S4 E45: Catching Up with travel photographer Marion Payr

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[00:00:00] Marion: If you strip it down, if you strip it of all of these things out of the money after success and the awards, all of this, like what stays there and what you said, I think I would subscribe to it 100% freedom doing what I intrinsically care about, what makes me happy, even in my work so that it's not work, but it stays a passionate.

[00:00:20] It's not always a hundred percent, all the hours of passion, So maybe it's about time. We change how we perceive success and how we perceive, what is it like a good entrepreneur and change these values, change the system, basically.

[00:00:34] Yulia: Welcome to the Genius Women Podcast. I'm your host, Yulia, Denisyuk, an award-winning travel photographer and writer with work in some incredible publications like National Geographic, AFAR magazine and more. And this year you see my name in places like Conde Nast Traveler. I'm on a mission to help other women who want to grow their trouble, storytelling, careers, go after their dreams while feeling supported, worthy, and bold. If you're ready to ditch your fear and doubts to the side, step into your brilliance and take action on your dreams. You're in the right place. Let's go. 

[00:01:12] Our podcast has turned one year old this October. And in that time we've reached 10,000 downloads and counting to celebrate. We're bringing back some of our beloved guests for HVAC and to see what's changed for them. And what has stayed the same. So they I'm sharing with you. The conversation we recently had on Instagram live with Marianna Pyre, AKA lady venom, a travel and wildlife photographer based in Vienna, Austria, who was our guest on season three.

[00:01:43] If you haven't yet listened to that original episodes, do check it out. We discussed not being afraid to change things later in our lives. Looking forward to aging and being the welder of your own. In today's episode, we catch up with Maryanne and learn more about what she's currently working on and what she's excited about in the next year.

[00:02:05] I hope you enjoyed. 

[00:02:07] Hey everyone. There you are. 

[00:02:10] Marion: Hey, I hope second time.

[00:02:12] It's the charm. 

[00:02:13] Yulia: It is. It is. It is absolutely. Absolutely. I so good to see you, Marie. 

[00:02:18] um, I want to welcome Marianna, uh, to our live today and we're doing. under the umbrella as the one year anniversary of our podcast, of the genius women community.

[00:02:31] And, we, had Maryanne on season three of our podcast, which was just the several months ago. And if you haven't yet, you have to go and listen to that podcast because Marianne is amazing. And she, like, we talked about so many incredible things. I think for me, the biggest takeaway from our chat was that it's really never.

[00:02:54] So start doing what you want to do and how we are often our own worst enemy, really? Because we create so many things in our minds about, you know, the reason why you shouldn't do something or why you're not going to be good at it, or why are you going to fail? You know, and I think our, our Chad for me, gave so much inspiration and even made me look at my life differently and think like, you know what, it's not too late for me.

[00:03:17] Like, you want to stay in Jordan for two months and study Arabic, go and do that. It's not too late, you know? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, so definitely listen to that podcast when you can. And right now I wanted to check in with you Maryon and see how this year has gone for you. Right. Since we've talked, I have also been stalking you on Instagram.

[00:03:39] You've been doing lots of amazing projects, which I really cool. So, yeah, I'd love to hear how you're doing now. Uh, since we lost the connection.

[00:03:47] Marion: Yeah, so a couple of things have changed, but, um, for maybe like most importantly for me, I got one of my biggest dream clients this year, which is a big hotel group of luxury hotels.

[00:03:59] And, in this case, you know, very often I get invited and I get to stay there and I get to produce content, but it's not a paid opportunity, which I also do, uh, once in a while, because I do need, you know, the portfolio and I need the content for my, my blog. But, in this case, they did see me visit one of their properties, back in summer, last year, actually, which was one of those, you know, just press trips.

[00:04:23] And I just stayed there on page thing and they saw my photos from there and they were like, Hey, Mario. And we, we are like working, we doing our social media channels. They had a whole process with an agency and everything. And we are looking for new photo photographers for some of our properties. So they have over 200 hotels worldwide.

[00:04:40] Wow. And. I got to shoot the first two of those hotels, one in prac. And. As like a pate photography job. And it's just an added benefit that I'm on Instagram, which is again, it's nice that I have my Instagram account and it's kind of my, my portfolio as well. But in this case, I'm hired as a proper photographer.

[00:05:00] And this for me was again, like one of those wake up calls where I'm like, Hey, I'm really passionate. this is the part where I want to grow more and when I want to do more. So, it helps of course to get paid for it, but it's good also to realize what kind of jobs are really the ones that fit you, right.

