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No Cancer Could Sink Her With Racquel Foster | Ship's Log 20 · Project Candor: Ordinary People. Unexpected Stories

• 0:02
  Jeanne: Welcome to Project Candor.
• 0:04
  Jeanne: I'm your host, Jeanne Andersen.
• 0:06
  Jeanne: Today we have a fantastic guest, Racquel Foster.
• 0:11
  Jeanne: Racquel is a wellness advocate, writer, and speaker with over a decade in media.
• 0:16
  Jeanne: She's a certified fitness trainer, yoga instructor, and cabernet vocalist who brings humor, empathy, and creativity into every space she enters.
• 0:26
  Jeanne: Her work spans movement, voice, and wellness, and she's deeply committed to helping people grow, thrive, and reconnect with their best selves.
• 0:35
  Jeanne: Racquel, I'm so glad you're here.
• 0:38
  Raquel: Thank you for having me.
• 0:39
  Jeanne: Yeah, we haven't talked in a while, and I've just been very anxious for our recording because uh when we did speak, I just fell in love with you.
• 0:48
  Jeanne: So I know other people will too.
• 0:51
  Raquel: Thank you so much.
• 0:52
  Raquel: I was actually pretty nervous.
• 0:54
  Raquel: I was like, it's not even a job interview, Racquel.
• 0:56
  Raquel: It's okay.
• 0:56
  Raquel: But you know, it's just it's nerve-wracking talking about myself.
• 1:00
  Raquel: You know, I don't know why.
• 1:01
  Jeanne: But oh, I get it.
• 1:03
  Jeanne: I totally get it.
• 1:04
  Jeanne: But uh, you know, there's so many aspects of you that you just we're gonna bring out here on this call.
• 1:09
  Jeanne: You just don't worry about it.
• 1:10
  Jeanne: I'm just gonna ask you some questions up front, and uh then you can uh you know tell us a little bit more about yourself and then you know just interject at any time any extra stuff you want to add.
• 1:22
  Jeanne: So you ready to get started?
• 1:24
  Jeanne: Let's get started.
• 1:25
  Jeanne: Alrighty.
• 1:26
  Jeanne: So, Racquel, your work spans movement, voice, and wellness.
• 1:33
  Jeanne: Have those dimensions always been part of you from early childhood to now, or did they emerge over time?
• 1:39
  Raquel: So, movement and voice always from I can remember, probably my earliest memories are around four.
• 1:47
  Raquel: And I remember my so my one of my aunts lived in America and I was born in Jamaica.
• 1:54
  Raquel: So I was a little four-year-old in Jamaica at the time, and she would visit, and she was just life to me.
• 2:00
  Raquel: And I remember at that time there were different disco dances that we're in, and she would actually teach me, and I would one time she would show it and I would learn it.
• 2:10
  Raquel: And I remember her being amazed by that.
• 2:13
  Raquel: So it made me realize that it was unique for me at that age to be able to do that, and it gave me confidence.
• 2:20
  Raquel: So I've always been in love with movement, and I remember at that age also going to Sunday school, and then I'd start to make up my own songs.
• 2:29
  Raquel: So I've always loved singing.
• 2:32
  Raquel: So I remember being in the kitchen and making up different songs about Jesus, and you know, it was just just something that I did, and it's just always been natural to me.
• 2:42
  Jeanne: Oh, that's very nice.
• 2:43
  Jeanne: So now you take me down a different path.
• 2:46
  Jeanne: I want to know what was your disco dance you liked the most?
• 2:50
  Raquel: Well, I don't know about the one I I like the most, but I just remember I still remember she would she would do like three steps to the front, three steps to the back, and then we would go cross step to the right, cross step to the left.
• 3:04
  Raquel: Like I still remember, you know, her teaching me that part of it.
• 3:08
  Raquel: And then her being shocked that I could do it.
• 3:10
  Raquel: So it was a f it was a thing.
• 3:12
  Raquel: So that became a thing for my my aunt and I.
• 3:15
  Jeanne: I can almost see it happening in my mind, and I'm trying to think of what the name of that.
• 3:20
  Raquel: I'm trying to remember the name, but that I don't remember, but I kind of should remember, but I I can't remember.
• 3:24
  Raquel: Yeah, it was some kind of uh this it was a definitely the distal era, and it was one of the famous dances that came out at the time, and she was trying to teach it to me.
• 3:33
  Jeanne: And I think they do it at weddings all the time now.
• 3:35
  Jeanne: Probably.
• 3:36
  Jeanne: But I I can't think of the name.
• 3:38
  Raquel: I don't I can't either.
• 3:40
  Raquel: I wish if she was here, she might remember, but I just remember her teaching me and the experience of it, you know, and I remember feeling like really happy and just like amazed that she was amazed by me.
• 3:54
  Raquel: You know, this little four-year-old who who my aunt was like the life to me.
• 3:59
  Raquel: You know, she was Miss Jamaica 1960 something.
• 4:04
  Raquel: You know, so she was just fantastic.
• 4:06
  Raquel: Yeah, she like has a picture of herself and the kit and everything.
• 4:09
  Raquel: I mean, my aunt's just fantastic.
• 4:11
  Raquel: So I just remember being four and just amazed by her.
• 4:14
  Raquel: So the fact that she was amazed with me was just a thing, you know.
• 4:19
  Jeanne: Well, at four, if you were doing dances and keeping up with her and singing, yes, do you remember any of the songs you made up?
• 4:26
  Raquel: You talk about things that don't concern you at all.
• 4:30
  Raquel: You talk, you talk too much.
• 4:36
  Raquel: That's just one of the ones I made up, but that one stuck to me because I remember being in Sunday school and the teachers, Sunday school teacher was trying to get our attention, and she's like, You guys are talking too much.
• 4:51
  Raquel: And for what reason, I turned that into a song.
• 4:56
  Jeanne: I like that song.
