Your Past Doesn't Define Your Future, Your Courage Does

Deanna Radulescu shares her incredible journey from human trafficking survivor to successful podcaster, fashion designer, and soon-to-be magazine publisher. Her story demonstrates how resilience and determination can transform trauma into triumph.

• Overcame an abusive relationship and human trafficking situation as a teenager
• Built a 700+ episode podcast over six years that continues to grow in popularity
• Created her own fashion label and organized events against human trafficking
• Currently launching a luxury lifestyle magazine in the Chicagoland area
• Remarried after losing her husband and is building a new life
• Emphasizes the importance of authenticity in podcasting and business
• Believes in taking every call and meeting as opportunities can come from anywhere
• Hired a sales coach to help launch her magazine, showing the value of continued learning
• Approaches life with the philosophy that our past doesn't define our future

Take every call, take every meeting. You never know where it's going to end up. What's the worst that can happen? A meeting is not going to kill you. You have to think about what could possibly happen from this call or meeting and see where it goes.

Follow Deanna on social media at: 

Youtube
www.youtube.com/@LabelFreePodcast

Instagram
 www.instagram.com/deannamarie_lifestyle

https://www.facebook.com/LabelFreePodcast/

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Deanna Radalasku
• 6:41 Six Years of Podcasting Success
• 13:56 Authenticity in Podcasting
• 22:19 Surviving Human Trafficking
• 29:52 From Fashion Designer to Media Maven

Transcript

Carlene Humphrey: 0:02

Hi, I'm Carlene and this is Diva. Tonight I have a special guest with me. Her name is Deanna Radalescu. Did I say that? Right? You got it, girl. Yep, oh, my goodness, I got it. I got all the things. Remember All the things, all the things it's trending right now. The word all the things, it things it is. So, deanna, she is podcast host, so your podcast is, it's label, free to label free.

Carlene Humphrey: 0:33

Label free yeah, you are a fashion designer figure, competitor, beauty queen. See a little bit of you know. See some of that right there, right now so why?

Deanna Radulescu: 0:43

thank you, you're welcome, I'm welcome to maintain it for as long as I can.

Carlene Humphrey: 0:48

So we're just talking about the fact that your name has changed, and so what brought on the name change? Do tell, oh man.

Deanna Radulescu: 0:59

Yes, about a year and a half ago.

Carlene Humphrey: 1:01

A year and a half ago, wow, so congrats. Yeah, I'm terrible with anniversaries okay, I'm terrible with birthdays, I have to write it down. But in my agenda like, so who? So he's the one that remembers the dates and the anniversaries, or yeah, and assumed oh my gosh, what if it wasn't a he right.

Deanna Radulescu: 1:24

No, it's he and yeah, he does, but I also have it in my calendar. So like I'm very reliant on my calendar, like I'm sure most people are these days, yeah, yeah.

Carlene Humphrey: 1:35

So as a fellow podcaster, how has podcasting been for you in the last few years?

Deanna Radulescu: 1:42

So I've had my podcast now for six years. I've exceeded 700 episodes and when I started it it was really like a passion project because of my past. I've got a lot of trauma, I've got a lot of things that I've had to overcome and as I've grown it and I've really stuck to the message, it has really resonated with people around the world and I mean, even to this day it's still getting engagement, it's still very popular. People love it and I've just loved being in the space meeting people like yourself, other hosts, the guests, and it's been kind of life-changing in the regards that I feel like at this point to all the people I've talked to that I can have a PhD Because I've talked to some very incredibly intelligent people and I've learned a lot along the way.

Deanna Radulescu: 2:23

And I've talked to that I can have a PhD because I've talked to some very incredibly intelligent people and I've learned a lot along the way. And you know, I've turned it into. I mean I turned it into kind of a career. I mean I've had so many I've had articles written about me. I'm a marquee who's who in America because of the work I've done in the podcast. So it has really led me down to some pretty amazing roads.

Carlene Humphrey: 2:41

Yeah, and so I mean you are in Chicago land proper. So tell me, I think, the part. Well, if we talk about podcasting, how it's different in the US, because of the numbers obviously, and I use a lot of American platforms. As someone who is in Chicago what do you think makes a great podcast, especially in the US when there's so many.