[00:05:17] And the ones who don't fit you. And there are some jobs like that you have to slowly and casually, you know, let them roll out and stop jobs as well. And that's sometimes not so easy. 

[00:05:27] Yulia: It's not, it's not, but having, having that confidence to say, you know what, I'm just going to lean into this. Oh my God, can we just pause for a second and celebrate?

[00:05:35] That's huge. That's really beautiful. And yes, tears, tears with my minty 

[00:05:43] Marion: water. It looks like gin tonic, but it's, it's, 

[00:05:46] Yulia: that's really amazing. And I think what I pulled out from what you just said is that. you never know who is looking at your work in which situation you just never, ever, ever know it's.

[00:05:58] And like that is, to me, the, the takeaway here for everyone is that we never know who's going to look at our work, so we have to put our best foot forward and really, Represent, you know, the kind of word that we would want to be doing. Put it out there, even if you don't have a big portfolio yet, put it out there, put your work out there because you never know who is looking.

[00:06:19] that's just so important. Would you 

[00:06:20] Marion: agree? Yeah, 100%. You know, I'm having a hard time posting on Instagram because it's getting less. enticing or let's just say it's getting more frustrating really, because, I mean, as a photographer, especially I just posted a story about it and I get so much feedback because photography is at the core of Instagram.

[00:06:40] It's what it was all about when it was founded. 

[00:06:43] Yulia: Exactly. 

[00:06:44] Marion: And it's hundred percent changing and I mean, Instagram. Did they say basically a photography's over and it's all about video content and it's all about putting your face in front of the camera, basically. So things I have a hard time with usually.

[00:06:57] So, um,it is a bit frustrating, but the content that I am putting out there is getting less and less rich and it's getting better. Um, engagement and everything. So, but in the end, as you said, it doesn't really matter if it's 10,000 people that see it, or 50,000 people that see it or whatever, it's important that the one right person sees it.

[00:07:15] And in my case, that happened now. Right. And I do have, you know, these crazy amount of followers, but if I have. I dunno, a hundred dollars and it would be the right ones that would see that kind of stuff that I'm putting out there. It would be enough. So, yeah, as you said, you have to communicate, you have to promote, and I know for many artists, this is an impossible task.

[00:07:37] Hmm. And somehow you have to jump over that hurdle and, even if you're not confident with your work, which happens to me a lot as well, that I'm like, ah, you know, I'm looking at two other photographers and I'm, I feel like I'm never there and I'm never going to be there maybe, but still I like the best I can do.

[00:07:53] I have to put out there and I have to, even if I'm not a hundred percent product, I have to at least give me the chance for, for some visits. 

[00:08:00] Yulia: Yes. goodness. So, so many things you said there that are resonating with me, first, you know, promoting your work. I sort of see it as share your word, right?

[00:08:10] Share what excites you. Um, share what you're working on. And yeah, like promoting is really hard. I've gotten better at it by the way, over the last year or doing Junius women, I've gotten better at it. but I, I definitely relate to that. And the second thing that you said about content. And you and not being sure if your work is good enough guys, everybody who's watching now, and who's going to look at it later.

[00:08:33] This is such a reminder for all of us, that this is an ever evolving journey, because even at the level of Marianna, who is a pretty successful, amazing, accomplished photographer, who still having those thoughts, I have those thoughts regularly as well. You know, it's, it's an ever evolving journey and when we get better at it with time, for sure, but you know, it never, never goes away completely.

[00:08:56] So I think it's important that we talk about it too. And that's knowledge. That's all of us have those thoughts, not just when you're just starting out with or. It's ongoing. 

[00:09:06] Marion: Love it to boot. I think it's totally fine to also question, you know, your own work and where you, what you're doing. So, because this is in the end, it's a phase of development and it will bring you somewhere and the journey of getting better or getting somewhere, whatever you want to call it.

[00:09:20] That never ends. I think when you're like really content and you feel like, oh, I've got it. And I've managed it all. You're probably already dead.

[00:09:31] Yulia: Yeah, pretty much, pretty much. And you know what you said about Instagram being this app? That is really frustrating now. I mean, I think we also have to experiment with other avenues. Maybe their

[00:09:44] dog and I lasted maybe two or three days on there. And that's it. I just feel, yeah. I mean, some people are natural in that way of communicating, right? Yeah, 

[00:09:55] Marion: no, yeah, no, it works. I mean, it works wonders. If you look at how people grow their, their Instagram accounts, these days, it's who ticked off.

