Ep.54 “First You Say Yes, Then Your Figure It Out”

Katie BEE (aka Kate McGlynn) is a remarkable human being who has lived her life saying “yes” and then figuring it out.  She has been a teen peer counselor, taught improv, laughter yoga and meditation.  She worked for 12 years as a street performer in Europe, as a circus performer all over the world, and as a performance-inspired community organizer in Detroit and other cities.  In 2021 with the pandemic raging, Katie founded the Joy First Foundation and spent the next three years living in a trailer traveling the U.S.A. bringing joy to the nation’s front-line workers—retail workers, nurses, airline employees—who gave so much with so little appreciation during the pandemic. Her mission soon broadened, and she spent her days visiting dinners, hospitals, bars, airports, shopping centers, etc. talking to strangers, thanking everyone she met for waking up that morning.  “Appreciation, Recognition, Acknowledgement, and Gratitude” are, she says are windows that let the joy in.  “You can lift a person up so easily because no one else is appreciating them.” In this conversation with host Desire Wandan, Katie BEE shares her life story, the relationship between humor, appreciation and development, and welcomes all to travel the road of joy she helping to build.   Co-host of therapeutic humor podcast: Laughbox.aath.org Host of Joy First Foundation podcast: https://katyem.podbean.com/   Sign up for the Joy First Foundation Newsletter http://eepurl.com/idPhCL   Check out my new album! You Matter! https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nJbbY-gAe3Ds1c53WEoaM5_P3jUlOigtI&si=URUHN0xeiREKQIS2   Subscribe to my Youtube Music channel: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCqdCe0cvDmVNIXmehvCfItw   Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/foam-city/1756235965   Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/78ogT2SMjjsXeSogWRgPjh?si=4e8p6urXSWWP8ze57jVWpQ   Website  https://joyfirst.org Website  https://katybeellc.com Youtube     /joyfirstfoundation  Youtube     / @katybeee   - Katy BEE Coach and Facilitator Youtube     /norma-lacy Instagram    /joyfirst   Instagram    /joyfirstfoundation   Facebook    /joyfirstfoundation  Facebook    /katemcglynn16 Podcast  https://laughbox.aath.org Podcast  Joy First Foundation - link coming soon     Katy BEE Joy Activation  https://youtube.com/@KateMcGlynn23    LINKTREE https://linktr.ee/katybee_joy   Patreon https://www.patreon.com/KatyBEEJoyful Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/katemcglynn/ ----more---- Welcome to All Power to the Developing, a podcast of the East Side Institute. The Institute is a center for social change efforts that reinitiate human and community development. We support, connect, and partner with committed and creative activists, scholars, artists, helpers, and healers all over the world. In 2003, Institute co-founders Lois Holzman and the late Fred Newman had a paper published with the title “All Power to the Developing.” This phrase captures how vital it is for all people—no matter their age, circumstance, status, race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation—to grow, develop and transform emotionally, socially and intellectually if we are to have a shot at creating something positive out of the intense crises we’re all experiencing. We hope that this podcast series will show you that, far more than a slogan, “all power to the developing” is a loving activity, a pulsing heart in an all too cruel world. ----more---- The East Side Institute is a hub for a diverse and emergent community of social activists, thought leaders, and practitioners who are reigniting our human abilities to imagine, create and perform beyond ourselves—to develop.  Each episode will introduce you to another performance activist or play revolutionary from around the world.   To learn more about the East Side Institute you can go to https://eastsideinstitute.org/   Made possible in part by Growing Social Therapeutics: The Baylah Wolfe Fund. ----more----