BetterSelf chats with a natural motivator and strong woman. Our 7 Pillars Profiles explore ambitious people in the community who are making things happen!

Thoughts and Beliefs: We at Betterself believe that “When the Student is ready, the Teacher appears.” Who has taught you the most in life or career that you will cherish forever. What have you learned?

5 years ago, I met a friend who’s ideas and philosophy on life’s was very similar to my own. My friend boosted my confident, helped me, supported me in every way possible I could ever need, especially with a new culture and language, which made it a lot easier for me to adjust to a new environment. The last 5 years I have learned so much about myself and other people, that I will always have use for, in the future and where ever I’m at. I learned “to be who you want to be in life”

Goals and Purpose: When setting goals or overcoming obstacles, we all need support and inspiration. How do you stay determined and focused on your dreams?

Staying motivated and focused is hard, especially on a long term big goal, so I try to make little week to week or month to month goals. When I accomplish them I feel a lot better and I can move on to bigger, better goals.

Inner Peace: How do you keep your composure in stressful situations? In a leadership role, how do you manage to create time for yourself to connect to a consistent peace of mind?

For a long time in my life inner peace was going to the racetrack for me. I was competing as a sponsored racecar driver for 6 years and going to the track and just doing what I loved most for hours and hours was inner peace for me. Since I stopped competing, and of course stress a lot, I have found that yoga has helped me a lot, along with various outdoor activities, such as a walk, a beach run works very well for me. I try to go as often as possible and I always feel so good and relaxed after, it has really helped me to always see a clearer day.

Financial Freedom: To live the life we want with the financial flexibility, hard work is essential. In a challenging economy, the importance of teaching our youth the value of money is now more than ever. Can you share with our readers how it felt to earn your very first paycheck?

My first paycheck, hmm that is funny. I’m born and raised in Sweden and started working very early. My fist paycheck was from selling books and magazine door to door on my bike for Christmas. It was very fun and I felt like I was really rich since my mom opened a bank account for me, this along with knowing I had earned my own money was very gratifying even at a young age.

Personal Relationships: Give us your thoughts on the following quote “Life is shaped by the people who surround us." Share with us how you surround yourself with good people.

I try to surround myself with people that are happy and see life with positive eyes. People that I can have fun with and that I can learn something from and I really hope I give that back to my surroundings too.
Friends that are honest and true to them selves.

Health and Fitness: In addition to your short-term goals, what are your long term goals? Can you share we our readership your training routine?

My long term and short term goal is to stay healthy and have a life filled with many memories of fun and laughter. Myself, I have a big passion for health and fitness but that does not mean that I’m always motivated to go to the gym.

I don’t really have a set workout schedule but I enjoy running, and circuit training both indoor and outdoor if the weather allows. Whenever I have time I try to go rock climbing, kayaking, in lining on the beach or something else fun! Your workout has to be fun it keeps one motivated on a daily basis.

Personal Legacy: Personal Legacy is one of the key Pillars within the BetterSelf vision for a balanced life. Giving back starts with getting connected. Share with us some ways you have given back or which causes you feel passionate about.

I try to help my younger brother and family as much as I can so they can get the chance to experience all the great things I have. Since my brother and I grew up together, we now live in separate worlds, so I will always try and bring him the same cultural growth I have experienced. Through traveling and meeting new people in everyday life, I help him to see things from other viewpoints and learn about him self just like I have.

With all the help and fun we had together growing up we will always be very close sister and brother, each helping the other as much as possible.

*Thank you very much taking the time to connect with BetterSelf and share your experiences with our readers.

10th Annual Festival touted as one of the largest youth events in Orange County

Santa Ana, Cali.—October 11th, 2009—BetterSelf, an online self-improvement resource was proud to be a part of the hugely successful Santa Ana Youth Expo. This event displayed an amazing collaboration of companies, youth leaders and community officials. There were over 50 booths and over 5000 people throughout the day to support the youth of Santa Ana, and featured useful information from a variety of businesses, colleges and extra curricular activities.

One of the highlights of the day was the BetterSelf Goal Wall. Here, children and adults alike wrote down personal goals and posted them on a large custom designed wall. The Goal Wall was a great representation of the BetterSelf Goals and Purpose Pillar, and featuring hundreds of goals over the course of the day, was a huge success.
“BetterSelf was thrilled to be a part of this tremendous day.” founder Steve Barrett said. “The looks on all the young kids faces talking about becoming firemen, doctors, musicians and teachers were priceless.”

Ian Koff, creative director, adds, “It was a pleasure to support the Santa Ana Parks and Recreation team with this event. The information, entertainment and family focus were first class and a true testament to their support of the community.”

BetterSelf aims to help people improve, renew and shine, and is driven to partner with like-minded organizations. BetterSelf’s partner Knots of Love was on hand to spread their wonderful message of hope and support to cancer research. Knots of Love represent a sample of companies BetterSelf has welcomed into its business community, and with organizations across all seven pillars coming onboard every day, BetterSelf is ready to offer a fresh approach to self-improvement.

About 7 Pillars Media and BetterSelf
7 Pillars Media, Inc. was founded in Long Beach, California by a team of motivated and inspired people who believe that it is never too late to improve, renew, and shine. BetterSelf is dedicated to providing tools to strengthen the seven pillars and help people to reflect on their values, expand their business, achieve peace of mind, build a healthier body, enhance their relationships, meet financial goals and improve the lives of others.

Making a Personal Legacy and a major impact is Christine Shively, Founder of Knots of Love, non-profit organization dedicated to knitting caps for cancer patients. However, the company does so much more for the spirit of the cap's recipients. "Making caps and brightening the lives of people who are suffering from the ravages of cancer is such a small thing to do, and the results have had a huge POSITIVE impact with the patients. Our data base has grown exponentially, and I am now contacted daily by medical institutions from coast to coast. People of all ages are in need of kindness, support and love as they battle their individual crisis."

Christine describes her inspiration for creating Knots of love; "Knots-of-Love was born out of a desire to brighten the lives of people in need in a loving and caring way." My grandmother taught me how to crochet when I was six. I hadn’t picked up a crochet hook for many many years and decided to give it a try. I made scarves and afghans for everyone I knew. My son asked me if I could please make him a cap. I said, no way, I have no idea how to make a cap. After his insistence, I decided to try. My first cap could have fit a bowling ball. I kept at it and before I knew it one cap turned into 20. Both of my sons, Geoff and Ian and ALL their friends owned caps. I kept making them wondering what am I going to do with all these caps. My dear friend, Linda Torr is a 21 year cancer survivor. She told me when she had cancer she would have loved to have had a nice cozy cap (like a pair of cozy slippers) to put on after a long day in the wig. After some research, I saw there was a tremendous need for chemo caps and thus Knots-of-Love was born on June 24th, 2007."

For more information go to the Knots-of-love website;

Betterself is now active within the Twitter community. We'd love to connect with you as well. You can follow us at: http://twitter.com/BetterSelf

IMPROVE. RENEW. SHINE.