[00:10:04] Instagram itself. Like there is no organic growth, like it used to be in the first few years of Instagram or not that easily, but I'll take talk seriously. You can grow your account within a few weeks, even two millions of followers. If you do the right stuff. But, and it's not just, you know, dance videos and lip-syncing and stuff.

[00:10:22] It's, there's some intelligence stuff happening. There's science shows. There's really interesting things happening in it, but I don't see a great space for, for travel photography. So this is where I'm struggling with it because it's not affordable platform. It's a video platform. 

[00:10:37] Yulia: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you were able to sort of, kind of convert somehow your travel experiences into trouble videos that you're also like maybe behind the scenes or something like that, that could be a way, but yeah, I, I agree with them, but I actually wanted to say, not take thug, but I wanted to share an example from my own career of clubhouse.

[00:10:59] You know, the clubhouse was really booming at the beginning of this year. And I mean, it's still all, you know, it's still, it's still on. People are still on there. I'm no longer on there, but for some time I was really active. I did like weekly talks on clubhouse. And you know, again, to the point that you never know who is in the room, you never know who's listening or looking at your work.

[00:11:20] After one of the talks I have. Somebody reached out to me and it was an editor at a pretty big publication and she's like, Hey, you Lee, I heard you speak, you know, let's see if we can work together. And I just, I, I didn't even know if she was that she was in the room, you know? So you just, honestly, if you're open to opportunities and it can be going to an event in your, in your city, maybe something's happening in your city where you can meet people.

[00:11:43] I think the more you can open yourself to these types of opportunities, the better. Chances you will have to have something come all way to, you know, 

[00:11:51] Marion: I agree. I agree. I have a hard time with events and all these things. Like I prefer less social gatherings, but that's a very personal, preference.

[00:12:00] So for me, it's a bit challenging. I do have no problem with like speaking on a stage or something where I'm in front of many, many people, but this is a one-on-one, um, social. To jet stuff. I have a hard time with that. So I think it's important to also acknowledge what kind of, if you want to call it marketing or however you want to call it self-branding is, is feasible for you and clubhouse.

[00:12:20] I did as well, and I liked it for a few months, but 

[00:12:23] Yulia: we did a few as well. 

[00:12:25] Marion: Yeah. And I remember it was quite fun and because you didn't have to put your face out there, which was quite nice and comforting, but it sort of stopped the allure. I dunno, it went quite quickly. But you never know what's next. Right?

[00:12:38] I mean, now we're all moving into the middle verse and then it's not our face in front of the camera, but this is like our avatar's face, which maybe is more convenient. So we'll see what's next. But yeah. It's true. Like never like close yourself off of opportunities, especially if you're craving for some change or you craving for growth or whatever.

[00:12:59] Right. I mean, if you have a wish for something, then you have to, as you said, like open some doors, 

[00:13:05] Yulia: wherever they may be. Yes. Oh, I love, I love that. I love that Maryanne. I wanted to ask you a question. So I was really listening to our conversation today on our podcast. Just sort of, you know, prepare for, our check-in now.

[00:13:18] And there's something that you said there that's, I'm curious if you still do that as you sort of look forward to 2022. So you said that. At the beginning when you were, having a hard time at your job and you want us to change things, but you weren't sure how were, you know, where to start? You actually wrote down on a piece of paper, how you're going to be working in the future.

[00:13:41] And you had this really clear vision. You didn't know how you're going to get there, but you had a vision of how you wanted your work to look like. And I'm curious if that's a practice that you continue to. Perhaps in a slightly altered way as you think about, okay, what is the next year? And then I look like, what is the next three years going to look like?

[00:13:58] Right. Like, how do you think about that now? No, 

[00:14:01] Marion: I think we're lucky actually, that we live in a place where the end of the year coincides with very long nights and it's getting cold and dark and you can somehow, you know, Close yourself off in a locked room. And I always use this face, like the end of the year is always kind of a mental inventory.

[00:14:17] That's how I would call it. So by now I have a much clearer idea of what kind of work I like not just how I want to work, which was at the beginning of the transition phase two to self-employment. But now I have a clearer idea, so it's a bit more structured what I do, but I still do this inventory and I even brought it with me.

[00:14:34] Cause I thought it's like maybe nice to show how. Not beautiful. It is 

[00:14:39] Yulia: really 

[00:14:40] Marion: just a piece of paper. It's super, super simple. And what I could end up a piece of paper is all the different projects that I've been working on. Like I have my blog on there and I have my social media agency and the principal, wildlife fundraiser and all the things I've been doing this year.

