Noize PolluZion Podcast

Jasmine Castillo 0:00
Today's guest is Katie Gall, she has dedicated herself to helping women, creatives and business owners of the world reclaim their time, energy, power and competence to boldly go after their goals and live. unapologetic lives. She don't just talk the talk, she walks the walk. Her credentials are kick ass and lend themselves to a holistic approach. She became a certified health coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Give a warm welcome to ever blessed Katie gall. Hello. Hi, Katie. How are you today? Good. How are you? Oh, um, I am hanging in there correctly. gratulate Yeah, said an interesting year. Yeah. I was really enjoying your interview your Facebook Live with Andre. I mean, you guys up so well. And I'm like rewatching it again? I was commenting on like, Oh my god. You guys. A beautiful mesh of

inspirational souls just in the same room? Well, virtually.

Katie Gall 1:12
That was a that was a fun conversation. No, no, I you know, I find myself I like I love doing podcasts. I'm very much a people person. I like getting to know other people. I don't have a problem talking about myself.

Jasmine Castillo 1:30
Yeah, well, that's why that's why I have you as a guest and not the other way around. I would probably you probably hear crickets if I started talking. You know, I won't. I will barely say anything at all, because I'm just, I'm like a wallflower. And, um, I didn't get to hear you sing. But I know that that's one of the things that you you've mastered in. I was kind of hinting at with the another podcast guests that I was a first a second soprano. So and then I'm right now I'm a voiceover artist. Gnosis Sure. Not that. Yeah. So I don't I'm just kind of like, my face. As long as I can, like, be here. I'm perfectly fine. No one. I still don't know why. But I just I just the thing for me. I was like, You know what, I always been wanting to do a voiceover ad for many years. And people kept saying, Gosh, you have such a beautiful, really, you know, soothing voice. You should just like get into it. And I'm like, you know, throw it away. You know, whatever.

Katie Gall 2:28
Yeah, well, as you heard on that interview, I love I'm good with whatever direction we go in. I'm down with it being a conversation does not have to be about me, either.

Jasmine Castillo 2:40
So, how many other podcasts have you been on so far? I guess. I know. That's kind of outside the realm but I wanted to ask in general

Katie Gall 2:48
No, no, no, that's fine. I think I've done five ish. Other ones. Okay. Yeah, I think I've done five other ones. I just did another one. I did one earlier this week. And then it did. Um, I've done like, a whole bunch since like, August. Like I kind of just jumped on the bandwagon and I was like, go go go. And I had a couple of them. Like, a year or two ago also. Okay, that wasn't like, I wasn't like, fully on the bandwagon, then. I guess. Yeah. So but I've done a bunch and I generally know and understand the flow of them and I'm good with whatever you want to throw at me.

Jasmine Castillo 3:31
Okay. Yeah, mine's pretty much informal laid back. I try to keep it that way. Cuz I get very uneasy when it's like starched collar kind of conversation.

Katie Gall 3:41
Yeah, no, that's this is not me. Yeah.

Jasmine Castillo 3:45
So just like to tool friends, like just pretend like I'm Andre into shooting a brace. Well, you know, minus, you know, I'm minus the colorful words. I love it. Yeah. But

Katie Gall 3:59
he's a he's a fun character. Yeah,

Jasmine Castillo 4:02
he seems like I would love to hang out with him like this. He reminds me of a gentleman that I another gentleman. His name is Keith, but very colorful, elaborate personality. I love it. I love it.

Katie Gall 4:14
So yeah, and here's a good time.

Jasmine Castillo 4:19
I know again, I apologize. I'm off the subject, but I just wanted to share that with you that I am not stalking you or anything I just like to learn about people. I don't like to jump in.

Katie Gall 4:32
I will say you're one of the only people that asked for like, what else have you done? Like I think I think you're one of the only people who actually wanted that information. So it was actually kind of nice to know that you were gonna go in like you actually like check out your guests. Yeah, like make sure you know and understand them first.

Jasmine Castillo 4:52
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. I love my nine year old jumps in like what Episode Are you in? Now? Who did you Record. I'm like, I'm on. Yeah, like, like, Okay. Finally, it's like if I said Bob Ross, he probably would freak out. But I'm like, No, Bob Ross is no longer.

Katie Gall 5:11
Listen, you know, I love that your nine year old knows Bob Ross. Did you know that? That's so funny. I used to watch him when I was like, eight. And like home sick from school. You know what I mean? Like, that was the only thing that was on. Because we didn't have many channels.