Deanna Radulescu: 3:05

You know I love that question because I think what keeps coming up for me in today's world is authenticity and like I've had a couple of guests on the show that I could tell that they weren't showing up authentic and they really got zero engagement. And I was talking to someone I think it was yesterday and she's like yeah, I really love podcasts. And she's like I never thought I really liked them and now I'm getting into them and she's like I don't even know why. And I said you know what? Can I tell you why I think that you would really like them?

Deanna Radulescu: 3:31

It's because the ones that you're listening to you find that they are authentic and you can take it for face value, instead of someone showing up playing a part, playing a role that's not real. Because we are getting bamboozled all day, every day on social media, we're made to believe that this is the way we're supposed to live, but it's when it's not reality. And so when someone shows up authentic, we are immediately drawn to that because at our soul and our center, we want to connect. The only way to connect with somebody is if they're being authentic.

Carlene Humphrey: 4:03

Yeah, yeah, and you know, it's true, it's like it depends. Like I mean, because you're a podcaster yourself, I'm sure you have some podcasts that you listen to when you have time, and you know, for me, I think, as I'm doing this again, I started this whole journey in 2020, when everything slowed down and I relaunched Diva Tonight in December and I think, as a result, the series this is 40. Yeah, like you said, like it's taught me so much and I've met some very helpful people along the way and it's been a journey Like it's so nice. Yeah, like you said, when you meet people who are authentic and you can tell from their energy even though, like me and you are, we're not in the same room right now, but I think I can just tell, like, with your experience and your professionalism, just how you carry yourself, that says a lot about you and you know who you are as a person, right, so thank you.

Carlene Humphrey: 5:00

Yeah, no problem with that being said, you obviously have a history, a journey, and, like you, are a true human trafficking survivor, and I think that's something that we've seen. I've watched a few documentaries and stuff and obviously it's something that affects people in a very unpleasant way. You know what I mean. It's obviously traumatic and so, as someone who's survived that, for anyone listening you know what I mean. It's obviously traumatic and so, as someone who's survived that, for anyone listening, you know what I mean, because obviously we're talking about the podcast, but just your story and like your journey to here and now, how has it gotten you to this stage of your life? Like because of your story.

Deanna Radulescu: 5:41

So there are many different levels of human trafficking. So mine was because of an ex-boyfriend. He was older than me. I met him at 17 and just really exposed me to sex work and some other things that were not exactly great experience. You know a lot of drugs and I never thought I'd ever talk about it, right Like I try to keep it undercover for as long as I could. So when I started this journey I was like you know what? I don't want any more skeletons in my closet. I want to be open and honest and hopefully I can help someone along the way.

Deanna Radulescu: 6:13

But I think I'm a very unique individual where my inner strength and my drive and my determination to not end up in in the grave or you know any, or end up somewhere that wasn't. I just knew that I needed, I wanted a better path, and so he ended up like beating me up really bad. He abducted me like, took me out into the middle of a field I thought he was going to kill me, to be honest and stabbed me in the arm. One time he broke into where I was living and I actually had to have a plastic surgery on my eye because he had like beat me up and, like you know, last lacerated the the my under my eye and like I remember like how toxic it was for me, cause when we went to my mom took me to court to like we put them you know, I filed a press charges. I was crying like an idiot because you know that toxic relationship is so addictive that you don't like when it's when you know that it's not the best thing for you and you don't want to let it go Like I couldn't. I, thinking back now I'm like why was I crying, like losing this guy, like you know, like so dumb? And here I am, you know, all these years later and you know just that experience I just I'm.

Deanna Radulescu: 7:14

I'm happy that I had the wherewithal to know that there was some, that I had a better life ahead of me, and I took action to make that happen for myself. I started reading self-help books, I got into martial arts and the martial arts really helped me, just give me discipline, confidence and just put me on a better path, and I'm one that's followed my heart. So, as I was working on myself, getting better and just trying to recover and just get past the trauma of that, amazing things have happened. Different opportunities pop up. I met my late husband, who kind of was like a knight in shining armor, so to speak.

