Mahara Wayman [00:00:05]:
Welcome to the art of badassery where I explore what it takes to live life on your own terms. Break free from the status quo and unleash your inner badass. Whether you're a rebel at heart or simply seeking inspiration to step outside your comfort zone, this podcast is for you. I'm your host Mahara Wayman and each week I dive into the stories, insights, and strategies of those who've mastered the art of badassery and are living life to the fullest. They smile when no one is lucky. Welcome to The Art of Badassery. I'm Mahara Wayman, your host. And today, I'm joined by Aurora Benson, a true original with a very inspiring story.
Mahara Wayman [00:00:51]:
Growing up in the South Of The States, Aurora always felt out of place, too progressive for her small town. After thirty years away, she's actually returned. She's standing out, but way too much of a badass to care. Aurora knew early on that she was destined to be an author and a thought leader. With a background in IT and roles across multiple industries, she found, however, her true path in entrepreneurship and sustainability. Stick with us today to listen or tune in for nope. Grab yourself a drink and join us as I find out more about Aurora's insights on embracing authenticity and blazing her own trail. Welcome to the art of badassery, Aurora.
Mahara Wayman [00:01:31]:
Can't wait to jump in.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:01:32]:
Thank you. I love I'm already in love with the title. It's awesome.
Mahara Wayman [00:01:37]:
It is pretty funny. It's I had a, I had a download, like I decided I wanted to do a podcast and it's like, it was like, you know, God just said, this is the name of your podcast. And I went, thank you. That's a great name. I'll take it. I love it Way we went. But let's jump right into your story. So you've been gone for thirty years?
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:01:55]:
Yeah. I grew up in this small town in South Georgia, and my whole life, I was like, I don't belong here. I didn't feel right. Or, you you know, I would go to the city. We would go on a road trip, and we would drive through Atlanta or go to, you know, Washington DC or Detroit. And I would I remember, like, I would feel tingly. Like, oh, this is where I fit. This is where I belong.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:02:15]:
And so not only that, but just I felt very from a very young age, I wasn't taught this, but I observed that the racism and other sort of, for lack of a better word, backwards ways of thinking in the town I grew up in, it was like, I this just this doesn't make sense. Like, I didn't have a lot of frame of reference other than maybe what I saw on TV, but I just knew. Like, you just know. You know? Like, there was an intuition that this isn't right. And when at the, at that time, when you would go out of the South and you had an accent and growing up, I had a, I have an accent now, but I, it was even thicker then you got really poked fun at. The I don't think that's as prevalent now, but when I was growing up, even going to, North Georgia, like Atlanta or Athens and all the people who came from other parts of the country, we kinda poke fun at the way you would say certain words. And now people tell me that they love my accent, that it's endearing, and that's really great. But that was one of those many things that I just really grappled with a long time.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:03:20]:
Like, I don't understand where I'm from and why I speak this way, and none of this feels right. And so I went out and found my life in other places, and I lived in many different cities and states. And, in 2018, I was living in Baltimore. I had started my business and I was getting divorced. And I was in a situation where I could live anywhere I wanted. And my parents bribed me to come back, and I accepted their bribe. So that's part of the reason that I'm here. Money talks.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:03:53]:
And so, I came back, and it's a different place than when I grew up, but it's still it's still a struggle. I still struggle to feel like how do I make myself fit in here. And as you stated in the intro, I'm kind of too much of a badass to care. So what I end up doing is I say to people that I reside in this town, but I live elsewhere. And that's maybe not the healthiest, best approach. And I'd like to further my badassery journey to make a home and a life here, you know, and outward, but or, you know, in other cities and other places I go. But I travel a lot for work, and so I get to really live my life when I'm out in these other places. So it's you know, I think that part of this is not about how I've perfected all of this.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:04:44]:
I think badassery is about realizing the stuff that you've done really well and realizing the stuff that you're still like. I haven't quite figured this one out, and that's the one I'm still I'm still on that journey.
Mahara Wayman [00:04:57]:
Well, it's so interesting that you would frame it like that. I wanna go back, though, to when you felt that niggle that you weren't comfortable, you know, thirty years ago when you left. And I'm I'm curious about if you could tell us a little bit more about that. You mentioned, you know, a bit of racism, a little bit of maybe cultural bias, whatever was going on. But where did you get the gumption to go?
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:05:23]:
I will say my parents always instilled adventure in us and my sister and I. So we did a lot of road trips and travel, and we were given a lot of autonomy and freedom. And because we did well in school, we were encouraged. I mean, we were I was a first generation college student, and my parents didn't go to college, but it was from from the from my memory, my first memory, it was always you're gonna go to college. It was just like a it was a given. And because I lived in a small town with no college, that automatically meant leaving and going somewhere. And so I I think that and I'll tell you, I will say also my parents did me a tremendous favor in addition to just the road trips and stuff we took as kids. When I was a junior in high school, my parents gifted me a two and a half week, trip to Europe with, like, a high school group.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:06:20]:
A friend of theirs in a in a nearby town was a chaperone on this trip, and they paid for me to be able to join her teen the teens from her school. And that, as you know, right, international travel is it's a game changer. It is I think for I would imagine that a common thread across a lot of badass women is early exposure to very different things that really open your eyes and really expand your thinking because you gotta be able to expand your thinking to be a badass. And so I think that that planted a seed in me that I very much wanted to do more travel. And that's also why I ended up getting an international MBA and doing, you know, an overseas study abroad and things like that because of just those early seeds that were planted.
