Today I’m bringing you a look into a side of my life that is exercise and dance.

This episode is actually not about personal finance … there is more of that coming very soon.

Instead, I’m featuring an episode from the podcast Secretly Sporty, where they interviewed me about why I dance and how that informs my life.

Secretly Sporty is a new podcast hosted by writer and academic Sebastian Langdell about the way that exercise can inform our creative output, even if our workouts don’t necessarily have anything to do with our work.

Last year, Sebastian wrote an op-ed in the New York Times called “A Medievalist Hits the Gym,” which was about what weightlifting has to do with medieval literature. I encourage you to go check out that article to see how he threaded that needle. The article served as a spark for Secretly Sporty, where he’s interviewed cartoonist Alison Bechdel, NYT columnist Jamelle Bouie, comedian Chris Duffy and many others about their workout routines and how they impact the life of the mind.

I’m by no means a professional dancer, never have been, never been close to that (!) It’s just something I like to do in my spare time. So it was really fun to be asked about it, because it’s just something I *do* — not something that I *think* about that much. So thank you, Sebastian, for having me on!

Go listen and subscribe to Secretly Sporty wherever you get podcasts.

And! I have been working on a stealth side project having to do with the intersection of DANCE and FINANCE. If that at all piques your interest, what DANCE has to do with FINANCE, whether you’re a dancer, or a financier or both, please write to me at otherpeoplespockets@gmail.com or slide into my DM's on Instagram @itsmayamoney, or find me on LinkedIn. However you want to reach me, I would love to talk.

Today we're featuring Jessica Slice, a disabled author, speaker and essayist. Her book, “Unfit Parent: A Disabled Mother Challenges an Inaccessible World,” is an amazing look at how her experience in her body — which more often than not needs to be in a reclining position — has been an unexpected asset in her ability to parent & connect with her children. She also writes about the challenges it brings and the very diverse experiences of other disabled people in their lives as parents.

Jessica has one of the more drastic and interesting financial and life transformations of any guest on OPP. Growing up, she was able-bodied, and then one day at age 28 she went on a hike that left her so exhausted she could barely function. That incident triggered a series of symptoms that would later reveal a disability, which she’ll explain more in this episode. Her disability requires her to do most of her work in her adjustable bed, and largely prevents her from walking very much, or from traveling. This killed her former career as a highly-compensated real estate agent and forever altered the trajectory of her work prospects.

She talked to me about how expensive it is to be disabled, how she forged an alternate career path and she gave some advice about how to get into the lucrative racket of paid speaking gigs.

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Email me (Maya) with guest ideas, questions, or hello's at otherpeoplespockets@gmail.com. Find links to my socials here.

Find Jessica:

jessicaslice.com

Instagram

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I mean that in the best possible way.

Here's the thing about making a podcast: you spend a lot of time creating something, you put that thing out into the world, and … you really don’t know who exactly is listening to it.

I do have some audience demographic data, but it’s not very robust. Knowing who is listening helps me land potential sponsors, and that helps OPP grow.

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-Maya