(DOUG JESSOP – JESSOP’S JOURNAL) It’s my honor to share powerful, positive and inspirational stories and music every week on TV and streaming worldwide. In this episode I focus on some incredible, amazing and talented women. Hit the play button to watch this 30-minute full episode of this week’s Jessop’s Journal airing Sunday morning at 10 on ABC4 TV.
Here is a stream of the full 30-minute “Powerful, Positive & Inspirational Women” episode that will aired Sunday morning at 10 on ABC4 TV. Jessop’s Journal is a collection of “Powerful, Positive & Inspirational Stories” that airs on ABC4 Utah and worldwide at JessopsJournal.com
In this episode of Jessop’s Journal we are talking about “Successful Women” —
I love to celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit – Today we are visiting with some powerful, positive and inspirational women
Our first guest makes a powerful impact as a female CEO
LaRene Bautner has a positive story of helping connect people and plants in special ways.
We open the vault to some of my favorite past inspirational Caring Stories.
In between Our Musical Guest, Pixie and the Party Grass Boys entertains us
And don’t forget my passion project…Objects with stories are Treasures Remembered.
But first, Joynce Bullock
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How many of you are doing what you dreamed to do as a little kid? Jonyce Bullock remembers sitting next to her accountant Dad when she a little girl working his ten-key adding machine (you need to be of a certain age to know what that is – go ahead, google it). It was spit out long strips of paper that Jonyce liked to make a hat from.
Back when Joncye was in high school TurboTax wasn’t around. She ended up making money by doing the taxes of her friends. The hat Joncye now wears are as an impressive CEO of an accounting firm with over one-hundred employees called Squire.
There not a lot of female accountants. There are not a lot of female CEO’s. There are especially not a lot of female CEOs in the accounting field. Is that bias or not? Jonyce told me; “Research is really showing in the accounting profession, and it probably applies to all professions, is that when you don’t see someone that looks like you, you tend to self-select out. So in the accounting profession we see a lot of women that don’t see woman at the top and think there must not be a path for me, and they self-select out and do something different.”
The power of mentoring is something that she feels strongly about, but it doesn’t need to be within your own company or even field. Joncye was able to be find valuable insight and advice from a female partner in a law firm that she credits with being to reaching the pinnacle of her industry.
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It has been my honor to be the “good news guy” for many years. I’m opening the vault to some of my favorite past stories called “The Caring Stories”. This week I re-air a visit with a very spirited cheerleader, Sydney Cooper, that also happens to have Downs Syndrome.
It’s inspiring to see how Sydney’s family and schoolmates rally around her to help reveal her million dollar smile to the world.
On a sidebar, she does cheers a lot better than I do, but she did her best to try to teach this old Doug a new trick/cheer.
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Everything is better when you sprinkle some “pixie dust” on it. Musical group, Pixie & The Partygrass Boys perform their song “Paint Your Face” as this episodes musical guest.
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You can’t help but smile when you hear the deep tones of Louis Armstrong belt out the lyrics “I see trees of green, red roses too.” Flowers and trees evoke emotions. The beauty of roses, the fragrance of lilacs, fall foliage, tulips in spring…. or maybe …of just being a little kid.
Vernon and Murriel Smith, founded Millcreek Gardens in 1955. Today, their youngest child, LaRene Bautner, tends to the business that surrounds her childhood home as the 2nd generation owner.
As LaRene pointed to the top window of the house situated in the popular garden center; “That’s a castle. That was our home until I was 5 years old. Ya know, I learned my love of gardening through being out in nature. Running around the nursery as a little girl. Hiding under plants. Looking at the bees closely.”
Actress Audrey Hepburn has been quoted frequently having said “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”
Bautner agrees with that sentiment; “It takes a lot of faith to grow a garden. The tiny seeds you plant in the ground and they grow. You take a cutting and it sprouts. You take a rooted ball, be it perennial or a tree and you put it in the ground. Give it some good love. Compost, fertilizer, water and it’s going to grow.”
LaRene’s faith is part of what helps Millcreek Gardens grow. “Part of my personal mission statement in life is connecting people and plants and doing it in the funnest way possible.”
Dirt is what you wash out of your clothes. Soil, that’s what you plant in.
Imparting knowledge is important to LaRene. “Soil is everything. It’s like the foundation of your castle. You have great soil and create fertility…and add water to that and you’re going to have a beautiful garden in this desert climate.”
According to the National Gardening Association, over 1/3 of U.S. Households are growing food.
As we toured Millcreek Gardens, Bautner showed off a wide variety of plants with the love of proud parent. “It’s an amazing experience seeing people pick out something beautiful and being able to take it home and enhance their outdoor living space. Beautify their yards. Create wildlife habitat. Create something to grow and eat.”
You can tell Bautner loves what she does and loves to share that enthusiasm. Her eyes light up when I ask about the next generations of gardeners in her family. “My grandchildren are the light of my life and they love flowers. You can see a picture of this one with the mud on her face and it’s beautiful. She’s out there with them right in the garden.”
What does LaRene want to pass on to her grandchildren? “I want them to remember to keep it fun and stop and smell the roses. Have a lot of fun creating an adventure of life especially with nature.”
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Everyone has a story. I strongly feel that “stories have power”. Chances are that if you are going through something, that someone else probably has as well. The shared experiences we humans have can help each other. That my friend makes the point that stories “help us understand each other.”
You don’t have to agree with everyone, but in my opinion, if people would take more time getting to knowing more about others and where they are coming from, we just might find out that we have more similarities than differences.
Jessop’s Journal is something special when it comes to broadcast news. I have the honor of being able to do longer in-depth interviews that you don’t normally see with people from all walks of life. A big shout out goes to my collaborator, Ed Wilets, who does a great job as my videographer/editor for all my stories. Your feedback is always welcome at DJessop@abc4.com
It’s my honor to be able to share, Jessop’s Journal, a 30-minute collection of Powerful, Positive and Inspirational Stories every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. on ABC4 to all of Utah along with parts of Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona. Jessop’s Journal is also available worldwide at JessopsJournal.com.
With another entry into Jessop’s Journal, I’m Doug Jessop.
Jessop’s Journal is a copyrighted production of Fedora Incorporated and made possible by the generous support of XLEAR, Tatt2Away, Millcreek Gardens and LIFE Never Boring.
