Dafna Michaelson Jenet is a passionate champion of change who defies expectations by pursuing a political career. She advocates for children’s rights and strives to amplify their voices within a system that frequently neglects their needs. Additionally, she has achieved success as an author.
In this episode of the NEW You, Network for Empowering Women podcast, Christy Belz sits down with Dafna Michaelson Jenet. Dafna shares her inspiring journey of second chances and life-changing choices. She talks about her experience traveling to all 50 states to meet with governors and learn about community problem-solving. Dafna also emphasizes the importance of taking risks, making incremental change, and listening to your heart. Additionally, she discusses her role in curating TED Talks for women and her recent election as a Senator in Colorado. Don’t miss out on Dafna’s inspiring story and her impact on women and society.
Take a glimpse into Dafna Michaelson Jenet’s journey of personal growth, community engagement, and empowerment, inspiring listeners to embrace second chances and create positive change in their own lives and communities.
In this episode, you will learn the following:
- The strength of collaborative endeavors in discovering efficient solutions.
- The significance of taking proactive steps to confront challenges directly, rather than simply complaining about them.
- Understanding resilience and determination when pursuing ambitious objectives.
- The importance of empowering women through influential platforms such as TEDx gatherings.
- The power of genuine authenticity in cultivating positive transformations within communities.
Visit Dafna Michaelson Jenet’s social media pages
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DafnaMichaelson
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dafnamichaelson/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dafna_m
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1nNqPmfYm0UcrxCwQ_y3HQ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dafnam/
Websites: http://www.journeyinstitute.org/ and http://www.dafnaforcolorado.com/
Learn more about Christy Belz Social Communications:
Website: https://christybelz.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristyBelzCoach/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christybelzcoach/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christybelz
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00 Christy: Welcome to NEW You, Network for Empowering Women Podcast. I’m your host, Christy Belz. Enjoy our array of talented, open-hearted guests and their willingness and courage to share their stories of second chances, life-changing choices, and new perspectives. We’re here to uplift and empower you and your journey.
00:00:39 Christy: Hello and welcome. I am so excited for you to be here today with us. We are here to hear the amazing stories of powerful women through the use of their voices, giving life to the feminine journey and the reflection of their choices. Today, I could not be more excited about my guest, Dafna Michaelson Jenet. We could talk for hours, but we only have 30 minutes today. But we’re going to be inspired to become your most authentic self and step into your own personal power and purpose by this conversation today.
00:01:10 Christy: Before we begin, I just would like to offer us the opportunity to pause. I call this permission to pause. And all we do is take a deep breath, try to find that still place inside of each of us, and be here now. So beautiful. It only takes that moment, right, to get here, to be here in this moment now. It’s the only moment there is, really. All right. As I said, I could not be more excited to introduce my guest today, Dafna Michaelson Jenet.
00:01:42 Christy: I met Dafna in 2008 when we were in a leadership program together. We were the only two of three in the nonprofit sector. She was amazing, and I was awestruck from the very beginning. So, I have asked her to be my guest for many, many reasons. And as I said, we could talk for hours. But I really just want to set the intention of sharing this beautiful woman’s journey and just how incredibly powerful she is for women, women’s choices and the world. So, please, Dafna, will you share your story with us of what has brought you to this now moment, to this place?
00:02:18 Dafna: Absolutely. First, let me just say thank you so much for having me, and I love you and appreciate you, and I’m very grateful to have you in my life. So, my story is a long and complex one, just like yours probably is. And it starts with, you mentioned when we were in that leadership program together, I was dating this guy, and he wanted to buy a lottery ticket. I have this whole thing about lottery tickets, and he’s like, “No. Yeah, buy the lottery ticket.” I’m like, “Okay, fine, just buy your lottery ticket.” And he asked me what I would do if I won the lottery. And I looked at him with all seriousness and said, “Well, I travel to every state to meet with every governor to ask them how they’re engaging citizens and solving community problems.” And he just kind of looked back at me because that was not the right answer. The right answer was, I will take a private jet to Fiji, and you will come with me, was the right answer.
