:22] I did. But I mean you know everybody has some deep desires but we tend as we grow up we used tend to believe that you know it's that we should be realistic and we should be good parents and good teachers and good lawyers and doctors and everything and that there is no time to dream or to follow your passions. And I was the same I thought you know all those things are just so important and I don't have time for anything else. But the interesting thing is what I learned is once you decide to do something that really means something to you. You can make the time. And anything is possible. And at that point nothing matters. I mean I was so worried. You know what my colleagues and my my people who were working for me would say when I say you know I'm leaving for Africa I thought I was worried that they would think I'm crazy or that they would you know not do any more business with me and this is often the case we feel something but then we worried what people would say.
[00:21:31] Absolutely.
[00:21:32] And I'm still so happy today that I was not worried in that second. I just thought I have to do this and I want to do this and I know I will do it. And it was the happiest time of my life.
[00:21:43] So did any of those thoughts come in and then you push them away. Because I I think that all the time I mean we get a little bit stuck on the hamster wheel and the responsibility of everything and who we are and who we're supposed to be and who we're defined by. Did you just gently but firmly push those thoughts away or were you just so laser focused on the new thing. How did that happen. How was that part of it for you?
[00:22:11] I think we all have a tendency to overthink situations not just about what other people say but you know how it would work out and if we have the money for it and all this and in mind because it was such an emotional magic place where I went and my mind back to South Africa from my childhood there was no place for thinking it was just feeling it was pure joy. So, I think if we want to learn from that we could just say to ourselves you know what inside of me gives me pure joy. And then if it's very pure you don't worry so much you still worry award afterwards after I book my ranger course. But that was much later.
[00:22:57] Yeah.
[00:22:58] And in the end this leads the path. I do believe things that you know if you follow your destiny or your passions Bertice you talked about her. Dr. Berry said you know if you pull your destiny you will sorry, if you follow your passion you will collide with Destiny right. And it's and it's just so true. I found many things that I wanted to change in my life in South Africa just because I left my comfort zone. I left everything behind my family my employees my clients for three months and said I just it's just for me it's just for me. And as I said it was the best time of my life. And even my family and my clients they all benefited from that. Once I came back because I was happier I was more efficient. I think I was even healthier and much more appreciative of what life is. Because this is what I've learned in Africa. We forget to appreciate what we have over here and we forget to appreciate that we survive a day. In Africa every day You know in the wild is about life or death.
[00:24:07] Right.
[00:24:08] And we push sickness and death away from us. We don't want to think about it we don't want to hear it. You know the elderly are put in nursing homes and you know we don't like to go to hospitals and nature is not like that. You know any second you can die. And so, if you're if you live in nature if you see death happen in front of your eyes you all of a sudden realize Oh my God you know it can happen not just to the animals every second. It can happen to all of us. So, let's just say I thought that on my jeep one morning where I saw zebra was chased by lions and finally killed and following the attack and I know I'm not very well looking and blood and death and all of this but I mean I had to I was right there and I thought you know what does that mean to me. If my life would just you know in two minutes it's done what would I regret. What would I have wished for that I did.
[00:25:10] Yeah.
[00:25:11] That I said to people that I haven't said yet. And I realized that there are so many other things besides my corporate job that I would regret that I decided to leave my corporate job in Africa. I decided that. And just to be able not to regret you know if you die its time to go. It's time to go.
[00:25:34] Yeah.
[00:25:34] But if it's time to go I don't want to regret.
[00:25:36] Yeah.
[00:25:37] I want to be thankful.
[00:25:39] Beautiful. What an incredible experience. I'd love to know what were those first few days like in Africa. Because you know it was a significant change and it's of course a significant trip. And it had a lot of emotional weight perhaps to it and perhaps expectation. And so, I'm curious what were those first what were the first moments like.
[00:26:07] Well first of all when I landed, I landed in Johannesburg and had to take a shuttle from there to the gate of where we worked through the Drakensberg and just the beautiful nature. But when I landed in South Africa when I heard the you know the voices of the people there they're so friendly and just so nice and I was just I was just the happiest person you can think of. You know I did not know what was in front of me I had no clue how hard it is to become a ranger because of course there's many things you have to learn and I'm talking about a three-month course you have to learn for example to identify one hundred fifty just voices of birds you know and I knew one as a European and that's a pigeon. And in South Africa there are many different pigeons.