Mahara Wayman [00:07:12]:
So what did you learn about yourself on such an early
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:07:29]:
I guess I I learned that there was still so much I didn't know about the way other people live and just just little things like breakfast, you know, like fizzy water and hard bread. I mean, now I love those things. I drink, you know, three or four cans of fizzy water a day. I I love hard good hard bread, you know, if it's made right. But at the time in high school, you know, it was just like I think it was super eye opening opening to realize how other people live their lives. And I I guess maybe I it's maybe I didn't know it at the time, but I think I realized that there's a curiosity in me that was a bit insatiable. And I couldn't have articulated it that way at 17 years old, but now, you know, x number of years later, I can look back and say that that that was really, I think a part of that learning journey is just being super curious about the world.
Mahara Wayman [00:08:34]:
I think you hit the nail on the head. I personally think that curiosity is a key component to being a badass because and this came up in a recent podcast I did with another guest, this understanding or this idea that curiosity is without judgment. Right? Because it's just curious. Well, no. I don't have any expectations. I just want I'm just curious. And I I do believe that's part of being a badass is is is giving yourself permission to be curious. Right? To be curious.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:09:03]:
Absolutely. And I think what you just said is really critical, the the idea of no judgment, because that also works in terms of how we judge ourselves and having all the answers. Right? So if I'm just curious about something, I don't it's okay if I don't actually know the answer. And that is especially for women of a certain age, that is a hard thing to to be okay with because some of us, you know, at a again, of a certain age, I'm in my fifties, we came up in a world where we very much had to compete with men and with each other, with other women. And so there were certain sort of characteristics or tendencies that we had to lean into in order to feel like we fit in that world. And I think for probably a lot of badass women, we felt very early on, like, we were uncomfortable in that skin. I was. I was like, I don't really wanna have to compete with you.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:10:00]:
I don't really wanna have to be all, like, defensive and weird about this, but it took a long time for me to understand what that looks like and how to, like, walk in my own way and and be in my own lane. But I think for a lot of us, we came up in a way that we felt like we had to always look like we were right and that we knew everything. There was too much risk in not doing that. And when you can let go of that and just be in a place of curiosity, oh my god. That's so freeing. And, again, I think another critical component to a badass woman.
Mahara Wayman [00:10:37]:
So so good. Okay. You left, and you obviously went to college as you've already mentioned. What did you study in college?
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:10:44]:
My undergraduate is in computer information systems. It's a business degree. Then I got almost right away, I went and got a master's degree in international business with a focus on Latin America Studies. And then fast forward twenty something years later, I got a doctorate in business administration and social impact management.
Mahara Wayman [00:11:06]:
Alrighty. Lots of lots of education.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:11:09]:
Lot Mhmm.
Mahara Wayman [00:11:10]:
Bad ass story. What are some of the things that really stick out in your mind now that you're in your fifties? You've done all of this stuff. When it comes to, wow, I can't believe I did that. Do you have any of those memories?
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:11:24]:
Oh, yeah. Oh my gosh. So this actually came up. When I was recently writing my book, I had a few of these memories because I was relating my own story. You know, the editors were like, what's your story related to this? I was like, oh, well, yeah, actually, I do have a story. You know, early in my career, I was really blessed with some bosses that gave me a lot of autonomy, whether that was just their style or whether it's because I was an intern or or a young entry level person that they I was probably considered expendable, and I was given projects that may be like, okay. Whatever. Go do this.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:11:58]:
And my first job as a I did a a a co op, which is like a rotating internship when I was doing my undergrad in computer information systems. And so I was trading off with this guy who was an intern coming from Georgia Tech. I was at Georgia State University at the time. And I come in on the day first day, and he's like, okay. So here's this program we're building, this database thing. And so alright. And that was like a Friday, and Monday, the job was mine. I was like, do they know that I don't know how to code in this programming language? So I took the manual home, and over the weekend, I studied it.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:12:37]:
I came in Monday morning, and I started coding. And I was very like, I was very early in the, in that process of my degree program. I had because of my college career, I was already, like, on my third year of third or fourth year of college. I took six years to do my undergraduate. I did I did that, you know, that longer route. But I was like, I guess I was just gonna figure this out. You know? Throw me in the deep end. Same thing when I learned, Spanish.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:13:07]:
When I when I went into my master's program, I came in with, like, high school Spanish that I didn't even remember. And I went from zero to fluent within six months. And that is, again, me just diving in head first, get out of my way. I'm gonna make this happen. And so educational experiences, the that just really presented me with those opportunities to be just kinda thrust into this environment where I was like, well, I guess I'll just figure this out. And, you know, entrepreneurship, of course, is that journey as well. A lot of my careers have been that journey where there's no real clear path. There's no, like, this is what you do, and then this is what you do, and then this is what you do, and then this is what you do.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:13:49]:
I was always just sort of like, I'm just kind of, you know, feeling my way in the dark and find the light. Oh, okay. There we go. Turn on the light. Illuminate those around me. That's sort of my, you know, my mission in life, really. And as a as an educator and a sustainability advocate and champion. But, yeah, I think that some of those moments, I can look back at those and be like, I did that.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:14:13]:
I did that. I made that happen, and it's very helpful to have that in your memory when you start to doubt yourself. In fact, I recently was thinking about that. I was thinking about how when I started my company in 2016, I had been on this journey where I had wanted one thing after another, and I went after it. I wanted, you know, those careers. I went after them. I wanted to get a career in Silicon Valley. I went after it.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:14:37]:
I went there. I wanted a career in financial services. I figured that out, and I went there. And I did I did all these things throughout my life. But when I when it came to and not that they were easy. You have to figure it out, make it happen. But when I came to starting my company in 2016, I had been thinking for years, this little voice in me saying, oh, one day I wanna work in corporate social responsibility. And not really sure not really a particular plan, but I was laid off.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:15:05]:
So I was kind of in this soul searching moment. I kept hearing that little voice, and I was like, you're 46 years old. I mean, this is at the time. You're 46 year old. What what day are you waiting for? Like and I realized that I was waiting for permission from, you know, probably in my mind, a white man, you know, because just sort of an amalgamation of all the bosses and father figures and everything in my life. I realized I was waiting for someone else to say, it's okay if you go after that. I'd never done that. I had gone after all the rest of these things.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:15:37]:
I decided I did it. I didn't need anybody's permission. And I realized I was waiting on someone's permission. And I realized because this was such a critical dream, such an important part of my destiny, that there was a lot of fear there, and I had to, like, just really overcome that. And so it was the first time in my life that I think I was really almost paralyzed to go after. And and I'm really glad I had that sort of feminist wake up call, which came from reading a book called The Confidence Code, which is all about confidence in women. And it just was like, boom. I I I really had some revelations there and and went after what I wanted.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:16:16]:
And same with writing a book. It was like, you know, whose permission are you waiting on to do the thing that you've been saying for thirty years you're gonna do? I mean, you know?
Mahara Wayman [00:16:26]:
So interesting that you bring this up because I just took this morning recorded for another podcast that I do, bite sized bits of wisdom, and and I talk about taking radical responsibility for your life. And I think it's really powerful that you recognize that fear came up for you for the really, really big dream, for the one that was And up until that point, it hadn't really surfaced because you're kinda just flying by the seat of your pants doing whatever you wanted. So very badass to recognize that and, of course, very badass to to walk through the fear anyway and still do the thing. Is there anything else that you've come up against that you haven't quite figured out yet? Because you've been a lot and, you know, not to open up a can of worms or I have to
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:17:12]:
Get out of my head, Maharaj. Honestly I mean, literally, this is crazy. I I love that you asked that. Of course, you would ask that because that's your intuition of being able to have this kind of conversation. I'm literally having that right now because the what goes along with having a book is being a speaker, and I'm a great speaker. I get in I get invited to speak at a lot of industry events, but I wanna be the, you know, bigger ticket keynote. And I and I have what it takes to do that, but I have and for years and years and years and years, people have told me, like, you should, you know, you should have a TED talk. I mean, I've been hearing this for years, And I know I'm I'm very good.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:17:56]:
I get very good feedback, and I love I just love being in front of the audience. I don't mean like that as, like, an ego thing, although I'm sure that's an element of it. But I love to see the light come on. I love to see people be like, oh, I I can understand what you're saying. It's so approachable and accessible. That's a big part of of my brand as a company and as a speaker, as a consultant and a speaker, is being very accessible and approachable and practical about sustainability, and it it really resonates with people, which I love. But to be to get beyond, like, oh, come speak to our group of 50 people about this technical topic, and, oh, it's so you made it so interesting and wonderful. To go from that to, like, you know, here's 5 figures to speak to our our audience of 5,000.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:18:40]:
There's a big jump in terms of what you have to do in terms of marketing, getting yourself out there, believing in yourself. And I have made a lot of excuses. And now that the book is out, I'm out of excuses. There are no more excuses. I now have a published book, which is the thing, you know, like, for a lot of speakers. Right? They have a published book. I've done that. I checked that one off the off the list, and I already am working on the second book.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:19:08]:
So I have no more excuses to to go after this dream. And so, the last even just these last few weeks, I will tell you this timing of this is really interesting because just even, just in full transparency, I actually just had a little bit of a, like, a a a short term relationship that ended. And it was super wonderful and great time, and it was a very sort of, like, mutual, okay. This is why this isn't gonna continue going. But I was like, alright, Aurora, lean into what this is telling you about yourself, about your confidence, about how you wanna show up in the world because I believe everything in life has a lesson. Whatever, you know, what whatever the pain, whatever the joy, lean into it and figure out what is what are you learning out of this. And I feel like this particular experience coupled with some other things this year is really just putting me in this place of, like, that's it. You're there's no you're done with the excuses.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:20:07]:
There's nothing there's nothing else for you to lean on in terms of, like, putting this off and not pursuing the thing that you know you were born to do. Because of all those moves I've made, of all the career changes and all the different, like, oh, I think I'll go do this and, oh, I I'll try that. The one thing that I have known since early, early, early in my twenties is I always knew I was meant to be a speaker and an author. I didn't really know what that meant. I didn't know what I was gonna pontificate on, but I knew I could see myself and I knew my future was speaker and author. And so at a certain point, you have to say, are you gonna be one of those people who on their deathbed is lamenting the dreams they never followed, or are you gonna be a speaker and author? Well, I'm halfway there. I'm an author. And so now I feel like this is sort of the next hurdle, and it's probably it probably seems easy from the outside looking in because I am a good speaker and I have a book.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:21:02]:
But anybody who knows anything about marketing, and I don't like marketing. I'm not great at it. I'm not good at the whole social media thing and all that. So this is like, I'm having to just really do some soul searching and thinking about them. What does the path look like? It doesn't have to look like doing tasks you don't enjoy, but it has to look like you getting somebody to do those tasks. And so just there's a lot of practicality to those steps, but there's also a lot of deep confidence building, soul searching. Do you believe in yourself? Do you really see yourself manifesting kind of work in this as well?
Mahara Wayman [00:21:37]:
Very, very, a very real challenge for all of us on a regular basis, whether it's to become an internationally renowned speaker. And by the way, anybody that can use the term the word pontificate so easily, yes. You're meant to be a speaker and an author. But not everybody knows that word. I love that word. Wanna call that out. But I also wanna highlight, you know, I think it's yay for you. Right? Because some part of you has recognized that you've been putting up these blocks, distractions, whatever you wanna call it, and they're all done with.
Mahara Wayman [00:22:07]:
But, really, I'm just gonna and I'm not gonna go into coaching mode other than to say for listeners as well. Sometimes we can benefit by letting go of the need. You said it earlier, the need to know how or the need to be right And sit with the joy of of the connection that you are absolutely saying to the universe, I'm ready to step into this greatness. Right? I don't actually know how to get there, but I accept that I'm there I'm here. And just sort of sit with that. Yeah. It is such a powerful thing to recognize our purpose.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:22:47]:
Absolutely. And I 100% agree with you. I do feel in recent days that I've been having this and, again, this is the great timing of this conversation. I almost feel elated. And there's some anxiety and some like, oh my god. I don't know how to do this, but I also feel this sort of like, I'm finally there. I'm finally at that place. And when I've gotten to this place before, that's it.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:23:11]:
Badass kicks in. Get out of my lane. Right? And so I know I don't know what it looks like, but I know that I finally crossed some sort of threshold. You know, I don't know how long it'll take and all that. I'm not and all of that doesn't even matter at this point because I I can feel that I have finally crossed that threshold that prevents me from you know, in the past, anytime I was like, well, I don't know. And I'm kind of standing outside the door, I I've crossed the threshold. And so I I think it will be fun to, you know, check-in in a few months or a year to see Yeah. Just how renowned I am.
Mahara Wayman [00:23:46]:
We are so we are so connected now. You're like my we're very we're very alike. Just saying. Because Of course, we are. Probably what year are we? Probably fifteen years ago. I I used to run. Can't quite a can't picture the fact that I used to run all the time, but I would run. I remember distinctly I would have these daydreams as I was running of speaking on an international stage.
Mahara Wayman [00:24:11]:
And just like you, wasn't quite sure. I I thought it would have to maybe do with the the work I was doing at the time. I was in the weight loss industry, but it wasn't that wasn't it. I just knew that I what got me going and excited as I was running was picturing myself motivating, you know, a a a theater of thousands and thousands and thousands. And that's all I knew. I didn't actually know that you could be a motor. I didn't know you could get paid to speak. I didn't know that fifteen years ago.
Mahara Wayman [00:24:38]:
What did I know? I worked for Weight Watchers. So I can really appreciate that because I'm like, wow. All these now I do this for a living and, well, it's still in my future. I just don't know where or when it's gonna pop up.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:24:49]:
Okay. 100%.
Mahara Wayman [00:24:50]:
Yeah. It's so exciting when you when you have that. Yeah. And you're right. There is a level of excitement. So, guys, if you are going through life and it ain't very exciting or you are feeling that the color is being drained from your day, take a take a moment to question and ask yourself what lights me up. I totally get the need to pay the bills. Right? I know that feeling.
Mahara Wayman [00:25:12]:
We all do. But it doesn't mean that you can't have some joy in your life. And it's badass to look for that joy if especially if it's missing. So ask yourself those questions. Like, what's gonna light me up? What's the dream
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:25:25]:
that Absolutely.