00:03:18 Dafna: But for 4 hours, I was talking with him about how important it was to me to see how communities were being engaged in solving community problems. And I guess a fair amount of that came from leadership. Denver, where we were taught to look for the problem solvers in the communities and really dissect each issue. At least that’s what I took out of it. And we were on the verge of a major depression, and I was ready to jump in and say, all right, well, let’s inspire people and ask them how they’re solving community problems.
00:03:58 Christy: Just to clarify an economics’ depression. Right? We were hitting [eight]. Yeah. Great.
00:04:04 Dafna: The day that I quit my job was the day that Enron collapsed.
00:04:07 Christy: Right.
00:04:08 Dafna: My timing was really auspicious. So, I quit my job on October 31, 2008, and decided I was going to travel around the country to help inspire people and show people that no matter what you look like, what you sound like, how much money or education you have, that you have the power to solve a problem in your community.
00:04:29 Christy: Yeah. Beautiful. Then what? You went on that journey like we all were. Like, Dafna, what? You’re doing what? You have two children and you’re doing what?
00:04:39 Dafna: You’re doing what? Exactly.
00:04:41 Christy: Yeah.
00:04:42 Dafna: Yes. There were a lot of questions, a lot of questions. But I traveled on the days the kids were with their dad. I was somewhat newly divorced, and it was easier for me to be out of the house when the children weren’t there than it was to be in the house without my children.
00:04:55 Christy: You’re a very devoted mother.
00:04:57 Dafna: So, traveling was how it was going to be done. So, I quit my job. I cashed in my 401(k). I traveled to all 50 states. There were lots of bumps along the road, a moment where I almost quit, but that I didn’t quit. And right after I didn’t quit, I got the call that I was going to be on Oprah Radio, that they wanted to have me on, and that Maya Angela would be interviewing me. And all I could think of was, imagine if I had to say to Oprah radio, “Nope, sorry, I quit.” And so, I didn’t quit. And then The Denver Post did a big story about me, and my picture was on the front page of The Post for the first time. And I get a call that afternoon from CBS News that they want to put me on a news program, and ultimately, they put me on CBS Sunday Morning.
00:05:50 Christy: Unbelievable.
00:05:51 Dafna: Unbelievable experience and helped form my next several years where I was going around the country and around the state helping people with community building workshops based on what I had learned in my journey.
00:06:06 Christy: So, give us a couple. What did you learn? What were some of the things that you took away from that amazing journey?
00:06:12 Dafna: I think it was state 16 that I went to South Dakota, and it was the first time I was meeting somebody whose family had homesteaded their property and was still on the property that they had homesteaded. And I was really excited. I thought this was a really unique thing. And they said, “Oh you’re such a city girl.” There are so many of us who are still on the land that we homesteaded. But I had this moment of recognition that the way we, in deference to the Native American communities that were really awfully treated.
00:06:52 Dafna: The positive things about the way we started our communities was that we knew that we had to help one another to get things done. So we started a community by first coming together and everybody building the church and then everybody building the school. And once you had the church and the school, you had your community, and people could start living there, and everybody came in to help each other to build those things. And I believed strongly, and still believe to this day, that the way we solve problems is by coming together to solve them.
00:07:27 Christy: Beautiful. Will you share your mantra? I learned so much from Dafna. We’ve worked together for many years, and it will feed into the next question about Ted Talks and how that was created. But what is your value around complaining about a problem?
00:07:41 Dafna: I will not complain about a problem unless I am willing to work on the solution.
00:07:45 [Christy]: It makes me smile ear to ear. I wish people could see me because I’m just like, “Oh, my gosh. You know how hard that is?”
00:07:51 [Dafna]: Yeah. And it’s what made me get onto a lot of boards and doing a lot of things in my lifetime. But also, it’s what made me, even though the economy collapsed, continue to do the journey. Because I had been complaining about these problems for months, and just because the economy collapsed didn’t mean I could turn around and say, never mind.
00:08:11 Christy: Right. I wrote down three words just listening to you, courage, collaboration and connection.
00:08:18 Dafna: Ooh. I love those.
