Nicole Fashaw, rising senior, joins RISE Podcast Producer Bo Jaden James at the RISE Roundtable. The two discuss the power of music and songwriting to strengthen one's resilience, and Nicole does a special performance of an original song.

We also hear from three Pepperdine community members, who each share a song that reminds them about resilience: Seaver alumni (Class of 2024) Alyssa Medina, Lidia Qaladh, and Madilyn Henshaw.

Links:

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PepperdineRISE-fb2vz
• Website: www.pepperdine.edu/rise/
• Instagram: @pepperdinerise
• Recommend a guest: https://forms.gle/HztkVNgrW85bvvd1A

In this episode, we discuss the following:

• 0:30 Nicole Fashaw and all her commitments and leadership positions
• 2:48 Being a part of the RISE Interest Community
• 4:46 Managing different leadership roles and commitments
• 7:15 What gets Nicole out of bed
• 8:44 Music as a positive coping mechanism
• 11:02 The first song Nicole has ever written
• 12:58 Music-making and resilience
• 15:21 Navigating imposter syndrome and feelings of not being enough
• 18:22 Nicole’s relationship with God
• 23:39 The spiritual dimension of resilience
• 24:21 Nicole provides context for her song “Finally Seen”
• 25:32 Nicole performs her song “Finally Seen”

Dr. Jaz Gray, Professor of Communication Studies, joins RISE Program Specialist Emily Shaw at the RISE Roundtable. The two discuss the power of narrative storytelling in strengthening one’s resilience.

We also hear from three Pepperdine community members, who each share a story that has impacted their perspective on resilience: Hope Dease, Assistant Director of Connection; Young Yang, Seaver student; and Tehillah Mwenya, Seaver student.

Connect with us:

• Email: Resilience@pepperdine.edu
• Instagram: @pepperdinerise
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/@PepperdineRISE-fb2vz?si=qtjB7yWoqwsJhte9
• Website: www.pepperdine.edu/rise/
• Recommend a guest!: https://forms.gle/HztkVNgrW85bvvd1A

In this episode, we discuss the following:

• 0:00 Pepperdine community members share a story that has impacted their perspective on resilience
• 4:23 What a narrative researcher investigates
• 6:09 The various mediums of narrative that supported the different seasons of Dr. Gray’s life
• 10:38 The ways in which films can be a place of escape but also a place of empowerment
• 15:35 What happens when there’s no “fairytale ending” or no “ending” at all
• 19:56 Re-negotiating the “ending” and what the “problem” is to begin with
• 24:18 The power of radical honesty in the journey to self-acceptance
• 26:41 Stories you can only experience and not tell; honoring the chaos of a story
• 30:10 Building empathy when storytelling and listening to stories
• 32:35 How marginalized communities and identities can utilize narrative storytelling to build resilience, find community, and challenge systems
• 43:14 The connections between the dimensions of resilience and narrative storytelling
• 52:55 Life plotting as a tool for resilience building and humanizing oneself
• 59:28 When to share and when to not force yourself to share your story
• 1:04:48 Bouncing back and pushing forward

In this episode, Isaac Bonilla, a rising senior, joins RISE Student Lead Ethan Barragán at the RISE Roundtable, sharing his resilience journey to Pepperdine and how he practices resilience skills to support all of his various academic and co-curricular commitments.

We also hear from three Pepperdine undergraduate students, who each share risks they’ve taken and the outcome of those decisions: Julie Joy Oliveira, Andrew O’Brien, and Adrielle Lanae Zindler.

Connect with us:

• Email: Resilience@pepperdine.edu
• Instagram: @pepperdinerise
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/@PepperdineRISE-fb2vz?si=qtjB7yWoqwsJhte9
• Website: www.pepperdine.edu/rise/
• Recommend a guest!: https://forms.gle/HztkVNgrW85bvvd1A

In this episode, we discuss the following:

• 0:00 Undergraduate students share what risks they’ve taken and the outcome of those decisions
• 5:08 Isaac takes a risk while applying Pepperdine
• 9:52 Isaac’s Pepperdine Posse strengthens his social resilience
• 11:00 How Isaac manages the many hats he wears at Pepperdine
• 12:10 The power of journaling, “gyming” and leaning on your social support during tough times
• 13:45 Isaac’s one word to describe his journey at Pepperdine: Patience
• 19:00 The toll of imposter syndrome and how Isaac works through it
• 20:50 “Anything is truly possible if you put your mind to it,” AND “Sometimes a door that closes is another door that opens”
• 22:30 How to have a full rest day
• 24:10 Finding rest in community
• 26:00 Isaac de Jesus Bonilla finding his faith journey
• 29:05 A tour guide’s words of wisdom to prospective students