Mahara Wayman [00:25:25]:
This darkest night? You know, I think about this and and then go after it. Totally badass thing. Alright. I wanna know about your book.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:25:33]:
You know, I always knew I was gonna write a book, but the question was, like, what's the topic? And same with getting a doctorate degree. When I was getting my doctorate degree, I was like, well, I mean, it's going to be a lot of work. What do I care enough about that I'm going to be willing to spend five years and, you know, how much money on it? And it's a lot of work. And so I ended up choosing sustainability. Social impact management is the title of my sorry. I'm, like, being the worst guest with all this noise that I'm making. Ta da. Here's the book.
Mahara Wayman [00:26:09]:
I love it.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:26:12]:
And I and and send me your address. I'll send you one and sign it.
Mahara Wayman [00:26:16]:
I'm sorry. Look up to three so we can read the title.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:26:19]:
Yes. And it's probably flipped because of the way can you see it okay?
Mahara Wayman [00:26:23]:
Exponential impact harnesses potential to drive sustainability in organizations. Love the fact that your nails match the book.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:26:32]:
Oh my god. I know. Right? Oh my goodness. I'm sorry. Well, I don't feel so bad now because I'm like, that it, like, way to be a good good guest with having everything ready, making all that noise and everything. So so, but, you know, hey. This This is real. This is how you this is badasses are real.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:26:50]:
We're real women. Right? So yeah. So this book is, I always knew that, you know, Saint with my doctorate degree, I got a a degree in social impact management, and I did a study on social, enterprise, like food startups that had a social or environmental mission and kind of like what was hindering them or helping them with their business. Because entrepreneurship is another huge passion. I've mentored entrepreneurs. I spent about fifteen years doing a lot of entrepreneur mentorship, business plan writing, business plan competition judge, things like that. I don't do as much of that anymore, but I maybe because I am an entrepreneur. I live it every day, but I still love that.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:27:32]:
And so I would say probably this book is about intrepreneurs because it's really about the people that I've been inspired by in the last especially, like, the last ten years or so, talking to all these people who are informal, unofficial champions of sustainability within organizations and how they start out with this spark of interest and passion. And for a lot of them, even turn it into full time jobs and departments. Some of them don't take it as far as that, or they haven't yet. They're still early in their journey. And then also as a sustainability consultant and just a person who's spent, you know, thirty five plus years in the corporate world, I had all these observations about empowering people and enabling people to be able to actually drive change in organizations. And my passion and the work that I do in my company is really about engaging staff. I do work with executives and do, like, strategy and things like that. But my my heart beats for standing in a room of 40 staff that include dishwashers and servers and line cooks and all these people that often get discounted because I most of my consulting work is in the hospitality and events world.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:28:47]:
And so a lot of those line level people get discounted when it comes to these, sort of altruistic things that companies do, or sometimes they're doing it now because it's expected by stakeholders and and, you know, other external entities. But the line level people are excited to be part of these things. They wanna be part of these things. They wanna learn. They wanna grow. They wanna contribute. And we have just really missed the boat in in involving them and engaging them. And not just them, but, like, middle levels of organizations as well and and sort of early career professionals that have so much talent and energy.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:29:29]:
And we and that energy is just trapped because they don't feel empowered to be able to, you know, live out their passion within their their functional context or their career. And so this this book is about four leadership principles that organizations or champions within organizations can follow. So the four parts of the book are empathize, enlighten, empower, and encourage. And and within each of those, are there chapters that kinda what does that look like? And it's very practical. There's application discussion questions and some little, you know, mini case studies and things like that. So it's really, to me, about driving change. This might be about driving sustainability, but honestly it applies to innovation or any other sort of change that you're trying to, enable within an organization to better an organization.
Mahara Wayman [00:30:23]:
Wow. Sounds amazing. And this may be totally off the wall. But as you were sharing that with me, I couldn't help but wonder how did your early experience as a young person recognizing what was a little bit off in your world, how that may have affected your and grown into a passion to help the unseen have a voice.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:30:55]:
100%. Oh my god. I love the way you just expressed that. That is to help the unseen have a voice. My mind is blown right now because that is a lot of what I do. I and I I also am driven a lot by social justice. So another thing that really sparked my journey that led to sustainability was twenty five ish years ago, you know, in a faith based community, I would see all these activities like, oh, sign up to work in the nursery, sign up to go to Mexico and work at this orphanage and go paint school, paint a home or schools, go do things, go garden and all of this sort of community service type stuff. And I remember thinking like, but I'm not good at any of that.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:31:45]:
I don't enjoy children. I'm not good at painting. I'm not like, you know what I'm good at? I'm good at business. I am very good at business. I'm good at business planning. I'm good at marketing and communications. I'm how does that get used in to serve the world? And I felt frustrated that my gifts and talents, the things I best bring into the world didn't have a a Sunday morning sign up option. You know? And so, I started learning about social enterprises and particularly interested in the ones that are, you know, sort of a for profit model or they use like a market, you know, some sort of product or service that they can put out into the market to raise the money needed to do whatever their their good thing is.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:32:30]:
And and the good things that really, really appeal to me are the ones that provide job opportunities and job training for people with extreme barriers, people with, you know, criminal history, people, you know, teen moms, people with, you know, recovering from addiction, all of these things. And I am extremely passionate to see people experience dignity in their work. And it bothers me when when people at, like, the line levels of organizations do not get to experience in the dignity that comes with social and environmental initiatives or other corporate stuff. You know? And so that concept of social justice, even though my work probably is a little more on the environmental side now, the social justice is at the heart of what really drives me. And so, again, going back to my childhood, going back to what sparked me, observing the inequities and racism that I observed in the South very much informed that trajectory that has social justice as, the current underneath all of it.