00:08:19 Christy: That really, to me, those words really summarize your journey, the 52 or 50 and 52 journey, your commitment, your value system, and how you espouse your life. And I just am such a big fan, as you know. So, I want to move on again. We could talk for hours, you and me, and we usually, anyway, so next, I just want you to talk briefly, because out of 50 and 52, you created a book, right?
00:08:43 Dafna: Yes. So, I wrote a book, and it actually took me five years to write that book. And we could do several hours of a show about the writing of the book. But the end of the five years, during that five years, I went through breast cancer and losing a baby, and I went to Christy. I went to you to get some help, and you helped me bring clarity to the process and clarity to my mind and opened up my heart that one day, all of a sudden, the book started pouring into my brain. And I sat on my porch for four days straight writing the book, and it came out in four days. And it had been almost five years since I did the journey by the time the book came out.
00:09:31 Christy: That’s such a beautiful story, I think it just speaks to your tenacity and who you are. You know, we all need a little help now and then. So, I’m just delighted that on the journey that we were able to cross paths again then. And then we crossed paths again because I’m going to share a little story. Dafna and I were working together in my practice, but I had a bunch of other women I’d been published that year, and I had a bunch of other women in my life that were in my practice that were doing remarkable things. And I thought, I have a real intuitive sense. I’m a connector. And I really thought, there’s something bigger going on here. So, I call, everybody over to my house. We’re sitting in my backyard, and I said, you know, there’s something bigger going on here and what do you guys think it is? And Dafna just kind of flippantly says, well, I have a Ted license. And I’m like, oh, my God.
00:10:18 Dafna: What? We’re going to do Ted Talks. That’s what we’re doing.
00:10:22 Christy: So yeah, Dafna, tell us about the Ted journey from the beginning. And your story about doing Ted Talks is amazing.
00:10:28 Dafna: Okay, so from the beginning, the beginning, beginning. I was actually on a committee to help another Ted event and was working to select the speakers, had submitted a list of very diverse, very talented speakers, both men and women, many races. And when the announcement came out about the final list of speakers, it was all white men and not a single woman or person of color. And I was really angry, and I was complaining. I used to have these networking groups that we would bring together at this really cool bar that no longer exists downtown. And I was just talking to the women. I was like, I just can’t believe that this is what just happened. And after all that we did. And somebody said, “Hey, you’re complaining.” And I’m like, “Oh no.
00:11:27 Christy: Oh, no. That wasn’t me, by the way.
00:11:31 Dafna: It wasn’t you. I was totally busted. It was Sophia who said to me, “You’re complaining?” And I’m like, “Oh, no.” And the next day I got on the phone to Ted and I said, “Hey, I want a license, and I want to do an all-female event.” And they’re like, “Okay, we can give you a license, but you can’t do an all-female event.” I’m like, “Oh, okay.” So, I had an event with eight women and two men. So, they said diversity. So, there you go. So that was how it all started. And Christy, when you came in, you really brought us up a notch. We went from TEDxCrestmoorPark to TEDx Cherry Creek. And professionalized a fair amount. And the program has just continued to grow and grow and flourish. And TEDx Women will be, November 5th this year, and I’m really excited about it. We have an unbelievable lineup of women.
00:12:28 Christy: Yeah, the speakers are remarkable. So we will put in the show notes how people can learn more about the TEDx Cherry Creek Women event and the date and time and location. I know tickets are going fast. We’re going to want to encourage people to get those tickets if they want to be with us in person that day. So, yeah, TEDx, I’ll tell you, I’ve been a women’s empowerment coach most of my adult professional life, and curating Ted Talks for Women for me, is probably one of the most significant contributions that I feel like I’ve been able to make. And working together with Dafna and her husband, there’s just something amazing about watching a woman go through the process of curating an idea we’re spreading and then going through the process and then presenting it on stage in the Ted fashion. So, I’m just delighted that I’ve been able to share the journey with you in the TEDx world.
00:13:19 Dafna: Incredible. And I cannot wait for you to actually hear the talks of this class. They will blow your mind.