[00:26:58] A hundred fifty that so many.
[00:27:02] By just you know starting to do it. If we think about it we think we can do it. But if you put yourself to it you can and I'm you know I'm not super intelligent I'm not the best bird person ever. But I managed to learn them and to finally get through the exams. But what's even more important is when I came into the gate what would you ask. What was my first impression? You know you have to imagine it's a bit shaming to say that but I was such a you know corporate person you know I travelled with three suitcases and a purse. I mean I took a purse to Africa. I mean nobody would you know the people would usually check in with just with a.
[00:27:43] Backpack.
[00:27:44] Backpack and a water thing included. But I walked in with two suitcases and the purse and the ranger who loaded the things onto his Jeep because he picked me up at the outside gate he just gave me a look of who is this person.
[00:28:01] Who... Look at the cat dragged in.
[00:28:03] Exactly and I was the only woman which I hadn't known before on the all-male course. But of course, it just fed every single thought they had about women you know that travel with so much luggage and they have their handbag everywhere so and so and their purse. So, it was really funny. I had to laugh about myself oh my god but you know back in Europe I could not decide what I should leave out of my shoes. I just couldn't. I try to decrease the weight. And then I looked it over and thought no I need this that and that, those water bottles, mosquito spray. So, I was an executive and executives in my point of view always try to be prepared.
[00:28:48] Yeah.
[00:28:48] And I was prepared for everything in Africa. I mean I even had a hairdryer in a camp where there's no electricity. You know I was I was prepared. I tried to prepare for everything. And in the end I was prepared for nothing because in the end it was just me and my five senses trying to get through the super super intense course of experience in nature on your feet by foot or you know sleeping in a tent and learning to chase lions and detect cheetahs learn everything about elephants and all the beautiful beautiful animals and plants and even the climate in Africa and I just immersed myself in that experience and realized it's just such a magic out there outside of our comfort zone. We just have to move our booty and get there. This is what I took back. You know we have to and I try to inspire in my talks corporate people and students all around the world by saying the biggest learning is not in your comfort zone. The biggest learning is outside of your comfort zone because you learn things there or you don't didn't know you that you could do it beforehand. You know you discover talents and strength that you didn't know you had. And I think for the challenges especially for the young generation that are ahead of them you know solving many fundamental issues in our society. It's you know pollution in nature or democracy or whatever you name there are just fundamental issues. And in order that they can be solved they need strength they need clarity. They need focus. They need to believe in their talents and you don't find that strength when you just sit in your comfort zone.
[00:30:42] Exactly right.
[00:30:43] So it doesn't matter if you're outside of your comfort zone. If it's Africa or learning a new language or going someplace else or having a really complicated talk with your boss or with your parents. Leaving your comfort zone is that what makes you strong and strength is the basis for success.
[00:31:02] Oh I love that. Well you talk a lot about your comfort zone and getting out of your comfort zone and not being one of the major lessons. But there are other fantastic lessons that you shared with us today. And I'd love to get back to those particularly talking about the senses and some of our priorities and finding quiet time because I know that's something that's very important to you. So, in honor of that I have another song and we were talking about this when the title of it. This is an artist who I've played before on the show Seckou Keita. And S E C K O U And last name is K E I T A. And this is an artist who plays a traditional African instrument but does it in a modern way. And the title I thought was particularly wonderful considering some of our discussions and that title is listened to the grass grow and we'll get into a little bit of that stillness. And the importance of listening to the grass grow when we come back but, in the meantime, have a listen. This is the A.P.E.X Hour KSUU Thunder 91.1
[00:36:24] Ok well welcome back to the A.P.E.X Hour everyone I'm joined in the studio with KP, Kerstin Plehwe Welcome back. And we were talking about the lessons that you learned from your time studying to be a ranger in Africa and a couple other things that really stuck out to me in the talk today were your talk about the importance of priorities and knowing yourself. Can you go just into that a little bit here today. I just love that.
[00:37:00] Yes. You know I came when I went to Africa I came from a very busy world you know between politics and TV and leading a corporation. So, I had never a lot of time to rethink you know my priorities or I just had to-do lists and I fulfilled them. I was a good girl so to speak but I never had the idea of you know matching my priorities with my values.
[00:37:33] Yeah.