[00:14:55] And then I. Something, I don't know, in German it's called snowballing technique. I don't know if it's the same term in English. So I just write some words that would align with this kind of project. What is it about? And then there would be words like it's about social media. It's about photography, about travel, about conservation.

[00:15:10] I don't know, whatever words would fit to the project. And then I tried to find a common denominator. So something that unites all of these projects, and this should be something that is at the core of whatever. Which is travel photography. And if it's not aligning with this core thing that I really strive to do, then I have to, you know, take inventory.

[00:15:30] Like, why did I do that? Anyhow, do I still want to continue this path? Yes or no. And just kind of, yeah. Structure my, the time and effort that I spend on my, on my. And this is for me, like a very simple technique that I do at the end of the year. And that helps me then plan a little bit for the next year.

[00:15:47] What kind of projects to pursue, which ones to drop or whereas maybe a potential for, for something new that I didn't see before that could unite more of the things that I, that I'm passionate about. So it's getting, yeah, it's getting more structured. It's not. As superficial as it once was a couple of years ago, but it's still very helpful and also very needed for me at the end of the year to do that.

[00:16:09] I always feel if I don't do that, I'm like, I don't know. I'm just going on a path without a direct. 

[00:16:15] Yulia: Yes. I love that. I really love that you shared this exercise with us and, you know, I invite everybody. Who's going to listen to, adopt some form of that. Cause I think for people who work for ourselves in this creative industry, nobody's going to tell you what to do, right.

[00:16:31] There was no direction coming from your boss or, you know, a company you have to sort of chart your own path. And somehow figure out if what you're working on is adding up to something bigger. It's adding up to division that you have right. For yourself. So to me, it sounds like what you just described is exactly that you were, you were evaluated.

[00:16:53] The things that you've worked on for the past year. And you're trying to see if, you know, if it's added to that bigger vision or mission, even that say that you have for yourself. And I think a lot of us have a loss of different projects. Like I have that too, you know, I have my nomad in Julia's group that I'm taking people to Jordan with me and other countries.

[00:17:12] I have a genius women. I have my trouble journalism career. And I actually do that too. Like I have this. I I'm not as structured as you are. And for me, it's more in my head. It's not on a piece of paper, which I think I should start, but I'm like what unites all these. You know, and for me, it's my law for trouble and connecting people and exploring.

[00:17:31] And that's how I see that the things that I'm doing are actually adding up to this bigger vision that I have for myself and for my work. I think it's super important for people like us in this space. we need that clarity for ourselves. I love them. 

[00:17:45] Marion: It's like resetting the compass, sort of, you know, your.

[00:17:49] Looking at all the things, all the directions you went in this year. And then you're like, okay, good. Which of all the directions is the one that I want to pursue more in, in the next year. And of course, you know, it's not a hundred percent easy decision and stuff like, okay, it's super clear at the end of December and exactly what I want to do on 1st of January.

[00:18:06] It's not always like that. But, it does help. It does help. also when you get, you know, requests, which I still get, if I say yes or no to them, you know, it's not always me actively pursuing a project, but I do get requests or inquiries of brands or whatever to want to work with me. And it just helps me to have this internal compass that, yeah, lets me decide if I want to do it or.

[00:18:28] And funny enough, like in all the projects I'm doing, none of them say it's, I'm doing it because of the money. None of them. So I don't know why. Maybe it's just me personally. Um, I just met actually a neighbor of mine and she's an, like a female entrepreneur in the nutrition business. And she went to a female, um, like one year program about getting her first million euros, revenue in the year.

[00:18:53] So this is kind of her goal. And, I totally like, I think it's amazing that she's doing that and she's putting the effort into, and she's putting the work in there, but it's, for me, it's not a motivation. I couldn't care less about making a million or not. Like I do care that I can afford to travel experiences that I want to have, even if I'm not invited and it's not a paid project, that's what I care about.

[00:19:13] But it's not about 1 million or two millions or a hundred thousand years or whatever in revenue. But yeah, very personal, very personal for me. I don't know if it's the same from our, for other people who are self-employed. Maybe I should chase the dollars more. I'm not so good at 

[00:19:28] Yulia: it. Yeah. I I'm completely there with you.

[00:19:30] I'm not motivated by money if I was, I probably would've stayed in corporates because the, you know, the salary, the predictability, all of that. but to say. So add an interesting wrinkle into that. I did recently join. Well, last year I joined also a program that's called we should all be millionaires.