• 4:57
  Jeanne: Wait, I might sing that around here too, but I don't that my kids are not in the house anymore, so I again say that.
• 5:03
  Jeanne: My husband might want to sing that one to me.
• 5:06
  Raquel: You might want to sing that one.
• 5:07
  Raquel: I can't teach my husband that song because he probably would.
• 5:12
  Jeanne: He's always looking at me, rolling his eyes, like whatever.
• 5:16
  Jeanne: I I don't know.
• 5:17
  Jeanne: He knows most of what I say, but oh my gosh, I do talk a lot.
• 5:24
  Raquel: Oh my gosh, I can't remember.
• 5:26
  Raquel: I can't believe I remember that.
• 5:27
  Raquel: That is crazy.
• 5:28
  Jeanne: Yeah, that's great.
• 5:29
  Jeanne: Oh.
• 5:30
  Jeanne: Yeah, I just make up songs to um to my dogs that are just regular, you know, like different Christmas carols or something, but I just put their names in it and say stuff about them.
• 5:44
  Jeanne: Like I called my one dog Oscar, who is deceased now, unfortunately.
• 5:49
  Jeanne: I called him Oscar the Snowman.
• 5:52
  Raquel: Makes sense.
• 5:53
  Jeanne: And I sang the rest of it with a bunch of other stupid.
• 5:56
  Raquel: It's two syllables, so it worked.
• 5:58
  Raquel: Just like Frsoty.
• 5:59
  Jeanne: My um my dogs dance to it and everything, so I just do it.
• 6:03
  Jeanne: One dog I had was just crazy over oh Susanna.
• 6:07
  Jeanne: I could come in, oh Susanna, and this dog was too crap for me.
• 6:11
  Jeanne: Okay, do it.
• 6:18
  Raquel: Music is amazing, isn't it?
• 6:19
  Raquel: Music is amazing.
• 6:20
  Raquel: Um, it's why I talked about it in my writing for the book that I was part of that's a curated book, Midlife Reimagined, that I'm a part of that book.
• 6:30
  Raquel: And it's one of the things I talk about, how the music is what got me through some of the challenges and and how I found my way back to it, and that's what brought life back to me.
• 6:42
  Raquel: You know, it's like reconnecting again with music.
• 6:45
  Raquel: So music is amazing.
• 6:47
  Jeanne: Oh, yeah, it is.
• 6:48
  Jeanne: It's gonna been part of my life forever.
• 6:50
  Jeanne: And if you were in church, you know there's music, music, music in church.
• 6:54
  Jeanne: Yeah, it doesn't go away.
• 6:55
  Jeanne: But it's a lot of fun.
• 6:56
  Jeanne: It is, it is.
• 6:58
  Jeanne: I I don't think in schools, I don't know.
• 7:00
  Jeanne: Uh I don't know if you have any children in schools or or you know, the schools used to teach like chorus and band, and some taught instruments besides band, you know, like guitars and stuff.
• 7:15
  Jeanne: But uh I don't think they do that that much anymore.
• 7:17
  Jeanne: So I knew how to read music from a really, really ear early age.
• 7:21
  Jeanne: And then in school they made us listen to all kinds of like what is the one, uh Peter and the Wolf, where they would make us pick out what instrument was playing.
• 7:32
  Jeanne: Was it the oboe?
• 7:34
  Jeanne: Was it the clarinet?
• 7:35
  Jeanne: What was it?
• 7:36
  Jeanne: You know, it was they they really helped you learn music in school.
• 7:40
  Jeanne: I don't know if they do that now though.
• 7:43
  Raquel: I don't know if they do.
• 7:43
  Raquel: I remember um when I attended college that that's one of the classes that we had was basically, you know, music and learning how to pick out different instruments and different classical songs.
• 7:56
  Raquel: And it there's something about for me learning how to really listen to instruments and really hear the different parts.
• 8:07
  Raquel: And to actually get something that breaks out the parts and then them start putting them back in and then to hear how those build to make one whole song.
• 8:16
  Raquel: I find that like really fascinating.
• 8:19
  Jeanne: It is.
• 8:19
  Jeanne: You know, when my kids were in school, they didn't get those choices, and then in high school, definitely they had no musical options.
• 8:27
  Jeanne: Uh I think there's band, but they had long passed the um learning of an instrument because we moved several times.
• 8:33
  Jeanne: Right.
• 8:33
  Jeanne: But you're right, like when you were sitting there getting the discipline of picking out these instruments, it's almost like you learn to listen to people better.
• 8:41
  Jeanne: You do, and you learn to grab meaning from things a lot better because you're focusing.
• 8:48
  Raquel: Yeah, that's right.
• 8:49
  Raquel: I remember being in junior high school and being a part of Bye Bye Birdie.
• 8:52
  Raquel: Remember that play?
• 8:54
  Jeanne: Oh, I know that musical.
• 8:57
  Raquel: You know, all all of that stuff contributes to me as a person today, you know.
• 9:02
  Raquel: I still love musicals.
• 9:04
  Raquel: I there was never a year that would go by where my mom and I did not get together and watch sound of music.
• 9:10
  Raquel: We had to watch sound of music.
• 9:12
  Raquel: And I knew all the songs, right?
• 9:14
  Raquel: Like, you know,
• 9:15
  Jeanne: We're going way down from my question.
• 9:17
  Jeanne: So let's get going here.
• 9:19
  Jeanne: You Bye-bye, Birdie.
• 9:21
  Jeanne: And then Sound of Music.
• 9:23
  Jeanne: Okay, let's talk musicals.
• 9:24
  Jeanne: Like, I like Showboat.
• 9:26
  Jeanne: Do you know that Showboat?
• 9:28
  Raquel: No.
• 9:29
  Jeanne: Old Man River.
• 9:30
  Jeanne: You know that guy with the big deep voice.