00:13:25 Christy: I can’t even imagine they get better and better every year. All right, Dafna, we have to take a break here, so we’re going to pause for just a minute. We’ll be right back. And you’re listening to, NEW You, Network for Empowering Women podcast.
00:13:42 Christy: Hey, it’s Christy Belz. Many of the people you meet on my podcast have participated in my course called UPROOT. This 15-week course takes you through my transformational process of understanding your roots. What’s down there in the dirt you’re not looking at? Reviewing your path and collecting the tools for life success. I would love to help you on your journey. Learn more about the UPROOT course, take my quiz and see where you might be stuck down there in the dirt and explore my transformational retreat opportunities at christybelz.com forward/uproot.
00:14:25 Christy: Welcome back. As we continue our time with Dafna Michaelson Jenet. I just want to put a note here that Dafna, not only have I co curated Ted Talks with her, but she contributed to my book with her TEDx Talk. And so, you can read more about that. And oh, God of second chances, here I am again, which, by the way, the Journey Institute Press, which is part of Dafna’s thought for profit, is my publisher. So kudos and call out to Journey Institute Press with that.
00:14:52 Christy: So. All right, Dafna, you are always on the journey. After doing all the amazing things we’ve talked about so far, you decided to, what, run for office? Would you please tell us about that?
00:15:07 Dafna: Yes, so it was actually, the day that I had submitted the final manuscript to my publisher of It Takes A Little Crazy To Make A Difference, that I was in the grocery store. It was a Sunday morning, and I needed more milk, whatever. And the cashier, I live in a smaller city, commerce city, and the cashier was one of our city council people. And he said, “Hey, Dafna, I need you to run for office.” And I said, “Hey, Steve, I’m in my pajamas.” And he said, “I don’t care if you’re in your pajamas. I want you to run for office.” And I was told, if I want more women to run for office, I need to ask them. Well, I went home to my husband, and I was like, “Oh, no.” Because I had taken several programs of women to train women to run for office, where at the end, they make you promise that you won’t wait to be asked to run for office before you run for office. And there it was. I had waited to be asked to run for office.
00:16:08 Dafna: So we started to explore that conversation. First we looked at, city council and then understood that there was a seat open in the state house. And I realized that the problems I need to solve, I might be able to solve at the state level. And it was, different problems, right? My journey had completed, my children were growing up, and my son was struggling mightily in school, and we just couldn’t figure out how to help him. And I begged the special ed department, I begged for interventions, and nothing. I could get nothing for this kid. The same time, I was volunteering in two of our juvenile correctional facilities, and I started working with the boys and realizing, “Oh, they’re a lot like my son.” And I made this really morbid joke the day after volunteering once where I said, “I’m looking at colleges for my daughter and prisons for my son.”
00:17:05 Dafna: And when the words came out of my mouth, I’m like, “Oh, I have a problem. We have a very big problem here.” And if I am fighting up and down, through and through for my child, I have means and access information. I had more going for me than most people, and I couldn’t get my son help, who was helping these kids who were incarcerated, who was fighting for what they didn’t get? And I knew if I worked on the state level that I could try and prevent other kids from slipping through the cracks. And we have kids slip through the cracks every single day. And my work has been very focused on youth and the school system, the youth incarceration system, youth mental health, foster youth. So I feel very strongly, as an elected official, I feel very strongly that the children of the state are my children. And if I’m not fighting for them the way I would fight for my children, then I’m not doing my job.
00:18:12 Christy: Right on, girl. You were such a fierce advocate, and I see your fiery-ness in lots and lots of ways, but when I see you go to bat for kids at every level, whether it’s your own or somebody else’s, I have to say it’s mighty. You’re mighty. And we’re so blessed and grateful to have you in position to be able to make a difference in the lives of these kids. So thank you for that.
00:18:36 Dafna: You’re so welcome.
00:18:38 Christy: So you have some new news related to your work in the legislature as well. That’s super cool.
00:18:45 Dafna: I was just elected senator to… I was just selected not… people keep correcting me. I was selected through a vacancy committee to fill the vacancy of my senator, and I am now the senator-elect for Senate District 21 in Colorado.