Deanna Radulescu: 7:54

Yeah, just life evolved from there. I'm not ashamed of it. It's part of my story and my journey and I've done a lot of things to spread awareness around it. Like you know, you have a choice. You don't need to be forced to do something, if something feels wrong, to say so. You know, and I think when we're so young, we're impressionable and we can be manipulated easy and it's hard. You know that now, like hindsight, I know that now, but when you're in the moment you don't think that.

Carlene Humphrey: 8:23

Yeah, I think being able to talk about it is takes like a lot of courage to even do so, cause I think you have to be at that stage in your life where you've healed from it and that you can share your story, cause I think trauma for many people, like myself included I've never actually talked about my trauma in an open platform, but I think the one thing is that what you know that's cliche, saying what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and like toxic relationships. I don't know if, growing up, you were part of something similar to that or if you didn't have that example, but I find like sometimes it's what you're used to or what you know. Yeah.

Deanna Radulescu: 9:06

Father was abusive. My parents had a very toxic relationship, so I was repeating a pattern, absolutely.

Carlene Humphrey: 9:12

Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. It's like we have to do all the work to break free out of that, and so I think, like you said, that experience, although it was horrible, so I think, like you said this this that experience, although it was horrible, has gotten you to a positive place in your life and obviously it's made you the person you are today. So, as someone who's I mean, you've worked in corporate America, you're like you created a fashion, your own fashion label, like you've done a lot of things, and I just want to ask how do you think you've gotten to those places in your career? You know what I mean. Like it's amazing, right From like a really bad experience to turning it around and doing something better as a result.

Deanna Radulescu: 9:59

I think, just like the determination to want something better for myself, right and chasing my dreams, like I'm going to chase what makes my heart happy and, whether good, bad or indifferent, I'm going to decide to do that. And I always loved fashion, I loved clothes. I still do love clothes. I'm a self-made fashionista and I will always love that side of me. And I wanted to.

Deanna Radulescu: 10:28

When my husband was really sick like that was also a very traumatic experience Like he was very sick for the last couple of years of his life and we were running several businesses together I had to be his caretaker, I had to run the businesses, I had to keep our house together, you know, and you're talking like a lot of responsibility, because we lived in a mansion, we had the Mercedes, the Ferrari, all the toys, and so it's not like I'm managing a little home and all these businesses. I'm managing a large home, his house, our five businesses and just trying to keep it together. I became a shell of a person and so towards I knew he wasn't going to make it. I just knew that he was just, he was giving up. He needed his third kidney transplant and the last two and a half years it was a steady decline in his health and I was starting to mourn him. And so during that mourning period, I started becoming very tapping into my dreams and, like, what am I going to do next? Watching him lose his battle on life really makes you check in, like hey, like it makes you realize, like what, like it humanizes you, right, oh yeah. So I just I started looking into how to start a fashion label and I and I found a place in soho, new york, and I ended up. I went actually before he passed, I went out there and visited them just to kind of understand their process, and then, after he passed, I had to wait for a little while and then I eventually ended up investing in that.

Deanna Radulescu: 11:50

I pursued that for a couple of years. It was pretty successful in a way, but it's a very tough industry to break into and you have to have very deep pockets and I just did not have the resources to continue to chase that dream. But I can say that I did it. I learned the value of branding. I learned a lot about fashion, design, fashion production or production in general in regards to making clothes and just pattern making your fit model, like all the things, all the things, and so I did my last collection again, for it was in june of 2019 I I posted an event against human trafficking. I had about 300 people, raised about 30 000, and that that was my final collection and I kind of packed everything up and I was like, okay, it's time to move on so when you, when you say like it's, it's hard to break in, I mean, fashion is like, especially in the US, there's so many iconic names.

Carlene Humphrey: 12:47

We could go on the line of Christian tour, and the list goes on. And so how did you tap into it? First of all, you said you have to have deep pockets.