[00:37:34] And what I've learned in Africa is that this is just so important. For example, if you look at lions they just have three priorities just three. It's food, sleep and sex. That's all they mate they eat they sleep. Lions sleep 80 percent of the whole day which is basically all day except the night because then couple of hours at night they hunt. Watching that you know and being a part of that natural circle of life for days and weeks on end. I realized that their priorities are in sync with their values. And so, I started to rethink my own priorities. And I wondered if you know first of all if I'm aware of my priorities. Second off if they really match up well with my values. And all of a sudden, I realized that I have priorities that don't match with any of my values. But it was just because of you know my life was so busy and this had to be handled. So, I think there's a big value in that really you know when you have some quiet time to rethink your priorities and then look at your day and see you know did I really live a day. Did I use my 24 hours to match First of all my values and second of my priorities? So, let's just say family is a big value to you but it's not on your priority list either and you have hardly any time with your family because you work so much. And even if you have time you're tired or you're whatever you're not in a good mood or you're just exhausted and your head is somewhere else. Then of course after some time you get dissatisfied and after some more time you get unhappy and after some more time you might find a fight with depression or a burn out or whatever so I do think it's just very helpful to look at that and every time I saw lions are sleeping under a bush I thought oh my God you know when did I take the last healthy nap.
[00:39:32] Yeah.
[00:39:32] So that was for me very interesting. And then you were talking about the five senses. You know I don't know if our listeners are aware that everybody has a certain set of sensors that they mainly act on and you know it's every human has five senses. But usually you have one dominant sense the visual sense or the auditive sense. And so, you act in those senses meaning you know you have to describe it in visual terms so that somebody who's mainly visual you know really connects with what you say. And if you're if you want to survive the wilderness you need to use all five senses because your dominant sense, to say the visual, is simply not enough. For example, you might see that the grass has been stepped on let's say by a lion and he might, it's pretty fresh so he's still in the area, but you also need your cognitive sensors for example to see where the wind comes from. OK because then you will understand where the lion where you need to move so that the lion can't smell you. And you also need other senses like hearing to really focus on hearing you know to hear that little stick that the lion you know and the thicket when his tail moves. So, if you don't use five senses really in a good way probably you wouldn't survive for a long time in the wild but the good thing is we can all learn we can all adapt very fast especially if you feel that your survival is dependent on that. So, we can all do that you know in our home in our secure space. Say, OK Well you know just close your eyes for a second and think OK what am I hearing. Or open your eyes and really see...focus on what am I seeing you know all the details everything the colors the shapes everything we can train that. I Once worked with Olympic athletes he's blind close friend of mine now. And I told her because she's an expert in not being able to see. I said Tell me what you see through your other four senses and I've learned so much from her. So, using the five senses I mean in business we always talk about excellence and in life and personal life we talk about happiness. So, in order to get there, we need the full experience and we need to use our senses to make us the best person we can be or the best chef or the best corporate leader and the five senses principle or call it is just so helpful for that.
[00:42:20] And you said you can learn it in your own home by just taking some time to be more aware of it but you can also bring it back into the boardroom if you will or back into the meeting. And I love the exercise that you talk about just kind of opening up the senses at the beginning of a meeting. Can you talk about that?
[00:42:41] When I came back from Africa many things for me had changed and since my company was always my somehow playground I immediately implemented change there and one thing for example I implemented was that I use the time of doing nothing which I called the wisdom of the elephants of just that you know mindfulness. Just realizing what is every time before I enter a meeting room. And we had several meeting rooms at my company and I and I got to where in Africa how I sort of senseless and mindless just walked in there you know with my head still already thinking about the meeting and then with notes in my hand or my smartphone and one I looked at the smartphone the other looked in the room rooms everybody there already and I realized that this is not using the five senses so then I opened the door after I had come back from Africa and just sat down took a deep breath and just realized what is and this is what it's all about. You know you don't have to go into a yoga studio and do you can do that and it's absolutely helpful but you don't have to you can just focus on what is. Focus on your breathing. See what you See. Hear what you hear. Feel what you feel and you will be amazed on the on the amount of information you get. For example, about your team how they feel what they're worried about what they would like to hear from the boss and you just feel it. And I've learned in Africa to trust my intuition once I open my sensors for that all the five doors the intuition speaks to you. It just never spoke to me before because I know I mean not never but hardly ever.
[00:44:25] Right.
[00:44:26] Some business decisions. Thank goodness. But you know it speaks to you. We have to learn to open the channels and we do that by doing nothing. You know.