00:19:02 Christy: Congratulations, Dafna. And this is like, broadcast latest news. Like, last time, texting with Dafna. I’m like, “What’s going on?” She’s like, “It’s election night.” I’m like, “It’s not November.” “No, it’s election night for me.” I’m like, “What?” So we’ve been texting back and forth all night in the morning, and I’m just, God, we are so lucky to have Dafna as a representative for us in our legislature. I’m just, it’s just amazing. Thank you. And we share so many passions together as it relates to women, women’s ideas, women’s voices, women’s choices, and children mental health. Yeah. So it’s really nice to walk the journey with somebody that is as fiery and passionate as you are, so thank you. Thank you. Thank you again.
00:19:44 Dafna: And I love that I get to walk the journey with you.
00:19:47 Christy: Thank you. Yeah, we might have a little bit of fun together too, if you haven’t figured that out. I always like to say I’m Dafna’s sidekick. She’s a hit and a half to be around all the time, but I’m pretty sassy myself, so.
00:20:00 Dafna: Yeah, you are.
00:20:02 Christy: We did those things.
00:20:04 Dafna: Get them. I do.
00:20:06 Christy: All right, Dafna, so you have so much experience and have done so many things, and I know that you have garnered a few nuggets along the way. And I’m just curious if you’d be willing to share two, three, four, maybe nuggets of what you would like our audience to know more about, really, as you fully step into your powerful self, how do they step into a more powerful life for themselves?
00:20:29 Dafna: I think there are several. I think one of the key ones, which I learned from the journey is simply, no matter what you look like, what you sound like, how much money or education you have, you have the power to solve a problem in your community. And you should do it. And the people that I met, I interviewed 500 people along my journey, and the common theme was they had a cheerleader of some sort. So if you can’t be the problem solver, be the cheerleader and figure out, who is that problem solver? And cheer them on, because problem-solving is lonely business.
00:21:05 Christy: It is.
00:21:06 Dafna: Anytime you’re trying to make change, people are hesitant to change. So I believe everybody has the gifts for that. One of the things that I learned in the legislature that is very important is that incremental change is good. And I came into the legislature thinking I’m going to just fix everything in my first year and I’m going to be done. And I learned quickly that small steps and small changes was, the way to get to the greater outcome. And so I’ve been in the legislature for seven years now, and we have made some great strides.
00:21:47 Dafna: Colorado is one of the absolute worst places to be a sex offender, and that’s because of work that I’ve been doing for seven years. So knowing how to really get in there and do the work and be persistent and know that it’s going to happen slowly and be patient with that. You know, I remember when you were trying to teach me this value, Christy. You were saying, just imagine the bricks forming one at a time in front of the other, one brick in front of the other, and the path would just form. And that is true. The path will form. So do incremental change and know that your work is being valued.
00:22:32 Christy: And just to add on that, I’ll tell you, in my coaching and when I’m working with individuals, we call them baby steps, right? Because you can’t take mighty leaps when you’re trying to make change anywhere, right? It is about these small incremental steps or baby steps that we take and we have to celebrate those because they do add up.
00:22:52 Dafna: They absolutely add up. I can’t believe I’ve been in the legislature for seven years, first of all, and to look back on the body of work that we’ve done in sexual assault is mind-blowing. There’s still, unfortunately, a lot of work to do.
00:23:08 Christy: All right, Dafna, maybe one more nugget here.
00:23:11 Dafna: Okay, so one more nugget that I would like to share is, do take those risks. They are very scary. But listen to your heart. If your heart is truly telling you this is the step you need to take next, take that step and make sure you have your network around you. I said during the journey story that I told you that it was very hard and there were times that I almost quit. And one of those times I actually wrote a resignation letter to my board because we had formed a nonprofit organization. So I wrote a resignation letter to my board. I said, listen, I’ve been to 25 states. I’ve collected 250 stories. It’s a great body of work. There are things that we can do with this, and I’m out of money and I can’t go forward anymore. And I sent a draft of that email to my then boyfriend, now husband, Michael, and he reads that email and responds to me with, “We don’t quit.”
00:24:26 Christy: Love that. We don’t quit.