Jasmine Castillo 5:31
Yeah, he would turn like there was like three channels. In England, in England, it was like that it was the book to the telly was like three or four channels. Just turn it turn it off. I don't know how old you are. But I'm in my 40s. So there you go. Yeah, I'm 30. I'm almost 35. So we're not too far away from each other.

Yeah, yeah. So let's let's sit on the subject of who is Katie Gall? I mean, I am just here you're talking about? You're flabbergasted about my my background, but just a thought of like going through your I'm just admiring your background that you have. You are a holistic coach. I guess that's what you and Andre is open about.

It. And you've also you are a voice teacher as well, which is like I one of the things I wanted to talk about, but that and a performer like he just mentioned as well. So then you currently reside in New York.

Katie Gall 6:37
I know I actually live in New Hampshire now. Yeah, we moved here five years ago, I believe. We, my husband used to be a performer as well. You know, New York is a really, it can be a really awesome place to live. But at a certain point, especially when you know that you want kids. And you start realizing like, oh, with kids in my head, there was also a house. And there was also a picket fence. And there were also dogs, and suddenly, I don't think we're in New York City anymore. Um, and as a voice teacher and performer, you know, it's something that when you're young, you flock to the cities. But for the most part, you can do it from a lot of different places. And so I'm in a part of New Hampshire, that's really art centered. There's a lot of performance opportunities, especially now that we're, I mean, COVID is not done, obviously. But we're getting vaccinated. And so theaters are able to open up a little bit more. And so it's been good for us. It's been good. To be a little slower that way, which is know for

Jasmine Castillo 7:48
sure. For sure. Yeah. That's, that's a big leap. I mean, you've officially know that you are an adult. And you're, you are on a different side of the, of the spectrum, where you're just like, partying and kicking in New York style. And now you went from that to parenting. And it's like, you have to you have two beautiful worlds, but they're completely like, separate in different galaxy in different dimensions. So it's like, like, I felt like I've gone through like, three lifetimes so far, because of all the different transitions I've gone through. You know, I know you probably felt that way as well. And yes, your careers and life choices.

Katie Gall 8:35
Yeah, no, absolutely. And it is. It is weird to look back and, and be like, I used to, like, live and party in an apartment in New York. And like, I've been to like, like rooftop clubs in like short dresses and stuff. And I have zero interest in doing I like I like think about putting on heels. And I'm like, Ah,

Jasmine Castillo 9:05
actually try is like I have I tried it once. I was like, I don't know how these people do it for hours and then dance on heels because I used to do like different types of Latin dances and they Yeah, they have you have wear high heels doing the twists and twirls and I'm like, Well,

Katie Gall 9:26
yeah, it's the same for it's the same for musical theater, which is a lot of what I do right now. Um, you're in character shoes, which are heeled shoes most of the time, um, for at least four hours at a time, you know, and like, frequently that does include dancing and and you know, it's possible that you're in something different, but I still, the thing is like, I do still have to do it for my job. So why would I do it outside of my, my feet need a break? I'm in Birkenstocks,

Jasmine Castillo 9:58
like, right. Exactly.

Katie Gall 10:01
Yeah, yeah. But um, yeah, so So New York was a good time. New York was a good time, but it was it was time to leave when we did definitely.

Jasmine Castillo 10:10
Yeah, that's beautiful. I'm glad you were able to make that the opportunity, because some people are still stuck in that. That's perfectly fine. Everybody has their moment where they, you know, they're still in that mode. But um, yeah, it is. Kudos for them, if they could, if they could party hard till they're 40 power to them. Yeah.

Katie Gall 10:39
But honestly, honestly, like, what the, what started changing was that, like, I was doing the partying, and I was doing the dieting, and I was doing the drinking. And it ended up in a health scare that like, sort of precipitated everything afterwards. Like, it's the that that health scare led me to a health coach, and I ended up going to the same school that she went to. And then I went down the coaching route. Now, I got life coaching certifications, and so it kind of allowed it. You know, it's weird that like, if, if I hadn't gone to New York and done all of that living, I wouldn't be here. Like, I wouldn't have what I have now. Because it's also it's like, the reason I met my husband who also we are both from New Hampshire originally, which is why we decided to come back here because we want my family. Um, I'm so like, you know, I would never have met my New Hampshire husband in New York City, being to New Hampshire people that we never would have had kids like there. None of that ever would have happened.