[00:44:36] I Love that.
[00:44:37] Tone. I always say tone out to tone in.
[00:44:39] Oh that's it. That's great. Oh, what a great motto for the day and for the week. Now I'd love to know. I understand that that you have some new topics on your horizon and that you are focusing on some new things and have some new studies that you've been learning and sharing with people I'd love to hear more about those.
[00:45:01] Well you know I mean life is about change and I learned in Africa to adapt to change. And just in order to be part of life and not of some theory what you think is life. So, the change that I've seen in my immediate surrounding is that we that many of my friends and my colleagues and clients and family members get more and more insecure about what to eat and you know if they should do the vegetarian thing or the vegan or the paleo or you know some of my friends want to lose weight and they try this diet and that diet. I come from a political background I know the impact of lobbyism onto for example food advertising and I've seen the power of some industries you know on to our decision-making process. And all of a sudden, I realized you know this is something we should start talking about to help people not to promote a certain diet or to promote a certain lifestyle. I think people are so bio individual and I've learned that the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York. We all are bio individuals but we can take informed decisions about what we eat what we drink and how we spend our days. And I feel that because we lead such hectic and outside focused lifestyles we don't take the time or we don't want to or we are insecure about the details that we need to know. For example, you know reading a food label. Understanding. I mean we all know that you know a soft drink has tons of sugar. We know that. But asking ourselves what does that mean for us. And then you know take some statistical data that we all have about for example the standard American diet and understand how come that the diabetes numbers are just rocketing that the cancer numbers are rocketing all across the world. I mean in the developed nations same thing in Europe. And we all know that there that there is a correlation to food but we really don't know. OK well I don't want to become extremely in whatever direction today but I want to make better decisions. I want to feel good about what I eat and I also want to understand if I need energy what is real energy not just sugar flash that helps me for an hour. So, I help students and corporate leaders to develop that sensitivity within their teams and to make better decisions and I call that go green go great. Because of course you know vegetables you will guess it are a part of this but I'm not saying you know all you should eat is vegetables. I say make food choices. Food Choices are health choices in the end. We can never forget. Every cell in our body every blood cell every bone every skin cell is produced from what we put into our bodies. So, you know in many packages here in the U.S. and same thing in German supermarkets it says no artificial colors or you know organic or whatever but they don't talk about the fat in it and the many bad amounts of sugar et cetera. So, and I think just like in politics if we know better we can act better and that's what this talk is about.
[00:48:24] Well we can't wait to have you back. That's for sure. We're already planning it. I know that will be a very meaningful. And it is the topic that's on everybody's mind. I mean you hear about it all the time and I think it's really important for everyone really. Well we have time for one more musical break and this song is called Mama and it's performed by the Kenyan Boys Choir. And once again you're listening to the A.P.E.X Hour KSUU Thunder 91.1.
[00:52:26] OK welcome back everyone. Welcome back to the A.P.E.X Hour This is Lynn Vartan. I am in the in the studio with Kirsten Plehwe from Germany who is a best-selling author and the book is called Elephant with them and we are really pressuring her to get it translated or to get an audio book version perhaps. I Hope both of those are a possibility. one of the things we're almost to the end of our hour but I'd love to ask you about you have a foundation that you started and is active for girl's education. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
[00:53:03] It's the foundation. The name is Astraia I will spell it. It's A S T R A I A dot org.
[00:53:11] Okay.
[00:53:12] It's the Greek goddess of justice. And we picked that name because we feel and we saw that there are still so many countries around the world where girls have less opportunities for example to go to school or to have a university degree and there's so much injustice around that topic that I teamed up with many female CEOs from around the world. Bertice Berry is one of them. And you know who this is why I don't like it that it's my you know when you say it's my foundation it's really a joint effort of women thinking this has to change. You know we just stand up for something that's really important for us. And what we do is first of course we generate funds for women's educational projects around the world. We have from Germany to Pakistan to South America to India to oh my god. Africa of course many countries in Africa and we help girls who have a dream and who want to become something but can't because of financial reasons, cultural reasons, to go there and get that. We call that project thousand faces of hope. We want to get thousand girls around the world and we are 365 now.
[00:54:30] Wow.