Deanna Radulescu: 12:58

I didn't tap into it because of that, into it because of that, yeah, I mean, it's very cliquish and so, like I was nobody, I'm thinking I'm somebody because, like I had built this life with my late husband. So I'm like, oh yeah, no problem, I'll be able to do it Like I was super cocky and like I'm starting from scratch brand new business. Nobody knows me, it doesn't care, it doesn't matter how cool my logo is or how nice my clothes are. Nobody knows me as a brand. And that was extremely hard to digest. And if I was to do it again, I would do it a lot more slower, calculated, less pieces, maybe a couple pieces. I would do it completely different than what I did before. The way I did it with that consulting firm was a very old school model, whereas in today's world you could launch a fashion brand on social media and do very well with it a couple of pieces at a time and just grow from there.

Carlene Humphrey: 13:54

So, as as whoever's listening, and if they are in that industry, like in fashion, in terms of like breaking out, like their, their brand, like, what do you suggest? What do you say to them? Like you know, you said you start a little bit slower, but like, as you know, as someone who's a designer or you, I mean obviously you created this label from your own ambitious side of you. So, like, where do they? Where do they?

Deanna Radulescu: 14:20

start. Where do they start? Well, I mean, if they're a designer, they they've already started. Yeah, yeah, the only experience I had was sewing, making my own clothes in high school and altering clothes. I didn't know how to make a pattern, so everything I had to do was sourced out. So it starts with the vision, right, picking out the fabrics, what you want that fabric to be, which was that came very easy for me from the creative side. But then having to implement that into having a pattern maker make the pattern for my vision and and then just evolve it from there, and so there's a lot of different pieces. So if someone is a designer, they probably already know the amount of effort that goes into making one item yeah, right, and so I I think, like you said, social media changes the game a bit.

Carlene Humphrey: 15:05

You know what I mean. Obviously we didn't have that years ago no, no diva tonight. Glamour for your ears. This is 40, a female perspective because of your journey and the fact that I didn't even realize that you had like, from fashion to creating a brand to now having a podcast, right. So is podcasting something that you primarily focus on? Or do you have multiple businesses, Cause you clearly have experience doing that five businesses running them? Running a household it's like managing a household, right?

Deanna Radulescu: 15:45

them running a household? It's like managing a household right. I do very well when I'm busy Professional multitasker. So great question.

Deanna Radulescu: 15:55

My podcast is kind of like a well-oiled machine at this point. I've got it set up very well. I mean, I do make money off of it. I do not offer free guest spots anymore just because of where I've gotten it to I do. I have my own proprietary promotional process that I've created that helps promote my guests because ultimately, podcasting is a form of marketing and if anybody tells you no, it's crap.

Deanna Radulescu: 16:13

So if anybody has a little bit of a following, you need to show up. So for me, my brand is very clear and I want to make sure when I show up I'm open to talk about my journey and I have a lot to offer in terms of things that I've done. So I love that. I used to release like four episodes a week. Now I'm down to like two. I have one regular segment and then I have a celebrity segment. So I have PR people reaching out to me all the time for celebrities, are people reaching out to me all the time for celebrities?

Deanna Radulescu: 16:46

But now my new venture is I'm getting ready to launch a luxury lifestyle magazine here in the Chicagoland area and that's been a lot of work, a lot of work. So that's my new thing, but it goes kind of hand in hand with the media side of things. So I'm able to offer people that advertise with me, that want to be in my magazine, a spot on my show, which is pretty coveted. I mean, I have some incredible people that want to be on my show and I'm very blessed that I've gotten to this point. So I'm able to offer that in addition to like hey, let's expand into the community by highlighting you in this magazine, which is going into only a certain affluent demographic. So yeah, I never thought I was gonna be a publisher, but here we are.

Carlene Humphrey: 17:28

Here we are, the next chapter of your life. Wow, unreal.

Deanna Radulescu: 17:33

The next chapter of your life. I like that, yes.

Carlene Humphrey: 17:37

I mean you had many chapters right. I mean, like we talk about like the many layers to who you are as a person and there are many layers to you and I think that's like all encompass pressure that comes with being the oldest child and I think that makes you a little bit stronger in that sense. Do you see yourself as that, Like I mean, because you're the oldest, like you feel like there's a part of you that has to prove something, Not to that, not to your siblings in any kind of way, but I don't know. I think there's this stigma, not the stigma, but I think there's something to be said about the oldest child in the family, Like there's some truth to that?