Jasmine Castillo 11:47
Yes. predestined. I mean, yeah, even though and I think I've mentioned on it with a couple other times that I was in another podcast with another guest. Like, no matter how many times we try to force the situation of not going in that direction, because we feel uneasy about it. It's still, even though maybe two months down the road, or two years or two decades down the road, you're rerouted to the same position. You're predestined to have that happen. And you will always find a way to try to get around like, oh, cut corners. Oh, you know what, let me go this way. No, it's this was meant to happen. This was,

Katie Gall 12:31
yeah, you're meant for something else. And you know, I think I think there's part of me that sort of knew that. Um, because, you know, when I went to New York, it was to become a singer. It was to be on Broadway, it was to, you know, make it big and become famous. And they're still certainly a big piece of me that obviously love some attention, because otherwise, why would I go on a podcast, right? But there was also always that part of me while I was there that was like, this is not something's not right. Something isn't like this. I don't think this is where I'm gonna stay. And it's really hard to be on Broadway if you don't stay in New York City. Sure, yeah. So So yeah, no, I think I think it's really, it's really been a blessing that I was able to open my eyes and figure out what direction I needed to go.

Jasmine Castillo 13:29
Yeah, so cuz I mean, this kind of falls into like, is this one, consider one of the most courageous things you've ever accomplished or have done in your life?

Katie Gall 13:37
Um, I think Yeah, sort of having Well, I have two things there, actually. So yeah, definitely recognizing that my literal life's dream of being a Broadway performer was actually not going to bring me the happiness that I wanted it to, like the thing that I've been dreaming of doing since I was four. I had to figure out it like 23 that like, Oh, I've been wrong for 20 years. Yeah, that's rough. Oh, yeah. But I would also honestly, one of the things that I look back and see is like, that was actually very courageous that I was forced to go through was my first son was born two months premature. And so we ended up in the NICU for over a month. And like, life stopped because the Nikki that we were at was also a little over an hour away from where we lived, so it's not like I could just pop over to the hospital we like literally moved an hour away for a little over a month and I lived in a hospital with him. So that that was probably the actual most courageous thing. I don't know if it's courageous if you're if you have to go cuz it was my son. Yeah. But it that's what actually feels was like the most courageous thing?

Jasmine Castillo 15:01
Yeah, I mean, cuz you and you said, I mean, you're being a mother, you know, completely understand because if you think about it, it is pretty creative to create life. Yeah, just take that step like the, the uncertainty of your growing child, your health, I mean, your situation, your finances, that's just a whole that's a huge leap and people are able, if you're able to do it, you know, sometimes there's, there's no manual out there to do. It's just like, hey, you know what, step one, you know, get your get your finances in order step two, or whatever the case. Yeah, that never comes down to that. So, yeah, that's for sure. That's definitely a very courageous thing. And yeah, and I was I was going to ask, so you did mention that you in your son is doing well, right. He's, he's,

Katie Gall 16:03
he's doing really well. Um, he's, you know, developmentally he's all we're all good at this point. And I've actually I've had a second son since then who is a tornado in a tiny body?

Jasmine Castillo 16:19
I have one of those. Yes. Yeah. Thankfully, one. Yeah,

Katie Gall 16:24
he's hilarious. It's really funny a lot of the time like today, like, you know, in a way that's also like, Oh, my God. Today, he started just taking out Tupperware, his clean Tupperware, and he just started licking each one. And like, he got through like three of them before I realized what was

Jasmine Castillo 16:48
cut kids love to explore with their bowels, and it doesn't know there's no limit to what goes in there. That's for sure.

Katie Gall 16:55
No, and it's and it's amazing to me, because my my first kiddo was not like that. But we didn't meet we didn't have to baby proof for him or anything. Like I didn't. And there was a little while there where I was kind of like, huh, this is really interesting, because I I knew other people who were having children around the same time. And they would they would talk about like, oh my gosh, so much energy. Oh my god, I'm so tired. And I just had this like, chilled out kid and I and in my head. I was like, Am I just like a really good parent? Or is this the child? And then I had the second one. And I was like, nope, not that good. A parent. Child. My bad. My bad. take credit for that. Yeah,

Jasmine Castillo 17:37
let me scratch my sketch my name off that plaque. Cuz I'm the best mom award for the year. That's

Katie Gall 17:45
right. But it was just it was just really funny. I just like thinking back on it. I'm looking at other parents who are just like, so tired. And I'm just like, over there. Like, good. Yeah, fine. Oh, my God. Now I have the second one. I understand now.

Jasmine Castillo 18:03
I am happy that you have beautiful boys and beautiful family. And that picket fence hopefully is being built as we speak.

Katie Gall 18:11
We actually ironically, we do have a picket fence. But it wasn't really a requirement.