• 9:33
  Raquel: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
• 9:34
  Jeanne: Fish gotta swim, Bird gotta fly.
• 9:37
  Raquel: Yes, that's right.
• 9:37
  Raquel: Oh my gosh.
• 9:38
  Raquel: Yes, I do know that one.
• 9:42
  Jeanne: I used to love those.
• 9:43
  Jeanne: U nthinkable Molly Brown.
• 9:44
  Jeanne: I mean, I could go on and on.
• 9:47
  Jeanne: Yes.
• 9:50
  Jeanne: Why don't people like them anymore?
• 9:52
  Jeanne: They think they're corny.
• 9:53
  Raquel: I mean, I don't know.
• 9:54
  Raquel: I've never done a survey, so I don't know if everyone doesn't like them because the people that I maybe it depends on who you're connected with, because a lot of the people who are into music like I am, we all still love musicals.
• 10:04
  Jeanne: Oh, good.
• 10:05
  Raquel: So I think it just you know it just depends, right?
• 10:08
  Raquel: And then when you when you think about what is it, Grease that came back around, yeah, and that became like a thing, and then they took ABBA songs and made that into a musical.
• 10:17
  Raquel: Like I think people still love musicals.
• 10:19
  Raquel: And if you think about the songs that become famous that all the young people want to use for auditions and things that they all came from musicals.
• 10:28
  Raquel: So I still think people love musicals.
• 10:30
  Raquel: I think it just depends on who you're connecting with.
• 10:33
  Raquel: But most of the people I know still love musicals.
• 10:36
  Jeanne: Yeah, you're talking like when you mentioned ABBA, I immediately think of my sister.
• 10:40
  Jeanne: If my family has songs that apply to certain people, my sister was like the dancing queen.
• 10:46
  Raquel: That is one of my best songs.
• 10:48
  Raquel: And then, you know, even Grease, when you think about it, most of those songs, I think Bee Gee's wrote it, right?
• 10:53
  Jeanne: Oh, the Bee Gees, yeah.
• 10:54
  Raquel: They Yeah, so I think they wrote the songs for for Grease.
• 10:57
  Raquel: So, you know, we think about that, it's like people love that music, no matter what, right?
• 11:02
  Raquel: So the music comes out of the musicals become the pop.
• 11:06
  Raquel: Well, the Bee Gee's were songs that you hear on radio and yeah.
• 11:10
  Jeanne: The Bee Gees were phenomenal anyway.
• 11:11
  Jeanne: Like Saturday night.
• 11:12
  Raquel: Very phenomenal.
• 11:12
  Jeanne: I had Saturday Night Fever.
• 11:14
  Jeanne: I I actually watched it when I was in college, and then when I watched it as an adult years later, then I was like, that movie was pretty raunchy.
• 11:23
  Jeanne: But the music It was raunchy.
• 11:28
  Raquel: Should I have been exposed to that as a kid?
• 11:30
  Raquel: Probably not.
• 11:32
  Raquel: It's a good thing I didn't know what I was it's a good thing nothing really meant anything.
• 11:38
  Jeanne: Right?
• 11:38
  Jeanne: I don't even remember her name, the one that was always trying to get John Travolta into the car with her and you know, talking about her condoms and I was sitting there like, oh my god, what in the world?
• 11:49
  Jeanne: I know, I know, I know, I know, but whatever, it was fun.
• 11:54
  Jeanne: But the music, I I guess I just tuned it out because here I am a Baptist preacher's daughter, and then I go to school, and then you know, then all of our classes at school decided, oh, let's go see that movie.
• 12:04
  Jeanne: And then I don't know why I didn't get offended, but whatever.
• 12:09
  Raquel: Because it didn't mean anything to us then.
• 12:11
  Raquel: We were young.
• 12:12
  Raquel: Yeah, with it.
• 12:13
  Jeanne: I guess I didn't really understand it, but yeah.
• 12:14
  Jeanne: I tried to show it to my nieces.
• 12:16
  Raquel: We had youth on our side.
• 12:17
  Raquel: Yeah, exactly.
• 12:18
  Jeanne: I tried to show it to my nieces, and they started chastising me for do you think this is an appropriate movie?
• 12:24
  Jeanne: And they're from Sweden, right?
• 12:28
  Jeanne: And and they're telling me this, and I'm feeling really bad.
• 12:32
  Raquel: I don't feel bad.
• 12:33
  Raquel: I love what I love, and it is what it is, and it contributes to who I am today.
• 12:38
  Raquel: I'm not even going to justify anything.
• 12:40
  Raquel: We were kids.
• 12:41
  Raquel: Yeah, we were.
• 12:42
  Raquel: I mean, even think about it.
• 12:43
  Raquel: We were young, like that was our thing.
• 12:45
  Raquel: It was fun, and that's okay.
• 12:47
  Jeanne: They have theirs.
• 12:48
  Jeanne: Guys didn't like um disco at all.
• 12:51
  Jeanne: Like all the guys like in college were this is junk, this is junk.
• 12:56
  Jeanne: And they didn't want to dance disco or anything.
• 12:59
  Raquel: It's because they couldn't dance it.
• 13:00
  Raquel: It couldn't look as good as John Travolta.
• 13:03
  Raquel: So they called it junk.
• 13:04
  Jeanne: Probably.
• 13:06
  Raquel: Let's put it this way women loved the girls were in love with John Travolta.
• 13:10
  Raquel: Oh, right.
• 13:10
  Raquel: Right?
• 13:10
  Raquel: And if and if the guys did get that attention or look as good as he did in what he was wearing, they would do it.
• 13:17
  Jeanne: Yeah, they would have.
• 13:17
  Jeanne: Right.
• 13:18
  Raquel: Right.
• 13:19
  Raquel: Let's let's just call it what it
• 13:21
  Jeanne: But it just they didn't think it was cool, and so they were just all rocked out, which I liked rock music too, but still rock too, but uh that was just disco it just make you just feel happy.