[00:54:31] So this is what the foundation does and we do events and we do charity lunches. And anybody who has an idea you know is always welcome to write to me call me and any of our ambassadors like Bertice and just say Hey I'd like to support that because what can we do. There's so much creativity in people.
[00:54:53] That's fantastic. So, if people want to get involved let's just say the name one more time and spell it if you don't mind.
[00:54:59] It's Astraia and you spell it A S T R A I A dot org.
[00:55:06] Great. Thank you so much. That sounds amazing.
[00:55:10] Yeah, it's it gives you if you travel to those countries where those girls live another sense of gratitude for what I mean all the things we have from clean water to education to clothing to you know I mean I realize there's a lot of poverty and injustice you know from Germany to America. You know in many countries. But the question is not you know how much poverty or injustice is there. The question is what can we do and what can each of us do. And I chose that pattern. And thank God you know with this great network of ambassadors a good friend of mine Jutta Kleinschmidt she was the first female winner of the Dakar Race ever and she's one of my ambassadors and also on the board. So, we just do what we can and we love it.
[00:56:01] Yeah sounds like it sounds like a fascinating and fantastic group of people. One thing I'd like to close with is that you have a statement that I have come to love that is really kind of an icon that wraps up and kind of encompasses your work and your spirit and your passion. And can you tell us a little bit about that statement that motto of yours and what it means to you.
[00:56:33] I guess you're referring to don't settle, go wild.
[00:56:38] Yes.
[00:56:38] You Know when I created that it's just stuff sort of spoke from me and I thought this is something that hopefully inspires others to not just sit back and you know do their job and be the best mom and be the best teacher but you know to get off the booty get off the sofa or get out of the living room get off out of their homes and do something that they feel is important. And if it takes you know it needs- If You have to leave your comfort zone to do it then please do it because I think if you look at the state of our society and I'm not just referring to America or Europe I mean just the state of our society there are so many things that need to be changed. If It's the pollution of nature. If it's injustice. If it's politics. There are so many fields so we can't we just simply can't sit back and relax and say everything is well. There are many good things but there are many things that still need to be changed so you know when journalists in Europe talk to me are being a role model for others I'm always like no. You know I don't want to be a role model. I just want to share experiences and inspire others. You know I don't want to pass on a torch. I want people to light their own torch because those torches are needed so urgently. And the pathway I think to the torches and that goes to the beginning of our talk is look in yourself you know look for your passion. Look what really brings you joy. And then go for it. And as I tell my women around the world and executive coaching learn to say no because we have so many options and so many people are saying oh my gosh we should be nice and we should be respectful. We should be polite and politically correct. But I think we have to learn to say no more often and you know take us take out the time for us to be more creative. To be more compassionate. to Be more loving and more caring and then this world will change and that's all what we want right.
[00:58:47] Yes. Thank you for that. Our last question that I always like to ask is something just fun you know and that's what is turning you on this week. So K.P. what is turning you on this week. It could be anything but what's especially floating your boat this week.
[00:59:08] Well you know a big part of my job is travel and I love traveling. But sometimes of course you have to leave your family behind. And I have a young dachshund at home his name is Anton. He's 7-month-old and already since days I can't wait to see him at the airport when he you know he jumps up and down like a little rubber ball and you have to catch him and then he you know tries to climb over your head because it's just pure happiness. And to see that joy and happiness and little creatures you know it could be you know a baby or puppy your little lion that just floats my heart with love and then I think oh my god I'm home.
[00:59:47] That's definitely a turn on. Well thank you for that beautiful visual and warmth of hard story to close us off. Well that's all the time we have today. And this week and this has been the A.P.E.X Hour. Thank You so much Kirsten for spending your time with us today and thank you for traveling across the ocean to come visit Southern Utah University. We look so forward to the next time. Thank you very much.
[01:00:16] Thank you Lynn. And thank you for having me and to all the listeners I hope you really stay safe and very very happy.
[01:00:25] Thank you. And will sign off for this week. This has been the A.P.E.X Hour. See You next time.
[01:00:33] Thanks so much for listening to the A.P.E.X Hour here on KSUU Thunder 91.1 Come find us again next Thursday at 3pm for more conversations with the visiting guests at Southern Utah University and new music to discover for your next playlist. And in the meantime, we would love to see you at our events on campus. Find out more check out suu.edu/apex. Until next week. This is Lynn Vartan saying goodbye from the A.P.E.X Hour here on KSUU Thunder 91.1.
