The Story Of We Talk Real Talk: Changing Course And The Need For Flexible Plans With Alyse Opatowski

Action's Antidotes

Life can be unpredictable. Often, the best course of action is to have a plan, but we must be flexible enough to pivot and open for that plan to change. In this episode, our host, Stephen Jaye, talks with Alyse Opatowski, the founder and CEO of We Talk Real Talk. The company has taken on several different forms while maintaining its core mission: to bring people together through deeper and more authentic conversation. Alyse shares insights on her journey with us while also discussing how she pivoted on her other businesses and why being flexible is a key attribute. Going deeper, she then shares why it is important to allow ourselves to change; only then can we find a better understanding of ourselves and even of others. --- Listen to the podcast here The Story Of We Talk Real Talk: Changing Course And The Need For Flexible Plans With Alyse Opatowski We all have different pursuits in life and sometimes we need to be a little bit flexible. One of the things I realized a while back is that one of the best ways to go about things is to have a plan, but also be prepared to have that plan change or have a need to change course from time to time. With that being said, I want to bring on my guest, Alyse Opatowski who has a business called We Talk Real Talk that had started out with one mission and the mission was changed in a way. Without further ado, here is Alyse. Thank you very much. "If we aren't distracting ourselves and we just allow silence and time with ourselves, that's a really great way to start to explore things deeper and start to understand what is a combination of things that excite you and your gifts because everybody definitely has them." I’m happy to be here. Thanks so much for having me. Can you start from the beginning with We Talk Real Talk? How did the concept begin from the start? I am from Denver and have left for about ten years. When I came back, I found that it was challenging to find a community to meet people. I had lived in major cities, which I understood why there was a challenge here. I found it odd coming back to my hometown and seeing how it was challenging first, meeting people, then second of all, a lot of the people that I was meeting only had a few friends or didn’t know a ton of people here. I first wanted to figure out ways to bring people together. The community has always been important for me. I was also hearing from people that a lot of their friendships or interactions were pretty surface level. I love asking deep questions. I would get good feedback on that but I was wondering how I could create more opportunities at dinner parties, bring people together or how there could be deeper conversations there. Things don’t always turn out how you expected them to be. They can change. I started with some friends, hosting some dinners and having questions on the table where people can go deeper. That was successful and people enjoyed it. I decided to start a business, We Talk Real Talk, where we would bring people together in a more facilitated way to be able to have these deeper questions. A lot of what came out of it was friendships, business partners and some dating involved. It also allowed people to talk about the things that they’re not always able to talk about and see that a lot of times, we all have this shared humanity and experiences. Another thing that is important to me and was important for them too was this feeling of getting rid of shame. Not having shame around topics when they would talk about something and other people would have similar experiences or be there to support them and listen to what they were sharing. First of all, where did you move to? You said you’re from Denver and you moved back here. Where did you live between? I went to school in Michigan and then I did an interesting year-long program where they moved you across the country every four months. I lived in lots of fun cities, Fort Lauderdale, San Francisco, St. Louis,