• 13:31
  Jeanne: It makes you happy.
• 13:33
  Jeanne: Yeah, exactly.
• 13:33
  Jeanne: Get in there and start hearing all this music going, and it's like, ah, I want to dance and I want to jump and I wanna smile, and yeah.
• 13:42
  Raquel: Exactly.
• 13:43
  Jeanne: Well, I've gotten way off track for my questions.
• 13:46
  Jeanne: That's okay.
• 13:47
  Jeanne: So, but that's okay because this is a lot of fun.
• 13:51
  Jeanne: So um, I know you have a big family.
• 13:55
  Raquel: Yes.
• 13:56
  Jeanne: And they have the same interest as you.
• 13:58
  Jeanne: You talked about they watch musicals with you and your aunt taught you how to disco dance.
• 14:02
  Jeanne: So I'm guessing yes.
• 14:03
  Raquel: Um, well, no.
• 14:07
  Jeanne: Surprise.
• 14:08
  Raquel: So surprise.
• 14:10
  Raquel: I mean, I would say that we all love music, right?
• 14:14
  Raquel: Like that, but not everyone I I think I'm the only one that I can think of that actually wants to be on stage and actually take it to that point of singing on stage and you know, joining cabarets and things like that.
• 14:28
  Raquel: I don't know anyone else in my family that would take it to that extent, but we have a lot of creativity and art history in our family.
• 14:36
  Raquel: My older brother taught himself how to draw at a very young age.
• 14:39
  Raquel: And my cousins and and even my younger brother learned a lot from him, you know, and so they got into graphics and things like that.
• 14:48
  Raquel: My two aunts, they love singing in church.
• 14:51
  Raquel: My mom used to love singing when we were younger, so uh, you know, around the house and things like that.
• 14:56
  Raquel: But no one that I can think of except for my grandfather who I didn't know, I only heard of him, was to the point of performing it.
• 15:04
  Raquel: Okay.
• 15:04
  Raquel: What kind of performer?
• 15:06
  Raquel: I think he saxophonist, I think.
• 15:08
  Raquel: I think he played the saxophone, and um my mother's mother played the organ, and I think she did that in church.
• 15:15
  Raquel: So I know of that, but I don't know anyone that took it to the extent that I did, where I actually want to be on stage and singing and actually dancing on stage.
• 15:25
  Raquel: I I don't think they they did that.
• 15:28
  Jeanne: Yeah, you find it funny.
• 15:30
  Jeanne: My dad being a preacher, uh he thought saxophone was too sexy.
• 15:35
  Jeanne: I can't deny that it could be.
• 15:37
  Jeanne: Especially in the old RB soul.
• 15:41
  Jeanne: I don't know why you thought that.
• 15:43
  Jeanne: Of course, organ was good, piano was good, but I remember he made that comment one time and I was like, I I don't know.
• 15:50
  Jeanne: It's I don't know why.
• 15:53
  Raquel: I have no contribution to that.
• 15:55
  Raquel: I have no idea.
• 15:58
  Jeanne: I like the saxophone when uh like James last band they played uh some song way back in the day.
• 16:06
  Jeanne: So it brings me back to a lot of my RB that I used to love to listen to.
• 16:12
  Raquel: Yeah.
• 16:14
  Jeanne: So tell me about your interest in theater and voice as far as do you perform now?
• 16:20
  Jeanne: And you know, we already talked about a lot of the genres that you l like, but is there m anything we missed on that?
• 16:27
  Raquel: Not really.
• 16:27
  Raquel: I mean, I at 19 is when I started doing taking voice lessons.
• 16:33
  Raquel: Um before that I just liked singing.
• 16:35
  Raquel: I didn't even know there was an option to like do voice lessons.
• 16:38
  Raquel: And I started at 19, and my first foundational training was in classical music.
• 16:43
  Raquel: And from there, you know, I just started singing in different opportunities I could have.
• 16:50
  Raquel: I also did theater.
• 16:52
  Raquel: I actually minored in musical theater.
• 16:55
  Raquel: I majored in broadcasting and minored in musical theater.
• 16:58
  Raquel: So I had a chance to be a part of a play and acting, and I just, you know, I enjoy I enjoy the freedom of creativity, the freedom of singing.
• 17:11
  Raquel: I used to actually be a choreographer, so I did some choreography.
• 17:17
  Raquel: Matter of fact, Beverly and I, we were background dancers for different RB groups that were trying to be up and coming, and you know, she was definitely the tumbler, and I was the one that would want to put in a little bit of hip-hop and jazz, and so would do some choreography and do background singing and stuff like that.
• 17:37
  Raquel: So I've always found a way to be part of art in some form, or found a way to be in theater, like acting and things like that.
• 17:47
  Jeanne: So you brought up Beverly, and Beverly's been on the show, so I just have to plug for her.
• 17:51
  Jeanne: So she's been on the show earlier, and uh she was a fantastic guest as well, so that's your sister, correct?
• 17:58
  Raquel: Yes, that's my that is my sister.
• 18:01
  Raquel: We met through dance.
• 18:04
  Raquel: I was actually in dancing at um Broadway Dance Center, which is in Manhattan.
• 18:09
  Raquel: I think it's like 49th in Broadway, some somewhere around there, and that's where I met Belle.
• 18:14
  Raquel: And so that's how she and I connected was through dance form.
• 18:17
  Raquel: And um, we did some acting together as well.
• 18:21
  Raquel: But yeah.
• 18:21
  Raquel: Oh, okay.
• 18:22
  Raquel: So not biological sister, but not biological, his soul sister.
• 18:27
  Raquel: She is definitely a soul sister of mine.
• 18:29
  Raquel: Like I met when I first saw Beverly, I just knew we would be friends.
• 18:33
  Jeanne: Yeah, so check out Beverly Howard's episode because she was great.