Jasmine Castillo 18:17
I know. That she said that's the default. Yeah. Everybody's like the Yeah, the picket fence. That's for sure. That's what. And I know that we were talking just briefly, I will jump into another to get a little bit more about you. But I just wanted it while we're on the kids subject, you know, what is the single most important talent you would like your children to have? Yeah, I don't,

Katie Gall 18:40
I don't know if this? Well, I would count this. I want them to be empathetic. We're in my coaching. I work with a lot of women who grew up, like me were like, you know, we had feminism yay, that's awesome. But we didn't necessarily have men who are going along with the feminism it's not like, like, they it's not like they weren't supportive, but they didn't necessarily know that they needed to be part of the solution. You know, and so I'm really working on teaching them, how to pay attention to each other, how to read each other, how to read what other people need, how to sort of anticipate how to be a good partner in any relationship. And I think that so much of that comes down to at least sympathy if not empathy, right? Knowing remembering what it feels like, when you go through a similar thing so that you can try to alleviate pain or solve a problem or anticipate a potential problem.

Jasmine Castillo 19:54
Yeah, yeah.

Katie Gall 19:56
So I and I, you know, I when you When you say talent, like my mind, obviously being in the arts goes to like, singing, dancing, acting and like, Oh, that would be cool. I would be cool. But I think, really what I want them to be able to be is is for them to have good relationships growing up and to be able to empathize with everyone.

Jasmine Castillo 20:20
Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. And I know that we're kind of we're now we're flowing into the path in regards to I think this is this is the path that we're going into, you know, the feminine path of success versus masculine path of success.

Katie Gall 20:38
Yeah. Ultimately, what that comes down to is sort of the nine to five. patriarchal, like, you go to work, you come home, you do nothing else. model, right. Um, what was modeled to me sort of growing up. And not not just by my family of origin, but like what you saw on TV, what you saw in the media, like, what I saw in other households, was some version of dad goes to work, and comes home, and dinner is ready. And he gets to sit down and watch the news and maybe converse with the kids. And then he goes to bed, and you wake up and do the same thing next day, right. And mom also goes to work, mom comes home, makes the dinner. Somehow there's clean clothes in the dresser, somehow the house is not a wreck, somehow, you know, somehow she gets her extra work done at home, right? Somehow I have lunch made and in my backpack for tomorrow. So somehow someone sits down with me and does homework, right. So all of these, all of these extra things happen that as I got older, and especially once I had children, it became really obvious to me that like, oh, there is this way that men are used to being able to do things that just does not work for women. Because traditionally it was man goes out and makes the money and woman stays home and takes care of the kids in the house. And that is actually another full time job. And so with giving women equal rights, this is all well and good. We love equal rights, not bashing that at all. But we never actually taught men how to sort of anticipate a lot of those household things. And so the sort of nine to five patriarchal model versus the feminine way of doing things, the feminine way of doing things, tends to have to include a lot more of like gig type work a lot more of that work that is not nine to five based because you have to take care of the children and like, you know, talking about your multiple jobs, you're a great example of this, right? Where you kind of have to, you have to make the money. But you also have to build this in a way that works around having the children and cleaning the house and making sure the laundry is done and making sure that Johnny gets to karate on time. And all of the parental forms are signed, you know, there's like, there's just a lot of pieces that don't fit into that traditional nine to five a lot of the time. Yeah. Yeah. And even even if you do work in a nine to five, having that empathy for someone who's having a hard time in that position, if you're at a higher if you're management CEO, and like so you can bring this this feminine idea into the nine to five just being more understanding about the fact that people need wiggle room sometimes. Yeah,

Jasmine Castillo 23:55
yeah, sure. Yes. And, um, I mean, that falls right into like, you identifying just me as an example, when I fall into that Superwoman syndrome, or is that something completely different?

Katie Gall 24:11
I mean, I would say if you have four jobs and three children as a single mom, Superwoman, you know, um, yeah, yeah. I'm a, the, that being said, part of part of the identity of being a superwoman is sort of an inherent limiting belief or fear, that if you are not the one to do everything, then it won't get done. And, and so there there is, there is potentially a reality of that in certain certain situations, like being a single mom, right. And I will say a lot of single moms easily, yes. fall into that category, right? Yes. Yeah, but there's also you know, um, you know, So think of it as the high powered CEO who has control issues, but also has plenty of money. So she has a nanny, and she has a housekeeper, but she goes in and micromanagers those people. Hmm. You know, so it can it can also be people who have tons of support, who just have to have their hands and everything. Mm hmm. Yeah. And, and at the end of the day, what that ends up meaning is that you burn yourself out, because you're not asking for help. You're not learning how to delegate, you're not learning how to create boundaries. Yeah.