Mahara Wayman [00:33:41]:
I know I said that earlier. And I just wanna I wanna highlight that it is badass to recognize that dignity is not the privileged only.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:33:50]:
Yes.
Mahara Wayman [00:33:52]:
Those two should don't those two words shouldn't even be in the same sentence.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:33:55]:
And sustainability has become has been cast as a very elitist specialist kind of thing. And I am my mission in life is to is to dismantle that, is to make it democratize it, make it available, make it something that all levels of an organization can participate in and contribute to and benefit from.
Mahara Wayman [00:34:21]:
Can you talk a little bit? Because as you say sustainability, of course, first thing I first place I went was the environment because those words go together like birds of a feather. We've been talking as much. But as you and I are talking now, I can't help but think of all the other levels of sustainability that our listeners may not be aware exist. Would you mind speaking to those?
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:34:44]:
Absolutely. And it's one of the things I I bring up very early in the book because there's a fundamental misunderstanding of what sustainability means. So the best way to demonstrate what sustainability entails is to look at the United Nations sustainable development goals. And there's actually I would encourage your your listeners to to look up the the chart. It's, like, one of the only visuals I have in the book because it's so, it so perfectly shows what sustainability is. So it's it looks like that. K. And then I know that's really small for you to see, but I'll explain that it what's really critical about this is to your point, everyone always thinks of sustainability as the environmental piece.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:35:27]:
But the 17 sustainable development goals, the first they're they're aligned in a chart with, like, six in the first row, six in the second row. Like and the first six are all social and economic. No poverty, no hunger, health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water, and sanitation. Those are the first six. That's the top row. None of that is strictly environment, really. Number seven is clean power and energy. So that's when you start to get more into the environmental.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:36:00]:
But eight is decent work and economic growth. Nine is industry and infrastructure. 10 is reduced inequalities. So if you look at the full chart, you will see that sustainability is what is truly considered the triple bottom line. It is people. It is planet, and it's also the money piece. It's the economic. It's It's the profit or prosperity piece of it as well, and that is beautifully encapsulated in the chart of the sustainable development goals.
Mahara Wayman [00:36:28]:
So so good. And, of course, because I'm I am who I am, I was also thinking on a different level when we think of our journeys as as spiritual beings having a human existence. What's the sustainability within my family? What's the general sustainability of of our mental health as a family? I I don't even know if that's a topic, but that's where I went.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:36:50]:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, honestly, because it very much tied into the especially among sustainability practitioners, like the people who really nerd out on this and are talking about it all the time. The concept of wellness, work life balance, mental health, like, all of those things are very, very much part of it. And, interestingly, the the fourth part of the book, encourage, it's only one chapter, but it is critically important. And what I say in that chapter is that oftentimes, the planetary caretakers are so busy and working so hard to take care of the planet that they're that it's at the detriment of taking care of themselves, that they may not be aware of their own needs for mental health support for the burnout factor is tremendous among people, as you can imagine, who are driven by passion. And and sometimes the pay is not you know, a lot of times, it's getting better. But when I was first getting into this, people kinda had this mentality of like, oh, you're doing good for the planet, so you must work for free.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:37:57]:
Nope. I like money. I like to be paid. So there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing uniquely, you know, anti good, anti justice, or anti, you know, environment about wanting to make money and pay your bills and have nice things. Right? I mean, within reason and sustainably, of course. But, yes, I think, there's been a journey for me about what all of that looks like for me personally. Like, for example, for me, I am deeply, deeply, deeply passionate about all things food and beverage when it comes to sustainability.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:38:29]:
One of the first sort of lines in the sand that I drew in 02/2010 in terms of my personal agency for a cause or for this this, you know, work was when I started learning about the amount of enslaved labor that is still in the supply chains of most chocolate. And so I said, okay. From now on, when I buy a candy bar, you know, not so much if I eat out in a restaurant or anything, but if I buy a candy bar, I will only buy a Fairtrade label candy bar, which means I buy really high quality, very expensive chocolate. But it's worth it, not only because I feel good about it because but also because that label does tend to be on stuff that also doesn't include a bunch of crappy ingredients that we don't need to be putting in our body. So, you know, I buy regenerative farm meat when I can. I buy pasture raised stuff. I research chemicals and all of these things. So I have my own sort of personal journey of how these things manifest and what that looks like for me sustainability wise.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:39:32]:
And a big, big, big, big factor about that in my life is is what I eat and and real and what I put on my skin. Because if it's on you, it's in you. So I'm very passionate about those things personally.