00:24:29 Dafna: We don’t quit. And you know, that night, we talked to some more people, some original donors, we figured out where to find a little bit more money here, a little bit more money there, and we pieced together the rest of the journey. But if he had answered any other way, I seriously could have been done. He had said to me, “Honey, you did a great job. You really tried, and I’m proud of you. And, yeah, it’s time to hang up the cleats and go get a new job.” But he didn’t say that. He really urged me on, and it is because of him that I completed the project.
00:25:12 Christy: And he’s been walking alongside you for a really long time. You were such a great team and partner, I’ve been privileged to work with you both. I could hear him saying that. We don’t quit. I wrote a book with him. I know what that means. Good, Lord. Oh, my gosh. So I just want to repeat these back because I think they’re so incredible. Everybody can make a difference, right?
00:25:38 Dafna: Absolutely.
00:25:39 Christy: And small change or incremental change is good. You don’t have to leap and go bound by bound. Like, take those baby steps, put the bricks in, take risk. And I really loved what you said about listening to your heart. I wrote a whole chapter in my book about, heart, being heart-centered and what it means to lead from the heart, and you do it. I am such a believer in that. And then that place of network, I think, is really key, too. So I mentioned those four words that I kind of grok while you were talking earlier, courage, collaboration, connection. And I just added community, right? Because I think those four words really do sum up the essence of you and your journey and what makes you such a remarkable leader and woman, and just amazing human beings. So I could not be more grateful for you, my friend, really, for all that you do.
00:26:31 Dafna: Same. I cannot be more grateful for you.
00:26:33 Christy: So would you tell our listeners how they can find out more about you and your work?
00:26:38 Dafna: Yes, there are a number of ways. Probably the easiest is to Google Dafna Michaelson Jenet and then pick your choice of links that you want to follow. There are links to all of my legislative work that will come up. There’s links to the journey institute, which you can get to by journeyinstitute.org where you can see the work of our nonprofit and that will lead you to our TEDx work as well. And always feel free to reach out in any of those mechanisms.
00:27:06 Christy: Beautiful. And if you happen to get a hold of Dafna’s phone number, do not call her. I know that. Text her. She will respond much quicker.
00:27:19 Dafna: True, true.
00:27:23 Christy: Yeah, I’m a call-me girl. She’s a text-me girl. So we work together. All right, dear. Again, just thank you so much. Obviously, they’ll have the name and the spelling of your name. Those resources will be listed as well on the back page of this podcast. And, yeah. All right, my friend. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I’m going to end by saying my company is called Empowerment Coaching, and I always remember that Kenneth Blanchard says, “Empowerment is not about giving people power, but releasing the power they already have.”
00:27:55 Christy: And to end our time together, I always share Cree’s blessing, “Each and every day as you walk on this earth and dance in this world, you get to function from approval, because upon your creation, you are already approved. When you are made, you are made amazing. And you are amazing. The power in me honors and adores the power in you. And the power in me honors, loves, and respects the power in you. Blessings to all.”
00:28:19 Christy: Our next show, we’ll continue my series from the TEDx stage with Pat Jacques and her story of, what if everything about me is inherently right? You do not want to miss this woman. She is, badass. Oh, my God, she’s so incredible. See you next time.
00:28:42 Christy: Hey, it’s Christy Belz, and I’m so excited to be launching the New You, Network for Empowering Women podcast featuring Betsy Wiersma, my sister friend, who is collaborating with me on this effort. I cannot wait to share with you this woman and all that she does in her philanthropy, in her building of businesses, and in her TEDx world. Her topic, Choose Your Family, Choose Your Life. She’s featured in my book, Oh God of Second Chances, Here I Am Again. Cannot wait for you to meet and explore a deeper dive with Betsy Wiersma.
00:29:32 Christy: It is my joy to showcase the voices, choices, and stories of women and the messy details of life’s journey. As you’ve experienced, my guests are thriving with purpose and authenticity, but that does not mean that their life is easy and without challenges. I’ve dedicated my life to you and your journey. Thank you for listening to NEW You, Network for Empowering Women Podcast. Please subscribe and learn more at christybelz.com/newpodcast.