• 18:36
  Jeanne: Absolutely.
• 18:37
  Jeanne: And she was a dancer.
• 18:40
  Raquel: Yes, she was.
• 18:41
  Raquel: Um, she still loves dancing just like I do.
• 18:43
  Raquel: I mean, if Beverly and I are on the dance floor, we are going to be on the dance floor the entire time.
• 18:48
  Raquel: When my dad, remember my dad who, you know, was passed away now, but when he first met Beverly, within a good say a minute or so being around us, he said, Okay, I don't understand why you both are friends.
• 19:02
  Raquel: Like that's how stupid's how similar we were at that time.
• 19:05
  Raquel: Oh, yeah.
• 19:06
  Jeanne: Yeah.
• 19:07
  Jeanne: Well, as a fitness trainer and instructor, what do you most enjoy about guiding others?
• 19:12
  Jeanne: Because you also do that with all your other talents.
• 19:15
  Raquel: I do.
• 19:15
  Raquel: Um, I think the most important thing is for me is helping the person understand how they can take 40 minutes and truly make it like if you're gonna work out for 40 minutes, you want to have benefits from it, right?
• 19:31
  Raquel: And I think what I found sometimes is when people are working out, they're just throwing the weights, you know?
• 19:37
  Raquel: They're just doing something.
• 19:39
  Raquel: And if you actually figure out how to do the exercise the right way, you get so much more benefit out of it.
• 19:47
  Raquel: So that you actually start to see results.
• 19:50
  Raquel: So you could say, Well, I go to the gym three times, I'm I'm not really seeing results.
• 19:54
  Raquel: Sometimes it's the method in which you're doing the exercise.
• 19:58
  Raquel: You know, so I always love to help people get through that and understand it so that they can actually feel what their body is doing.
• 20:05
  Raquel: But the other most important thing is people don't realize sometimes how much the food makes a difference and why does it make a difference?
• 20:13
  Raquel: So I love to explain the why.
• 20:16
  Raquel: Why are you doing this and why is it making a difference and why is it not working?
• 20:20
  Raquel: What does the sugar actually do to the body?
• 20:23
  Raquel: Not just sugar is not good for you.
• 20:24
  Raquel: You know, it's it's okay to just make this general statement, right?
• 20:28
  Raquel: And why is it better to do 20 minutes of an in uh hit exercise than it is for you to run on the treadmill for an hour?
• 20:36
  Raquel: Right?
• 20:37
  Raquel: Just explaining those whys I think makes so much more difference to people.
• 20:42
  Raquel: So that's one of the things I en I enjoy about you know the physical activity.
• 20:47
  Raquel: And even for me, with with some of the the different uh health challenges that I've had, the one thing that has helped me get through it has been physical activity.
• 20:59
  Raquel: And I just like to share with people some of the challenges I've had so they understand how the exercise helped me.
• 21:06
  Raquel: You know, it's not just for losing weight, it's how do you how does it make your body feel?
• 21:11
  Raquel: How do you get rid of your stress, you know, things like that.
• 21:15
  Jeanne: Well, I I can relate to that really well.
• 21:18
  Jeanne: So I just uh fell.
• 21:20
  Jeanne: This is the stupidest thing.
• 21:21
  Jeanne: My husband was laughing after the fact, but I fell over my shoestring because he's always telling me to double tie my shoestrings, and so I was flying back from a trip we were on, and I was walking really fast a luggage claim.
• 21:37
  Jeanne: I just really wanted to go home.
• 21:38
  Jeanne: And I my shoestring, I fell over.
• 21:41
  Jeanne: I couldn't write myself up, so I fell on my hip.
• 21:44
  Jeanne: And then I ended up at rehab, and I noticed the guy isolated the muscle and then showed me how to exercise that one muscle.
• 21:53
  Jeanne: So I totally agree with you that it is like the method you're doing, and yeah, you know, actually thinking.
• 21:59
  Jeanne: About why because he told me exactly where I hurt myself and it wasn't bone, thank God, and it was just this muscle.
• 22:08
  Jeanne: But now I exercise that and I'm totally fine.
• 22:12
  Jeanne: But I really appreciated him doing that.
• 22:14
  Jeanne: So I can't imagine you're important to people.
• 22:17
  Raquel: Exactly.
• 22:18
  Raquel: And you know, we all are trying to get in shape, but as you get older, it gets a little bit more difficult.
• 22:24
  Raquel: So uh for especially for a woman as we're getting older, you know, becoming a little bit more strategic about our workout and our eating and how they work together becomes even more important.
• 22:36
  Raquel: So it's not just about going to the gym and throwing around weights.
• 22:39
  Raquel: And um, and then strength training, you know, and just teaching why strength training is very important as we get older, you know, that you could take a fall and recover from it and things like that.
• 22:50
  Raquel: Yes.
• 22:51
  Jeanne: Well, all right, Racquel.
• 22:53
  Jeanne: Now we're going to shift gears and play one of my favorite parts of the show.
• 22:58
  Jeanne: Two truths and a lie.
• 22:59
  Jeanne: Here's how it works.
• 23:01
  Jeanne: You'll hear three headlines from Racquel's life for the people listening.
• 23:07
  Jeanne: Uh, she's already given them to me earlier.
• 23:09
  Jeanne: Two are true and one is a lie.
• 23:11
  Jeanne: I do not know what the lie is.
• 23:13
  Jeanne: I'm gonna make my guess, and then Racquel will walk us through all these stories without revealing the lie right away.
• 23:20
  Jeanne: And then once we go through those, then she can reveal exactly which one is the lie or the twisted truth that might sound better.
• 23:28
  Jeanne: This episode is sponsored by Rebel 180, the home of brave pivots and fresh starts.
• 23:36
  Jeanne: Rebel 180 is all about helping you rediscover what's possible when you stop settling and start listening to that little tug inside that says, Life can be different.