Jasmine Castillo 25:35
Yeah, that's when the other thing is like, how does a woman avoid burnout? And how, you know, if that woman is a business owner, you know, that kind of falls into that? The hand? So yeah,

Katie Gall 25:48
yeah, um, you have to really actively build your support system. So there might be, here's the thing, there's different to me, there's a difference between having times of burnout, having moments of burnout, if you are in the first year of getting your business up and going, there, there's a lot of work that, especially especially if you're kind of jumping in with two feet, and you have to make it work. You know, there's a lot of work to be done in that case. And you might have moments of burnout, but you also have to balance that out with moments of rest. You're, you're not the only woman in that situation. You know, to me, our country as a whole is so individualistic. It's actually the the sociologists have actually, like measured this, I can't tell you how I don't remember, but they've measured somehow, like, countries in order from, I think it's most individualistic to like, most authoritarian, um, so least group mine think to most group mind, think, and America and Mexico, I think, are like the top where we are the most individualistic countries. And what that means there's a lot of really cool things that come out of that, because it means that you're very much allowed to think for yourself, you're allowed to have your own opinions, you're allowed to think outside the box in really creative and intuitive ways. But it also means that you have to do it all yourself. Mm hmm. There is there is such an honoring of the person who pulls themselves up by their bootstraps, which, by the way, that phrase is meant to describe an impossible task. Originally, like, it's not meant to be something that's lauded. It's something that like, you can't actually do. And in America, we've turned that into praise. You know, yeah. And not only praise, but like something that is expected. It's straight up an expectation now that everyone can do an impossible task. And that's just not true, especially when we don't put social structures in place to make it happen. Yeah,

Jasmine Castillo 28:09
wow. Yeah, this is so much. The world itself is a big dumpster fire when it comes to a lot of the things that we're like, Okay, let me just add a couple more. Who's got the smores? You know,

Katie Gall 28:23
yeah, right. Sharon, grab a chocolate bar, right?

Jasmine Castillo 28:31
Or, like in Texas, hold my beer. Watch this. Oh, yeah.

Katie Gall 28:36
That was Texas.

Jasmine Castillo 28:38
Yes. Oh, bigger, go home. That's right. In this whole dumpster of our, I'm just gonna use that analogy. But in essence of this, you know, we have to find a way to balance ourselves. balance ourselves in, in our work as, as a parent, as a woman, so business owner, in your performance art position, how do we provide a healthier? You know, in mind and body? You know, how do we get that type of balance or score? solace

Katie Gall 29:18
in? Yeah, yeah, I'm, by being a little bit selfish. Mm hmm. And by that I don't actually frankly like the things that women who are especially women who are experiencing burnout need to start doing well. We're not even talking things that the random Joe on the street would think of as selfish. We're talking like I had a client at one point who she had a very important job she was she was like, up there in like, not you and CEO but she was up there. And she This was before became a life coach. She He was working with me for health coaching. And she would work 12 hour days without stopping to eat because she felt like she couldn't. So during our six months of working together, hmm, one of our main goals, and I do mean, like this was a struggle, one of our main goals was to get her to take lunch. That's it. That's all like. And I had so many women who are working that hard, like, that's what we're talking about, like, take lunch, let yourself take a shower every other day, you know, get eight hours of sleep at night. We're like basic, some, some basic things. Now you can't it is also, it's not even much farther than that to say, to go to like, get a manicure every once in a while, if you want to, if you're into that, put some makeup on, buy yourself some nice clothes. Like, that's like the next step. You know, but it doesn't you it doesn't even have to go to that could be like sit down and read a book. If that's like do things that fill up your own cup. But as women, we are socialized from birth. Um, if you, you know, if you were born a woman, you're been taught to be this way you've been taught to be a giver. Men from birth are taught to be leaders. Women are taught to be givers. And so what that means is that there's a really deep inherent, like, societal belief that that's what we are supposed to do. And so, taking the time, I remember, you know, when my kids when my first kiddo especially was young, it I had a hard time getting myself to take a shower because I needed to be there for him. I could take a shower, though. What was that? Sorry? Anytime he cried, I had to be up in with him anytime. You know, my entire world. And when they're really little, your entire world does revolve around them. But even as he got older, there was like a, there was a moment where I realized like, oh, maybe this is the most courageous thing I've ever done. The brave thing, and the right thing that I have to do for both him and me is go take care of myself. And like, let him cry with the nanny for a minute or let him cry with his dad, even though he wants me. You know? Go take a minute. Yeah. Yeah. It's hard, though. It's hard as a woman. Yeah. And especially, I mean, and you know, so many women come from so many different situations where like, yes, showering can actually be a challenge. Sometimes getting lunch can actually be a challenge sometimes. So how can we make it happen for you?

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