[00:19:48] And that program is led by a woman who is actually helping other women to look at money differently and to look at our work in connection with Noni differently. uh, yeah, So that program was about, you know, because the statistics are actually really dire. I don't know how it is in Europe, but in the states, I think less than. I don't remember what was the statistic, but it was something very, very low, like less than 5% of, women running businesses are, you know, successful or like have revenue.

[00:20:17] that makes sense. And I don't remember the exact statistic, but basically the point was that women don't have a really good relationship with money because for over so many. Like we, we weren't able to have bank accounts until the seventies 1970s in the states, you know? So I think it does something for you generationally.

[00:20:33] so it's a slightly different direction, right? It's not so much about chasing the dollar, but it's more about changing your relationship with money, which I, I really enjoy, but yeah, I'm not, I'm not motivated by money as such as well. I want to make sure that. The work that I do, that I can support myself with it, that I want to make sure that I have a certain freedom in my lifestyle, again, to be able to, you know, stay in Jordan.

[00:20:57] Yulia: And so at the end of the year and study Arabic, if I want to, and still continue my work like that, that's what motivates me that freedom, you know, 

[00:21:04] Marion: I'm absolutely with you. So I don't know. Maybe it's even a good success story that statistic, whatever it is that. You know, female led businesses are not only after the money and maybe that's not the one driving factor behind it, because I think this whole.

[00:21:18] Uh, let's call it the capitalism structure of how, how enterprises, how companies are built to behave. I think this is kind of the fault in the system per se, because I didn't become self-employed to add to a statistic of how many dollars I make a year. This is not an intrinsic value that motivates me to do anything.

[00:21:38] And the same goes for success. Honestly, I don't care. You know, I'm not one of those people who would put into a Instagram bio that I'm an award winning photographer or something. I don't care for awards. I know you need them to be more successful, but I also don't care about the success. So, and if you strip it down, if you strip it of all of these things out of the money after success and the awards, all of this, like what stays there and what you said, I think I would subscribe to it 100% freedom doing what I intrinsically care about, what makes me happy, even in my work so that it's not work, but it stays a passionate.

[00:22:15] It's not always a hundred percent, all the hours of passion, but, uh, yeah, that just has more value to for me. So maybe it's about time. We change how we perceive success and how we perceive, what is it like a good entrepreneur and change these values, change the 

[00:22:31] system, basically. I love that. Yeah. I I'm, I'm a hundred percent with you there.

[00:22:35] and oh, I had a very brilliant sod, but then it just sorta said in my head. 

[00:22:40] Marion: No worries. But I, I do agree that. It's important to like kind of care about money in some sort of sense, because in the beginning of your career, you're definitely undervaluing yourself. You're doing all the wrong calculations.

[00:22:55] You're not charging for whatever your worth be of your time, your expertise all the years you put into building your career and your expertise. Yeah. So there is a value to, as you said, maybe changing your mindset about money, but it should not become the first priority in your business endeavors. I think that that would just not make 

[00:23:15] Yulia: sense.

[00:23:15] I agree. I agree. And I think to your point about, what drives us is, you know, that freedom and that ability to do work, that doesn't feel like work. I honestly feel like we live in a really amazing time in our lives where more and more people are able to do that. And of course that comes with a big caveat that a lot of people with privilege are able to do that.

[00:23:37] Right. but you know, there's so many more opportunities now than ever before to do something, you know, to create something out of nothing, not to carve out your own space. In the creative field, in any field, really, there is just, I don't know. And we do have to think apps like Instagram and they answer that and all of that for most of that, honestly.

[00:23:59] Right. cause I even think like, even I think back to early two thousands, when I came to the states, you know, and started my sort of experience here. The internet has such stupid and exist, really. Uh, so you were really limited in what you could do as a career, as a bad forward. And now it's, it's an incredible wild, wild west things you could be doing, you know, which is sort of interesting.

[00:24:23] Marion: Yeah, it's also overwhelming. I think like too many opportunities are sometimes also a challenge. At least it was like that for me, that I, like, I had no idea where to go with my career because there were too many options and I had no clue which ones to pick for myself. 

[00:24:37] But, uh, what I've read, uh, lately about the metaverse, because we touched about that a little bit.

[00:24:42] It's what was quite interesting. like the analysis was that we didn't spend any time. In the online world, let's put it like this maybe 50 years, 60 years ago before the internet was basically their pivot. Then we started looking at screens with television, which maybe was 10% of our time or whatever.

[00:24:59] Then we started looking at phone screens, computer screens, and now it's maybe 50, 60% of our time. If you are being honest with yourself that you are looking into screens and you're spending in your online world, as opposed to the real world. And with the metaverse that direction is that basically 80, 90, maybe at some point a hundred percent of your life is moving into an online university.