• 23:46
  Jeanne: Whether you're navigating a career shift, dreaming about a new direction, or standing at the crossroads wondering if it's time for your own 180-degree turn, Rebel 180 is a reminder you don't need permission to change your story.
• 23:59
  Jeanne: And now, as we open the door to our second sponsor, we're stepping into the world of tech.
• 24:04
  Jeanne: Simple socket print, the lightweight blazing fast label print solution designed for those who need reliability without the bloat.
• 24:12
  Jeanne: With version 1.5, you get instant printing in milliseconds, fully maintained print sequence, and automatic base 64 decoding all without needing print driver installs.
• 24:22
  Jeanne: If you're running SQL Server 2016 or newer, SimpleSocket Print 1.5 drops right in and gets to work.
• 24:30
  Jeanne: Keep your workflow simple, keep your label printing fast with Simple Socket Print.
• 24:35
  Jeanne: Thank you to our sponsors.
• 24:37
  Jeanne: Okay.
• 24:41
  Jeanne: So her number one story, Racquel zip lined on 14 cables in the Costa Rican rainforest.
• 24:50
  Jeanne: Number two, before the age of 50, Racquel had three major surgeries, two of them left a cross on her body.
• 25:00
  Jeanne: That's a lot.
• 25:02
  Jeanne: Number three, Racquel was part of a 70s singing group in her tri-state area.
• 25:07
  Jeanne: Huh.
• 25:08
  Jeanne: Well, I don't know.
• 25:09
  Jeanne: Maybe one of them is the twist of truth, because I can kind of believe all of them for you.
• 25:13
  Jeanne: Uh but I'm gonna guess that number two is a little bit of a stretch.
• 25:20
  Jeanne: Maybe I think hopefully you didn't have all those surgeries.
• 25:22
  Jeanne: So that's what I'm gonna go with.
• 25:23
  Jeanne: But we're don't tell us, just start telling us about number one.
• 25:27
  Raquel: Number one, zip lining in Costa Rica doing a writing workshop, and there were 14 cables and zip lined all 14.
• 25:36
  Raquel: What does it mean when you zip line 14?
• 25:38
  Raquel: So you go to one black arm, then you go to another one.
• 25:42
  Raquel: Go to another, go to another, go to another, and fourteen altogether.
• 25:47
  Jeanne: All right, so obviously I haven't done that.
• 25:49
  Jeanne: I watched my son do it one time.
• 25:53
  Jeanne: I have not done that.
• 25:56
  Jeanne: Okay, so you just keep going.
• 25:58
  Jeanne: Okay, so it's not like no, you couldn't zip line fourteen at one time.
• 26:02
  Jeanne: It has to be like a break between.
• 26:04
  Raquel: Exactly.
• 26:04
  Raquel: There's a break in between.
• 26:05
  Jeanne: So when you went through the rainforest, did you see any animals along the way?
• 26:10
  Raquel: Uh no.
• 26:12
  Jeanne: Nature, you saw trees and skies.
• 26:14
  Raquel: Just trees and sky and lines.
• 26:18
  Jeanne: Okay.
• 26:18
  Jeanne: So they didn't take the zip lines weren't set up, so you it was like a tour.
• 26:23
  Jeanne: But I maybe that would be scary.
• 26:24
  Jeanne: So like if you're going and you fall off, well, hopefully not, but you'd be falling into
• 26:29
  Raquel: you'd fall into the forest.
• 26:31
  Jeanne: Okay, but you wouldn't want a monkey to jump out of a tree, are you?
• 26:35
  Raquel: No, and no, don't didn't see any monkeys or anything, just a bunch of different trees, platforms, and zip lines.
• 26:44
  Jeanne: Oh, okay.
• 26:45
  Jeanne: And I guess birds and all, they knew better than to be on them hanging on them, you know, like interesting.
• 26:52
  Jeanne: Let's go to number two.
• 26:53
  Jeanne: Tell us that.
• 26:54
  Jeanne: That's a little more sad, so a lot more sad.
• 26:57
  Jeanne: So let's go through that story.
• 26:59
  Raquel: So before I hit the age of 50, I had, you know, three major surgeries, all of them potentially life-threatening.
• 27:07
  Raquel: And then I was left with some scars, and I realized that two of the three left the sign of a cross.
• 27:15
  Jeanne: Wow.
• 27:16
  Jeanne: So when you had these surgeries, they weren't close together, right?
• 27:21
  Jeanne: Were they over the period of multiple years?
• 27:25
  Raquel: They were over the period, they were I would say probably a span of about 15 years.
• 27:31
  Jeanne: Okay.
• 27:32
  Jeanne: Were you going after one thing, or they were all different types of surgeries, or different reasons for the surgeries?
• 27:38
  Jeanne: There were different reasons for the surgeries.
• 27:40
  Jeanne: Okay.
• 27:40
  Jeanne: Yeah.
• 27:41
  Jeanne: Was it the big C word that everybody done wanna say?
• 27:44
  Raquel: One of them was the C word.
• 27:46
  Raquel: Oh.
• 27:47
  Raquel: Two of them were not.
• 27:48
  Raquel: Okay.
• 27:49
  Raquel: Yeah.
• 27:50
  Jeanne: Well, I'm glad you're doing great today because you look fantastic.
• 27:54
  Raquel: So thank you.
• 27:55
  Raquel: I'm glad too.
• 27:56
  Raquel: And my hair grew back.
• 27:59
  Jeanne: Oh, wonderful.
• 28:00
  Jeanne: Wonderful.
• 28:02
  Jeanne: All right, number three, I totally believe.
• 28:05
  Jeanne: Watch that be the lie, but anyway, I totally believe it.
• 28:07
  Jeanne: So tell us about that one.
• 28:09
  Raquel: Number three, um, just, you know, like I said, I love singing.
• 28:15
  Raquel: And I had an opportunity to join a group.