Deanna Radulescu: 18:28

I mean there's that's a great question. I don't think anybody's ever asked me that before. To be honest, I I, because of the traumatic past, like my father being a deadbeat, I was like me and my mom like I was like a surrogate parent, helping her raise my siblings. So when I started my own life, I feel like there's a lot of resentment there. I actually helped my mom buy her house. I bought furniture, took my sisters on shopping sprees and because of that role that I took early on, I do not have a great relationship with them. Now I don't talk to my sisters, I talk to only one of my brothers, and it's because my life has evolved and I've had some traumatic things.

Deanna Radulescu: 19:09

When my husband passed away, I didn't make the best decisions. I wasn't in a good place because I was spinning and I recovered quickly. It wasn't like I was out of control running the streets. I made some bad decisions that they judged me for, and I think that I've always just seen this better life for myself that I cannot. So, number one, I want to prove myself Absolutely. I want to prove that I'm worthy and I almost think that, oh, they're going to love me again if I reach this level.

Deanna Radulescu: 19:39

So there's a lot of those crazy thoughts, but there's also thoughts of like I just want better for myself. I want to leave this life accomplishing as many things as I can and just reaching that there's. I have a vision in my head of where I want my life to be when I'm, when I'm done with all of this, and if, like, that's a long ways away because I've got way too much energy, I would go bored. I got a girlfriend who's younger than me and she's like I'm just trying to retire. I'm like I don't know how you're doing that, like I would go crazy. I need to be doing something. And so, like there there's that's a multifaceted question because there's you know.

Carlene Humphrey: 20:17

I just, yeah, there's many layers to my brain, I'm a very scattered person, I know that and so, yeah, the reason I asked you that question and I don't even know why that came up so, my friend, we always talk about like you know life and how you know how things happen, because she has a child and I don't and I think I said to her I think there's a reason why I wasn't so focused on that is because, like, similar to you, I feel like I helped raise my sisters, even though I wasn't their mom. I was like their big sister, but I did a lot of things like I had to, you know, take them to daycare and like find creative ways to like have them have fun in the summertime, because they didn't, we weren't well off, and so I had to be like OK, let's go to the library and that kind of thing. We weren't well off and so I had to be like, ok, let's go to the library and that kind of thing. And the reason I asked you that question is because I feel like, in terms of generational trauma or generational lifestyle, that like we're passing things on and I think, as someone who's the oldest, like I've always, I never really saw myself as a mom. I've always I never really saw myself as a mom.

Carlene Humphrey: 21:23

I don't know if that will change, but I think it's that fully loaded question that I asked you there, because I feel like, because you're so ambitious, because you're so determined to leave your mark on the world.

Carlene Humphrey: 21:35

I think that it's in your genetics some way. It may not necessarily be the case, but I feel like that's why I asked you that question, because I'm just curious If you be the case. But I feel like that's why I asked you that question, because I'm just curious, if you are the oldest, the middle, the baby, like, you know just where you are in the family tree and what has made you so resilient and determined to do whatever it takes, regardless of what happened, cause some people just throw in the towel. You know what I mean Like oh, yeah, yeah, so, yeah, so, but yeah, getting back to the simple things and like what makes you happy. First of all, because I mean, I don't know if you've talked much about your love life or the fact that you know you have this other person who is your person, right, you got married almost two years ago, so even that, yeah, I know.

Deanna Radulescu: 22:22

I think I was going to get married again. Yeah, met him during COVID and we met and we just have been inseparable since and it's just been. You know he's a police officer, which has been very difficult. So unless you're a strong individual, you're it's going to be very hard for you to be with a police officer, because I struggle with it. Sometimes their schedules are all over the place. They work too much. He's the man that I never had. That's a protector. You know what I mean. I mean that in the best possible way. That's not what I'm looking for. We fell in love. Yeah, I mean I didn't think I was going to get married again and I did. He's just been an amazing individual. I love his family and just you know, we just been building a life together ever since.

Carlene Humphrey: 23:09

Yeah, and that's good. No, that's amazing, that's so good, it's helpful, for sure, because you are the lady with many hats Understatement, understatement, right Under Understatement, right, understatement of the year, I guess. But I do want to ask you to be an entrepreneur, to be a great entrepreneur. What do you think is important to getting to where you are now? Like, I mean, you are a business person, of course, Right.