[00:25:21] And this is, you know, for me, I'm like, I'm an old school person. This is super frightening. My husband, he loves the future. He's like, I'm all in it to like, he's buying cryptocurrencies and I know all of that stuff. So he's preparing for the metaverse and for his digital life. but I have, serious doubts and serious fears about where does this going to lead us?

[00:25:39] Is artificial intelligence going to be taking better photos than I could ever do with my camera and like my old school techniques, whereas all of this leading. So it, yeah, I don't think we're, we're stopping at any point here. There's going to be more and more change and we'd have to stay open. And this is.

[00:25:56] For me again, frightening. So I'd rather be in real life and, you know, go on safari and in the Bush, didn't have no internet for awhile, but at the same time I have to adapt and I have to kind of live in the world we live in right now and it's going to be more of an online world for sure. So whatever these men have versus going to look like, and I don't know if.

[00:26:14] Live to see it, maybe parts of it, but it's, it's going to be interesting. And I said to my husband, if it's anything like the whole deck on star Trek, like count me in. If I can just walk through the door and I'm in Jordan with you in Wadi rum, like I'm good, but it better be, it better feel real, right. It has to have the smell and the tactical senses and all of it.

[00:26:37] So I'm not happy with just a screen, but yeah, we might get. Sooner than later, who 

[00:26:43] Yulia: knows? Yes. I'm with you a hundred percent and no, it's interesting. What you said about artificial intelligence will maybe we'll be taking better photos than we ever will, to be honest, I'm really a romantic in that sense I feel like nothing can replace the human element.

[00:27:01] And creativity in how we see things in beauty, you know? but maybe I will be proven wrong too, 

[00:27:08] Marion: actually. I mean, they're doing tests and studies about that. Right. And even trying, you know, have people show. Work to people and they should dissect them and analyze if it's made by a human or by computer.

[00:27:18] And I think none of us can, can tell basically 

[00:27:20] Yulia: anymore, really?

[00:27:23] That is really scary. Exactly. 

[00:27:25] Marion: That's why I'm saying like I'm old school. I wish I could get out and live in Africa in the Bush and I have no internet and take photos of animals all day long, but the reality is a little different. We have to arrange ourselves with, with that. 

[00:27:37] Yulia: Definitely. well, I want to, I want to give people who are joining us live now, a chance to perhaps ask questions if you, if you would like, so, there's something that you wanted to ask Mario, John or myself, please feel free to join us in the chat, joining us in the comments.

[00:27:54] share, share your thoughts, share your questions with us. And we want to thank you for joining us today on this check-in with Marianna, who is this incredible travel and wildlife photography. I first connected with Marianna on Instagram and, uh, she was a guest on my podcast, genius women in season three, which was a wonderful chat.

[00:28:15] Yulia: And we actually met this summer in Austria. I was so happy To meet, Marianne talk about real life. I was there on assignments in Austria for a magazine and I had some time to meet and it was so awesome to have you

[00:28:29] Marion: been published yet? Is it out already now, 

[00:28:33] Yulia: now it's slated for next year. That's the problem with these? Like the timelines are so long and some of these cases, you know,

[00:28:41] and the thing is that I can't publish any photos on Instagram. I can't share anything. Wait 

[00:28:49] Marion: until next year. It's not real. You didn't visit Austria at all 

[00:28:52] Yulia: publicly, you know, that's like talk about clash or the world's rise. Huh? You know, print magazines and the immediacy of social media and the long timelines of print magazines.

[00:29:07] It's crazy. I mean, you know, the print magazine still exists there. They haven't yet, completely vanished. and in fact, a lot of brands are Re-imagining what a print magazine is, you know, for a lot of them, it's become sort of this very exclusive, very flagship events, even when they, right.

[00:29:26] When we no longer hold stuff in our. When you do end up holding something in your hand. So it becomes like this very special thing. but yeah, it's, it's two completely different worlds, social media and Rios and the immediacy of that. And then the timeline of a year. 

[00:29:40] Marion: Hard to imagine, to wait so long to, to publish your photos because I'm so used to basically editing while I'm on a, on a trip and then putting it out at least, you know, the same night, some at least in Instagram stories, some stuff.

[00:29:53] So that it's kind of lifelike what I'm doing, but waiting a year, I think it would almost make things seem unreal. Like I really haven't been there because it has been sitting on my heart. For a year, but yeah, I agree, like having something in your hands and having this tactile sensation, and if it's done, you know, beautiful printed on beautiful paper, it has a certain quality, like a photo print has a different value than the shape back on the, on the hard disk for sure.