• 28:17
  Raquel: And yeah, those are the songs that we focused on.
• 28:21
  Raquel: And we did it tri-state area, Brooklyn, New York, and New Jersey.
• 28:26
  Raquel: And it was so much fun.
• 28:29
  Raquel: I remember standing on stage and someone throwing, you know, money at me.
• 28:34
  Raquel: I scooped it.
• 28:36
  Raquel: I scooped it all up.
• 28:37
  Raquel: This is mine.
• 28:39
  Jeanne: Oh, that sounds like fun.
• 28:41
  Raquel: It was it was a lot of fun.
• 28:42
  Jeanne: So, what was the name of the group?
• 28:44
  Raquel: I don't remember.
• 28:45
  Raquel: Oh.
• 28:46
  Raquel: I know.
• 28:47
  Raquel: That's not good, but I don't remember.
• 28:49
  Jeanne: What was your like song list?
• 28:51
  Raquel: Oh, wow, it's just such a good question.
• 28:54
  Raquel: Oh, can I I can remember things when I was four, and I can't remember that.
• 28:59
  Jeanne: Were they RB?
• 29:00
  Jeanne: Were they?
• 29:02
  Raquel: No, they were there were pop and RB.
• 29:05
  Raquel: I remember doing that, and there were three of us, and we all took different song leads.
• 29:10
  Raquel: But to actually remember the song that I led on, I just can't remember.
• 29:14
  Raquel: I don't know why.
• 29:15
  Jeanne: Only we thought I don't know why I'm thinking of the rubber band, man.
• 29:18
  Jeanne: That doesn't make sense.
• 29:19
  Jeanne: No, no, no, no, no.
• 29:21
  Raquel: And we were, and it was it was all male band, and it was all female singers.
• 29:26
  Raquel: And then, you know, we all took different leads.
• 29:29
  Jeanne: Yeah.
• 29:29
  Jeanne: All right.
• 29:30
  Jeanne: So you might have been singing um, you know, uh Diana Ross or Aretha Franklin or
• 29:38
  Raquel: Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, but it wasn't just RB.
• 29:42
  Raquel: There were some pops as well.
• 29:44
  Jeanne: I I got the R B lead.
• 29:46
  Jeanne: Madonna, maybe some other people got the, you know, because it was 70s, so it wasn't really Madonna.
• 29:52
  Jeanne: Oh, yeah, she came out in the eight.
• 29:54
  Jeanne: What she was still that age.
• 29:55
  Jeanne: She was out there.
• 29:57
  Raquel: She was 80s, so we weren't we weren't reflecting those songs.
• 30:00
  Jeanne: Oh, okay.
• 30:01
  Raquel: Yeah.
• 30:02
  Jeanne: All right.
• 30:02
  Jeanne: Well, I guess number two, but tell us which one was the lie.
• 30:07
  Raquel: Number three.
• 30:08
  Jeanne: Ah.
• 30:08
  Jeanne: That's why you can remember the songs.
• 30:11
  Raquel: That's why I couldn't give it, I couldn't tell you.
• 30:13
  Raquel: We did actually 60 songs, not 70s.
• 30:16
  Raquel: Um, and one and I absolutely remember one of the songs I led on, which was One Fine Day.
• 30:21
  Raquel: But if I had told you that, you'd have known it was the 60s and not the 70s.
• 30:25
  Raquel: So I couldn't give that up.
• 30:26
  Raquel: Um, but yeah,
• 30:28
  Jeanne: but that was in a big lie.
• 30:31
  Raquel: It was a twisted lie, right?
• 30:32
  Raquel: Yeah, like but it was so it wasn't our it was a group, but we were we focused on the 60s music.
• 30:38
  Raquel: Um, and we did do the tri-state area.
• 30:40
  Raquel: And we did um, oh, wait a minute, Mr.
• 30:44
  Raquel: Postman.
• 30:45
  Raquel: Mr.
• 30:48
  Raquel: Postman, Mr.
• 30:49
  Raquel: Postman C.
• 30:52
  Jeanne: That was one of our favorites.
• 30:53
  Jeanne: Um One Fine Day.
• 30:55
  Jeanne: Do you know One Fine Day?
• 30:56
  Jeanne: Oh, yeah.
• 30:57
  Jeanne: I don't know words to any of these.
• 30:59
  Raquel: Um we did that.
• 31:00
  Raquel: We did we did a bunch of uh songs, and it was it was so much fun.
• 31:04
  Raquel: We had a lot of fun.
• 31:06
  Raquel: And the part with the one you throw it at me that was absolutely true.
• 31:09
  Raquel: That wasn't made up.
• 31:11
  Jeanne: That's wonderful.
• 31:12
  Jeanne: Wow, that sounds like so interesting.
• 31:15
  Raquel: It was.
• 31:15
  Jeanne: Yeah, so the 60s singing group.
• 31:18
  Jeanne: But what's the tri-state area though?
• 31:19
  Jeanne: I forgot to ask that.
• 31:21
  Raquel: New Jersey, New York, and uh Brooklyn.
• 31:24
  Raquel: Like we did Brooklyn, New York, Queens, sorry, and um and New Jersey.
• 31:29
  Raquel: Oh, okay.
• 31:30
  Jeanne: Yeah, so because I mean there's other places in the US that they call themselves tri-state, so I wasn't sure.
• 31:37
  Raquel: Yeah.
• 31:37
  Raquel: That was in all in the Northeast.
• 31:39
  Raquel: We had so much fun.
• 31:40
  Jeanne: Well, you have been such a lovely guest on the show and so perky, and I love the music.
• 31:46
  Jeanne: And but I know other people listening to you would love to get in touch with you.
• 31:50
  Jeanne: So I'm gonna share my screen one more time and show them how they can.
• 31:54
  Raquel: Thank you.
• 31:54
  Raquel: This was fun.
• 31:56
  Raquel: I enjoyed this.