Deanna Radulescu: 23:38

So I mean, I would consider myself a serial entrepreneur at this point, and obviously not every venture has worked out Like the fashion industry. I was like telling myself I'm going to be the next Chanel pieces. And that was a huge learning lesson. I felt like when I decided to stop, I felt like a huge failure, and when I think about it now, I think about how brave I was to chase a dream and actually take that risk. And so to be an entrepreneur is not easy. I think it's okay to take those risks because we learn something along the way and we have great stories to tell afterwards, but you have to be open to continuing to learn, to be resourceful.

Deanna Radulescu: 24:18

I just hired a sales coach for the magazine because I haven't been closing deals like I thought I would at this point, and I made this investment. I essentially bought into a franchise, so it's not a brand new magazine. There's a lot of structure behind it. They do the distribution, the printing, but I have to get it off the ground. If I don't get it off the ground within a certain amount of time, I lose my investment, and so it's been very stressful why I'm not closing these deals. I have to have so many to launch, and then it grows from there right. The hardest part is getting it launched, and so I'm coachable. I don't know everything. There's something perhaps that's happening in my life that is preventing me from closing some of these deals, and so I bit the bullet and I hired a coach, and now we're off to the races and I'm hoping that that helps move things forward and I can get this launched the way that I want it to.

Carlene Humphrey: 25:14

That's very interesting. I'm glad that you brought that up because I think I had a guest, her name Debbie Kinney. She said, like she's a coach, and she said you know, the best athletes have a coach. You know, like Michael Phelps had a coach and so many athletes before them and people who've made their stance in society, they've they've done, they've had the vision to get there, but obviously they needed coaching along the way. And so I guess with you, like getting a coach, how long have you had a coach? And this is just something, I just hired him.

Deanna Radulescu: 25:45

I just hired him okay, but I I've worked with him. He's given me a couple free sessions before and he was a guest on my show and I really liked his style and so like I resonated with him and so he offered this program recently and it just came at the right time for me. It was just meant to be, so I picked the bullet yeah, timing is everything.

Carlene Humphrey: 26:08

You're so right about that, I think. When you write certain things down, I have to tell you. So, when I thought about the show, I didn't think about the series, but my gosh. So the first two people on the show, I wrote down their names and it did happen. So it's important, like you know, when you have a passion and something that you're supposed to do, manifestation, baby. Yeah, yeah, totally. I mean, I'm not, I'm learning more about manifestation, as I'm, as I'm, like you said, reading the books and doing the things Right, and so, even just talking to you, I, I, I see the energy in you and like I'm feeling it actually in a way where it seems like this is something that you're supposed to be doing and you're on your way Right and so, yeah, you're definitely coaching. You know what I mean. It's like the energy Someone said that to me. It's all about the energy and like energy.

Carlene Humphrey: 27:17

You feel, yeah, and I'm learning more and more, like when my day is off and when it's not. But there's one thing I do want to ask. So how, how did this magazine like, the whole lot, the whole idea? How did that come about? Was it like being at the right place at the right time? Sure.

Deanna Radulescu: 27:35

Yeah, because of my podcast, because of, like, my name that's out there, you know.

Deanna Radulescu: 27:40

I mean I've had a lot of different articles, magazine features.

Deanna Radulescu: 27:44

I get emails for all different kinds of things, and so I typically take every single call, because you never know what's going to happen in that call, how, if they know someone you can introduce you to, or, like I do, I'll take every call, I'll jump into every meeting, like, only because you never know where it's going to go. And so I got an email on expanding my reach like oh hey, we see that you're a podcast, we'd love to talk to you a little bit more about expanding your reach and you know, and starting a magazine. And so I did my due diligence. I had several calls with them, I talked to other publishers in the country and it took me about a month before I said I decided that I was going to do it. So I made the investment, I went to training in Kansas City and now here I am, boots on the ground, meeting with people every single day talking about the magazine to get it launched. Wow, it was not on my punch card or my bucket list was not.