[00:30:21] But this is stated in 2021. So if we talk in, I don't know, 2090, or I don't know, whenever the metal versus more real, I don't know, things might have changed and you can maybe, you know, get a tactile sensation while you're hooked up to the internet. 

[00:30:36] Yulia: Who knows? Right. Yeah. yes, if you guys, I see some, some new people have joined us too.

[00:30:42] If you have questions for Marianne or for myself, please feel free. I see that Damien has joined. It's been a while since I've seen you Damien. Nice to see you. if you have any questions, definitely drop them in the chat. 

[00:30:53] And I want to ask you, Marianne, what are you excited about for 2020? 

[00:30:59] Marion: Oh, my God, I was not prepared for that question.

[00:31:02] It's too early. I'm still wrapping up 20, 21 in my brain since COVID, I'd like, my life has changed in the sense that I'm not making travel plans as long ahead anymore. So I don't know if this is going to change. I hope it's going to change eventually. So basically I'm lining up for my. Shots of the vaccine, so that I'll be ready and prepared for the next trips.

[00:31:25] And, yeah, can you say that you're excited about a vaccine? I don't know. Maybe that's too much, but I'm definitely excited for. You know, returning back to some sort of normalcy and I hope that it will arrive sooner than later. And I don't know if I want to go back to planning all my year ahead for, for such a long period of time.

[00:31:44] I do like the more short-term nature of traveling and being more flexible. So. Yeah, that's it. I think no more excitement than then that's having more opportunities be more open for whatever comes on a short-term basis. Then I don't even have like the next big thing aligned for 20 22 to 

[00:32:03] Yulia: two is the next year.

[00:32:04] I don't have any plans. Do you have plans 

[00:32:06] Marion: for after your own lessons in Jordan already? 

[00:32:10] Yulia: Um, somewhat, yes, somewhat. I mean, only for the, maybe the first quarter of being there. You know, somethings like there was a conference in January, for example, that I want to go to and stuff like that, but not, not nothing.

[00:32:22] However, with that said, I do want to say that, I am already planning lots of things for 2022, particularly for the genius women community hands hand for anyone who's listening, who is in the community. We're going to do an awesome retreats next year. Uh, and this is the first time I'm talking about it publicly on my God, maybe too prematurely.

[00:32:43] But yeah, that's something that I'm working on is to do like a genius woman retreat, where we go to a very nice place and spend time on ourselves, on our creativity, on our community. And that sounds, you know, I'm really excited about that. How can people 

[00:32:57] Marion: stay in the loop about that? Should they sign up somewhere or like, how would we learn about.

[00:33:02] Yulia: Yeah. follow us on Instagram at genius women on Instagram. That's how people can, can learn about that. but yeah, so I, I have some big, big ideas and big plans for next year. You know, nothing's set in stone, but you know, it's funny. I will share this with you. Maybe this is the, relevant, as part of that, we should all be millionaires, community that I was talking about, you know, that, that looks at, you know, your relationship with money as a woman and all of that.

[00:33:30] They had us do this, We had to take a, a test that determines your key skills or, or your, key strong points for your personality. Right? What are some of your keys? key, strong points. and it was, done by, Nielsen, which knew some is a market research firm. You know, they, they, they have lots of expertise in that area.

[00:33:51] Um, and anyhow, long story short, I did the test and I got my results. And one of my key skills, actually, my number one skill strong point in my personality is visionary, meaning I'm able to inspire other people and I'm able to paint the picture of something that doesn't yet exist. So it gets other people excited and it was so cool to learn that about myself because I never thought that that's the case, but even my work with the genius woman, community kind of shows that that's the case, you know?

[00:34:21] Yulia: So all that to say that that's why I'm always thinking about, you know, grand visions for the next year, like a retreat somewhere beautiful and things like that, because that's my personality. That's my strong point. So. That's 

[00:34:33] Marion: so funny. I'm really, I'm the polar opposite. I would be interested in what might my test would say would maybe be like, I dunno, a historian or something I'm always kind of attracted by the past more, more than the future, but yeah, I think this is one of my biggest weaknesses for sure.

[00:34:51] Is envisioning. The future. And I know that about myself. Like I have learned it in the, in the last few years that I'm not one of those people who is always living in ideas and visions for, for their future. So I have to kind of force myself more to, to do that. And I know it's important. So you caught me there.