• 31:57
  Raquel: Thank you.
• 31:57
  Jeanne: Oh, great.
• 31:58
  Jeanne: So there is a quote that you gave me that you said it meant something to you, and I wanted you to just talk about that for a second.
• 32:07
  Raquel: Sure.
• 32:07
  Raquel: Um, so that quote I will read it in, have undying faith at all costs and at every junction of your life, through all hardships or many lessons to learn from, actually came to me after my first surgery.
• 32:20
  Raquel: And I don't know if you want time to go into it a little bit, but I had like this really bad pop feeling in my lower abdomen, and I didn't know what what it was, and I just thought, oh, it's just it's nothing.
• 32:34
  Raquel: And I um kept going, didn't go to the hospital or anything, and went with a friend of mine to the apartment and just blacked out.
• 32:42
  Raquel: And when I woke back up, he was carrying me to his vehicle.
• 32:46
  Raquel: And um shortly after that we went to the hospital and I found out I had a cyst that ruptured, and when I finally had the surgery, I had over 700 CCU of blood in my abdomen and was close to getting septic.
• 33:00
  Raquel: So that was the first one.
• 33:02
  Raquel: And it was after that and going through that and and pushing through and realizing how close I came to dying.
• 33:09
  Raquel: If I had you know, if I hadn't gotten the nudge to like go to the hospital and get it checked, that this came up for me.
• 33:17
  Jeanne: Yeah, so that must have been harder now, knowing your other story, number two, that says you've had three surgeries and then
• 33:23
  Raquel: Yep, and and that was the first of them.
• 33:25
  Raquel: Yeah, so you you have this great faith here and you know, working through hardships and learning lessons.
• 33:33
  Raquel: And just learning must be terrible.
• 33:34
  Raquel: To get another call that says you got another surgery and then Exactly, exactly.
• 33:39
  Raquel: But this this one though, it taught me to listen to my gut and to not when there is an issue, not take too long.
• 33:47
  Raquel: Because what happened with that cyst, I was warned about it years before and I just didn't do anything about it, right?
• 33:53
  Raquel: So you can look at it as, oh my gosh, why did this happen to me?
• 33:57
  Raquel: Or I can look at it as okay, learn from this so that the next time you have a warning, you actually listen.
• 34:02
  Raquel: And that's how I found my cancer, because I found it.
• 34:06
  Jeanne: Ooh.
• 34:06
  Raquel: Right.
• 34:07
  Jeanne: Wow.
• 34:08
  Jeanne: Well, thank you for sharing that with us.
• 34:10
  Jeanne: That's a really great quote uh for people to remember.
• 34:13
  Jeanne: And you can see down below that she's left some places where you can get in touch with her, her email, a LinkedIn account, Instagram, and website.
• 34:23
  Jeanne: Website is quite interesting because she's done some film, her theater work, and there's some cute videos out there.
• 34:30
  Jeanne: I I don't know if I say cute.
• 34:31
  Jeanne: I don't know if that's the right word to describe them.
• 34:34
  Jeanne: But I watched them and they're uh entertaining.
• 34:39
  Raquel: It was fun though.
• 34:41
  Jeanne: Yeah, it was the zombie movie clip, it was the one I was like, what?
• 34:44
  Jeanne: That's the one I had the most fun with.
• 34:47
  Jeanne: That's the funny part.
• 34:48
  Jeanne: I know.
• 34:48
  Jeanne: I people need you need to go out there and watch that.
• 34:51
  Jeanne: It's really cute.
• 34:52
  Jeanne: I just wasn't expecting that from you.
• 34:55
  Jeanne: That was the thing.
• 34:55
  Jeanne: When I saw it, I'm like, that's not Racquel.
• 34:59
  Raquel: I I didn't well, I didn't write it.
• 35:01
  Raquel: So that's that's a good part of it about it, right?
• 35:03
  Raquel: Like I didn't actually do the writing, but I helped with like the director and directing the actors and things like that.
• 35:10
  Raquel: It was it was a lot of fun.
• 35:13
  Jeanne: Oh, cool.
• 35:13
  Jeanne: Yeah, well, I'm glad you shared that with me.
• 35:16
  Jeanne: And sh and folks, you need to go and take a look at that.
• 35:19
  Jeanne: And you have a call to action in that if um if they're looking for you for speaking engagements um or wanted to overcome health challenges, you're there for them at your email.
• 35:30
  Raquel: Yes, absolutely.
• 35:31
  Raquel: Reach out to me.
• 35:31
  Raquel: I'm happy to talk about it.
• 35:33
  Raquel: I've done a few talks about how I found my cancer and why I believe in advocating for yourself and not taking no for an answer.
• 35:41
  Raquel: So I would be happy to share that story with anyone who's interested in reaching out to me.
• 35:46
  Jeanne: Wonderful, wonderful.
• 35:47
  Jeanne: Well, thanks again for being on.
• 35:49
  Jeanne: And for those listening, I hope you tune in again for our next episode where we have another wonderful guest who is ordinary with unexpected stories.
• 36:00
  Jeanne: Or maybe I don't think I've met anybody that's just ordinary.
• 36:04
  Raquel: We're all not ordinary people.
• 36:06
  Raquel: All of us are unique.
• 36:07
  Jeanne: Yes, definitely.
• 36:09
  Jeanne: But until then, I wish you all smooth sailing.
• 36:12
  Raquel: Thank you.
• 36:14
  Jeanne: Thanks for joining me on Project Candor, where the doors are open, the stories are unexpected, and the treasure is always real.
• 36:21
  Jeanne: If today's episode made you laugh or think, follow the show and share it with your crew.
• 36:26
  Jeanne: Otherwise, I might just make you swab the deck.
• 36:29
  Jeanne: I'm Jeanne Andersen, your Admiral of the Unexpected.
• 36:33
  Jeanne: See you on the next voyage.