Mahara Wayman [00:39:44]:
Holy moly. Okay. So thank you for for doing that little bit of a segue deep dive into something that was unexpected. I love conversations like this. You've you've got the book. You showed us the book. Your nails match the book. Not always be that way, but I I just wanna call that out.
Mahara Wayman [00:40:01]:
That's really awesome. You will be a 5 figure keynote speaker or 6 figure keynote speaker.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:40:08]:
Thank you. Yes.
Mahara Wayman [00:40:10]:
That's awesome. What else is on the agenda for you?
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:40:13]:
Yeah. You know, I guess probably, one of the things that I really want to figure out how to do is a little bit more of a digital nomad kind of life. I mean, I've had I've had waves of that in my life where I travel a ton and I just can and because of what I do, I can work anywhere. I have two dogs, and they're great travelers. They've stayed in lots of Airbnbs and hotels. And, I think it would be fun to you know, I've romanticized like a lot of people, especially during COVID. I was really, you know, romanticizing a lot of what that would look like. And so I still harbor a little, like, you know, impatience.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:40:59]:
I was gonna say anxiety, but it's not anxiety. I'm not, you know, anxious for it. But I'm I'm impatient to see how that could possibly manifest in my life because I think it's one of those things that there's a lot of logistical and practical things that could really derail almost anyone thinking about pursuing something like that. A very dear friend of mine, she lives that life. She is over the last, like, four or five years, I've really seen her over the last four years because she was laid off early in in COVID. And I've seen her go from San Diego to Colombia to Hawaii to now she lives in in Spain, and she's spending time now in France. And she's I mean, like, I'm never sure where she is and where she's gonna be. And she's she's done that with a dog.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:41:42]:
She has, you know, a partner in her life. Like, she's she's managed to defy all the odds that typically come up when people think about trying to, you know, people dream of things like that, but a lot of people don't pull the trigger for like, better term. But, you know, they don't make it happen. And, you know, I've been inspired by how she's made that happen. And I've done a lot of that, but I feel like there's still this sort of level of nomadic existence because I like change. I like variety. I get bored easily. And so I think that that could be just an exciting and fun way to live a season of my life.
Mahara Wayman [00:42:20]:
I am I agree with you. I think it I've had a few guests on the show that are nomads. Oh, yeah? I have a good friend who homeschooled kids. They traveled the world for a year and homeschooled the kids. And so, yeah, it's it's definitely it's definitely a life for sure. I'm curious though. What will it take for you to tell people that you live in that?
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:42:45]:
Oh my gosh. Well, that's and that's a great question. Oh, I love it. See, like, a good coach asks you the question that makes you go, you gotta shimmy. Like, your whole body has to shimmy because you know there's, like, so much truth in that. I I and I think it's very interesting that you asked me this question on election day in The United States because that that has a lot to do with why it's challenging for me to feel like I have a life here. I live in an extremely conservative area. And so just statistically speaking, I can't just, like, go to the normal kinds of places you might go and find people who have, similar enough interest.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:43:30]:
It doesn't mean I can't. I mean, you know, obviously, I have a lot of relationships with people from all over the spectrum. So that's, you know, not an an issue in terms of just my willingness and ability to be friendly with people. But to really live my life and really have friendships and relationships, it's not something that comes natural to me. I I'm good at developing relationships when I have built in scenarios, and I think that always surprises people because they're like, you seem so friendly. It's like, yeah. But, you know, trans translating that into how do I show up in public spaces where I could meet people, where how do I meet up with people? You know, it that is hard. It is really hard to find community when you live in an area where you automatically don't fit it.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:44:22]:
I I'm not married. I don't have kids. I don't, you know, I'm not part of organized religion. I'm not a Republican. I'm not, like, I I don't check any of the boxes, and I know that there are other people like me or like minded or, you know, people that I could, you know, vibe with here, but finding them takes a lot of effort. And quite frankly, when it comes to the end of the day and, you know, the idea of going and going to a bar or whatever. I don't even know what that looks like anymore. You know? Like, it it's exhausting.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:44:55]:
And I just think I'm gonna curl up with the dogs on the couch, and next week, I get to go be in Denver. And, oh, and next week, I'm in Boston. Oh, and next week, I'm in Palm Springs. And next week, I'm in New York. Next week, I'm in Miami. I'll just do the fun thing there. And so that's not a that's not fair to me. I know.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:45:12]:
I'm not being fair to myself. I'm not giving myself a a chance. I'm not giving people here a chance to know me as well. And so I I do think that that is a next frontier is for me to figure out, what it could look like to have not just even here where I live. I don't have a very large life when it comes to just, like, friendships. I have a very large life when it comes to my professional world, but I I need to expand my world personally. And so I feel like I'm at a place now more than I've been you know, I've been divorced for six years now. So there's that.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:45:54]:
It's you know, that and COVID, forget it. You know? And so I feel like I am at a place where I can start to I haven't crossed the threshold, but I feel like I'm in a place now where I can start to think more about what could that look like in my life. And I think, I think a lot of that, I just kinda have to throw up to the universe and expect you know, send some positive energy out that I'm open to meeting people, open to conversations, open to relationships, open to dating even, and hope that that energy comes back to me in a way that is, edifying, grows grows me, but feels comfortable and safe, you know, and and feels like friendship, I guess.