[00:35:08] Or like what I'm excited about, because I didn't have anything in stores. So this is my to do for the end of December after the holidays, I will become, I will put some visions down on some piece of paper. Cause 

[00:35:21] Yulia: I need that. However, I want to say that, power, there is power and there is impact in leaning into what is your strongest?

[00:35:29] Right, which is also another thing that this, this program has taught me that, you know, we all have different strong points and for someone like me and being a visionary. So I'm leaning into that, for someone else, it's something completely opposite, which I am very weak in. And so I think the power comes in knowing what your strong points are and then leaning into them.

[00:35:48] Okay. Outsourcing everything else. That 

[00:35:51] Marion: sounds like a very good plan. And usually you have to share with me how, where, and how you can do that. Nielsen. 

[00:35:57] Yulia: Yes, it's called Clifton StrengthsFinder. And I'll send you a link to that, later on, and for others as well, it's called Clifton StrengthsFinder tests.

[00:36:06] So when you put that in, in Google, you can, uh, you can find that for sure, but I'll, I'll share with you a link to it. 

[00:36:13] Marion: That's super nice. Thank you so much. Cause I do agree. You have to know what your strengths are for sure. And I think it's maybe sometimes easier with a test and kind of finding it out the hard way by trying out.

[00:36:24] Yulia: Yeah. And I think it gives you some perspective and some structure. I mean, honestly, even to this day I screenshotted the test results and it came into my folder. I have a folder on my laptop where I. All of the praise that people have ever shared with me about me, about my work. If I have a feel down, or if I a feel like something's not working out the way I want, I go into that folder and I scroll through some of those things and that test result is there because it showed me that I'm on the right side, you know, because I'm leaning into the things that I'm strong in.

[00:36:58] I don't know. Yeah. It's, it's super useful. I think it's super useful to send all these things. That 

[00:37:05] Marion: sounds like a very good technique. I think I have to create one of those folders as well. 

[00:37:09] Yulia: Yes. I recommend it to everyone. We all need those, you know, we all need those folders, so

[00:37:15] amazing. Well, so nobody's taking us up on that offer to send us a question, which is totally fine. Uh, totally fine. Uh, my Arabic class is starting soon, so I have to start wrapping up, but I'm always so happy to talk to you Marie on. And, I feel like our talks can go on forever. I had the same feeling in our podcasts when we were recording.

[00:37:39] I just wanted to keep talking to you. 

[00:37:41] Marion: That's always lovely to talk to you. Thank you so much for, for having me again in your life, Chet and your series. Yeah, I'm also excited to see when you release the info about the retreats. I'm really excited to hear more about that. And I want to say thank you for updating us on all the things that are happening for you. Um,Sharing some of your practices with us. I think that was really powerful. So if people can take away some of those, um, I think that's really helpful and congrats again on getting the clients of yours.

[00:38:13] Yulia: I saw the work you did. I think it was a Milan maybe. the last one that you did, that was really, really brilliant work. I saw it on your stories really just beautiful. Thank you. 

[00:38:25] Marion: Thank you so much. And this is, again, this is, has come a, such a surprise and it's such a wonderful way to kind of end of the year.

[00:38:32] And I do hope the client will be happy. I have yet to deliver everything and if they are, and then maybe this continues to be like a more long-standing relationship. So this would be one of my visions and goals for, for next year. 

[00:38:43] Yulia: Yes. Cross. For sure, for sure. Fingers crossed for you. And I know it will happen.

[00:38:48] That will happen for sure. Amazing. Well, thank you so much. Thank you, Marianne. Have a wonderful rest of your day and thank you to all of our viewers who have joined us today and spend this hour with. Really appreciate it and go check out Marian and her Instagram. She was at lady when I'm on Instagram and there is a backstory behind the candle that you will learn if you listen to our genius podcast with Marianna, because we went into that, that story by the way, 

[00:39:16] Marion: filling the saucy secrets.

[00:39:18] Thank you. Thank you again for having me have a beautiful night end of the night and Arabic course in Jordan. And let's see where our paths cross again after Vienna, hopefully somewhere else. 

[00:39:30] Yulia: I hope so. I hope so too. Thank you. Bye everyone. Thank you.

[00:39:37] Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoy catching up with Marianne as much as I did. And if so, please consider leaving us a review so that more listeners could find our show. I can't stress how important it is for us to get reviews of our podcasts. It really helps to get in front of more people.

[00:39:56] Who might enjoy our show. So human inspired by something you heard today in our conversation with Mario on or in any other episodes of our show, please consider leaving us a review. It's one of the best ways you can support our podcast. Thanks again. And I'll see you next week for a very special conversation with one of my favorite people.