Carlene Humphrey: 28:37

I laugh because I I I totally got. It was just like this is not where I thought it would end up, right, you know what I mean? It's crazy how like things transpire in the in in, yeah, just when you least expect it. So what you just said right now just made me think someone did email me and I think I'll probably give them the time of day just to see where. Or they email you for what? Actually, yeah, they emailed me. They're in the insurance business and she's like oh, I see your podcast and I actually should send you that. I think I'm going to send you the information and then I'll let you tell me what you think, because obviously you're Is she wanting to be a guest on your show or is she looking to collaborate?

Carlene Humphrey: 29:18

No, she's looking to collaborate. Good, yeah. Yeah, she said they have their own, like her and her husband have a business and it's an insurance business, and I guess it's another opportunity for me to make money, I guess, in that way. But I haven't talked to them on Zoom yet or anything, but yeah, so they connected with me through Instagram. So, like you said, I'm always very-.

Deanna Radulescu: 29:42

Take the call, see where it goes. Yeah, no matter what happens, you have to like that person, right. So you have to jump on a call, get to know them, understand a little bit more about what they are. You know like how, like how you guys can collaborate in whatever way that looks like or their idea, and then go from there. You know, then it doesn't work for you per se. Maybe they can, you can introduce them to somebody else or they can introduce somebody to you. Like you never know, like that whole, that whole like domino effect that can happen after one conversation, Because for me I've had incredible opportunities that have led to beautiful places just by taking a phone call.

Carlene Humphrey: 30:16

And I think, like you know, we're all in our heads. I always think it's a good idea, but yeah, pull the trigger.

Deanna Radulescu: 30:21

Baby, you only live once. Let me tell you something you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.

Carlene Humphrey: 30:25

No, you're right. You're right, I think. I think there was a reason you are here right now talking to me on this episode of Diva Tonight. So, as the multifaceted, multilayered individual, miss Deanna Kimball, Radalasku. Radalasku. Yes, yes, yes, I'm reading off the thing. I know it's okay. No worries, yeah, it's hard to say off the tongue Radalasku Okay, no worries. Yeah, it's hard to say off the tongue Rad Alasku, okay. Final thoughts we didn't even talk about 40. We talked about everything else. So I'm almost 50 girls.

Carlene Humphrey: 30:58

So oh my goodness, wow. So, as someone who's lived the decade like, I mean, you're almost. You said you're almost 50. So what advice do you have for the 40 something or the women going into 50? You know what I mean, like you clearly have.

Deanna Radulescu: 31:15

What advice do I have? So, like I've really embraced every part of my, my journey, right, you know, like I'm not, I'm not scared to say my age, like I'm very proud of how old I am, you know, I would just say that like time keeps going by faster and faster and faster. So do not like this with this email, whether it might be nothing, right, this call, don't pass up an opportunity because before we know it we're going to be, you're going to be, 50, then 60, 70, and then we have, then we're going to be, laying on a bed as our last chapter is coming to an end and we want to look back and have stories to tell and memories to look back on and know that we took different risks that scared us a little bit and excited us and made us grow a little bit more right. And so what's the worst that can happen?

Deanna Radulescu: 32:08

A phone call, a meeting is not going to kill you. May it be aggravating and somebody might waste a little bit of your time, but you, that can happen. A phone call, a meeting is not going to kill you. May it be aggravating and someone might waste a little bit of your time, but you can't go into it. Thinking like that, you have to think well, what could possibly happen from this call or this meeting and see where it goes. So that's always my advice Take every call, take every meeting. You never know where it's going to end up. That's some good advice.

Carlene Humphrey: 32:27

I like it Well. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your journey to here and now, and I wish you all the best with your launch. Like when is it happening? Do you even October?

Deanna Radulescu: 32:40

I'm halfway there, I'm halfway there.

Carlene Humphrey: 32:43

You're halfway there, so we might have to bring you back when the big launch happens. Sure.

Deanna Radulescu: 32:48

I'd love to.

Carlene Humphrey: 32:48

Yeah, for sure Sounds good. I'm Carlene and this is Diva Tonight with Deanna Radalasky. Did I say that right? Yes, I don't know. Thank you, you're welcome. Thank you so much.

Speaker 3: 33:09

Diva Tonight with Carlene will be back. Send us a message on Instagram at Diva underscore tonight.