Mahara Wayman [00:46:41]:
First of all, thank you for sharing all of that. And what really stood out for me was it is absolutely possible to be friendly but not feel safe. And I think safety what I heard was that safety plays a huge part in feeling this is home. Yep. Right? And
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:47:06]:
so
Mahara Wayman [00:47:06]:
I just wanted to I wanted to say I wanted to thank you for sharing that because I think you you were very eloquent in without pointing fingers or anything like that, just saying, look it. There's a level. Yes. I'm you know, I'm I fit in in a way. I look like everybody else. But there's some marked differences that are absolutely being exacerbated today for you. Yep. And that can produce within a level of unsafety or a level of quiet that precludes feeling like this is home.
Mahara Wayman [00:47:38]:
So I thank you for for bringing that for having that conversation. We don't often talk this deep on my show, I don't think, but this is fun. I love it. But here's the thing. Part of being a badass is recognizing what's important to us and being willing to go look for it if it's not right next door, if it's not here. So I really applaud that in you.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:48:00]:
Thank you.
Mahara Wayman [00:48:00]:
I really do applaud that in you and especially with the turbulent times that your country is going through. But just to tie this all up with the bow, is your book available on Amazon? It is. Yes. The link will be in show notes.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:48:15]:
And the the audiobook, I just got the email today that the audiobook, which I narrated, is finished. So I just probably have to upload the files that should be available. Probably by the time this podcast comes out, I'll have the audiobook, available as well on Audible. And I think it I I forget, it's distributed through Amazon. So wherever whatever platforms they put it out on, it'll it'll be there.
Mahara Wayman [00:48:38]:
Let's just do a quick recap. Aurora, what makes you badass? Oh,
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:48:43]:
because I just exude badass, man. I mean, that's like asking what makes a frog jump. I think, I honestly culmination of things, but I also have to say I was a badass from the beginning. I mean, I can trace some of my badassery back from, you know, back into my my kid years. You know? So I think it's I think that it's, an, combination of nature and nurture. Some of it I was born with. It's just how I was made and how I was designed. And some of it is how I was encouraged and fostered by people that came across my path over the years.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:49:25]:
And whatever it is, I will say this. I'm so grateful for it because I talk to people a lot of times that I see their their potential withering on the vine because they don't have enough badass in them. And I know I will also say this, that I do believe there's an element of badassery in in all of us, and we have to choose to do the thing that unleashes that. And I'll tell you for me, a lot of that in the last couple of years has also been about getting healthy and trying to be, like, more active. And there's confidence. There's there's, you know, therapy, whatever. There's a lot of different things that you can bring into your life to unlock the badassery box. And I I have made a lot of efforts over the years to do the thing to unleash the badassery.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:50:29]:
So I I do think that part of why I am that way is some conscious choices I've made to say, I'm gonna do the thing that makes me stick out and stand out versus I'm gonna do the easy, lazy thing. I I don't always make that choice a % of the time, but, obviously, more often than not, I've made the I've made the the badass choice.
Mahara Wayman [00:50:54]:
Alright. Will it surprise you to know, Aurora, that my new group program that I haven't launched yet, I'm about to launch, is called Unleash?
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:51:01]:
Oh my gosh. No. Yeah. Of course it is. That's awesome. I love it.
Mahara Wayman [00:51:07]:
Been such an amazing conversation. So I wanna thank you for joining me today on the art of badassery. I've absolutely loved our conversation. We
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:51:16]:
are Me
Mahara Wayman [00:51:17]:
too. Guys, thanks so much for listening and joining us today on the Art of Badassery. My name is Mahara, and join us next week. Join me next week when I have another amazing guest on the Art of Badassery podcast. Take care, everyone. Thanks a lot, Aurora.
Aurora Dawn Benton [00:51:31]:
Thank you.
Mahara Wayman [00:51:38]:
Thanks for tuning in to another Badass episode. Your support means the world to me. So if you enjoyed what you heard today, don't forget to like, share, and rate the episode on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback keeps the badassery flowing. And, hey, if you're ready to unleash your inner badass and conquer whatever life throws your way, why not book a complimentary badass breakthrough session? Just click the link in the show notes to schedule your session, and let's kick some serious butt together. Until next time, stay fearless, stay fabulous, and of course, stay badass. This is Mahara signing off.
