Starter Girlz Podcast

From NFL Wife to Empowered Woman: Eileen Noyes’ Untold Story

• Jennifer Loehding • Season 7 • Episode 81

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What really happens behind the image of a “perfect life”? In this compelling episode of the Starter Girlz Podcast, host Jennifer Loehding speaks with Eileen Noyes—a former NFL wife turned entrepreneur, speaker, and founder of Lady Bellator—about her powerful journey from public visibility to personal freedom.

Eileen shares how she walked away from a toxic marriage with eight children and rebuilt her life through faith, forgiveness, and fierce resilience. Her story is for anyone feeling stuck, silenced, or ready to rise again.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • How to find purpose through pain
  • The power of forgiveness in reclaiming your voice
  • Entrepreneurial tips for moms and women starting over
  • Tools for navigating empty nesting and identity loss
  • How to break free from shame and societal labels

Whether you’re navigating heartbreak, launching a new chapter, or searching for direction, this conversation offers encouragement, truth, and practical inspiration for your startup journey.

📌 Connect with Eileen Noyes
📧 hello@ladybellator.com
🎙️ The Unsidelined Life podcast

👉 Don’t forget to follow and subscribe to the Starter Girlz Podcast — your go-to show for powerful interviews, entrepreneur motivation, and inspiring success stories that celebrate every step of the startup journey.

Eileen Noyes:

We actually had an escape plan. We had to leave our home, we stepped away in the hopes that he would come back around, that he would see what was on the line, and he never did. And so his belief system has taken him to where more than one wife is okay he now has. That's what's going on. There's no relationship, no contact right now with the kids Very minimal and it's not relational or anything like that. Very minimal and it's never like it's not relational or anything like that. But I mean, I really had to set the tone for my kids of a forgiveness, of choosing joy, of not playing victim. Um, I, I just knew that I was in this position and so much comes for spiritually, I can't even separate that that. Um, my job is to take care of these kids, their lives, they have purpose, they have, you know, plan. God has plans for them.

Jennifer Loehding:

Welcome to the Starter Girlz podcast, your ultimate source of inspiration and empowerment. We're here to help women succeed in every area of their lives career, money, relationships, and health and wellbeing While celebrating the remarkable journeys of individuals from all walks of life who've achieved amazing things. Whether you're looking to supercharge your career, build financial independence, nurture meaningful relationships or enhance your overall well-being, the Starter Girlz podcast is here to guide you. Join us as we explore the journeys of those who dare to dream big and achieve greatness. I'm your host, jennifer Loehding, and welcome to this episode. Welcome to another episode of the Starter Girlz podcast. I'm your host, jennifer Loehding, and wherever you are tuning in today, we are so glad to have you. So I am so excited about my guest today and want to open up with this to set the stage. Sometimes, what looks like a picture-perfect life on the outside hides an entirely different story behind closed doors, and sometimes the journey through heartbreak, public pressure and deep personal trials becomes the very path that leads to purpose, healing and redemption. And so I feel like my guest today really embodies all of this, and you guys are going to get to hear from her and her story and what she's doing now. But before we do that, as we always do. We need to do a quick shout out for our sponsor.

Jennifer Loehding:

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Jennifer Loehding:

And with that, of course, I want to make one more mention, and that is to be sure you head over to startergirlz. com. And why do I always send everybody over there? For a couple reasons. One if you missed an episode, it's a great place to catch up. It's also where you can keep up with all of our news and what's happening and you can sign up and be in the know. But also we have a great quiz over there, and it's so fun I built it. Do you want to check it out? It's a success block quiz. It's a two-minute quiz that will actually tell you what your number one success block is that may be hindering your success. So if you want to take that quiz, head on over to Starter Girls with the Z Kong and you can do that there, all right.

Jennifer Loehding:

So today's guest, Eileen Noyes, has lived in the spotlight as the wife of a former NFL athlete, but behind the glitz was a woman quietly losing herself. After her marriage publicly fell apart, eileen became a single mother to eight children and began a journey that would redefine her faith, her identity and her purpose. Now remarried and raising a blended family of 15 children with her husband Michael, eileen is the founder of Lady Bellator, a powerful movement that helps women rise from the sidelines of life and reclaim their identity, voice and dreams. As an author, speaker, mentor and coach, she shares God's redemptive power through her books, including Sideline no More Broken Chapters and her latest Rise Up, lady Bellator. Eileen's mission is clear to help women pursue their dreams without guilt or shame, and to live in the fullness of who God created them to be. So, eileen, welcome to the Starter Girl Show we are so glad to have you here today.

Eileen Noyes:

Thank you for having me. What a great intro. It's always good to get pumped up Like thank you.

Jennifer Loehding:

So, eileen, one of the things you know I always like to start this show off, because I feel like the whole premise of Starter Girls is all about showing how we change the trajectory of our lives, and that's what I love about the storytelling is that everybody that comes on here, I feel like, has had to make some choice to do something different in their life. It comes on here I feel like it's had to make some choice to do something different in their life, and some of us have, you know, really profound stories, and some it may be career shifts, you know, marital shifts, health shifts, whatever that is, and so you have obviously made shifts in your life to get to where you are today. And so I kind of want to start there. My audience doesn't know who you are yet. By the we get done, you know, at the end of this I hope they're going to know who Eileen Noyes is. But I want you to take us back to what brought you to this place that you are today. Sure, well, it's funny that you call it that.

Eileen Noyes:

Your show's called Starter Girls, so you're. So when I think of starter, I think of sports. So the thing with me is I was an NFL wife. That was back in the early 2000s, so before that actually, I worked with athletics. I played volleyball, I was on the shorter side, which made me very focused on the strength part and jumping higher and all those things. So I had to work on my disadvantages, I had to strengthen those things. So I was a strength coach and I worked with all the athletes and then there was a complete shift from seeing hundreds of people every day knowing my purpose to then stopping everything, putting my life on hold to support my spouse, and so that's what I did.

Eileen Noyes:

He got drafted to Green Bay. I followed the year after and life was completely different. So it started there and you know, it's just that acclimating to. All of a sudden. I mean, it was like it's like life kind of went and took. It went on a path of its own. So you know, here I'm, you know, a strength coach. I had purpose, all these things, and all of a sudden I really felt like, oh, you're the wife of, and it's just over and over. You're the wife of and it's just over and over. You're the wife of, you're the wife of, and the Green Bay is that's everything. Football is everything. So I felt like I stepped into a green and gold world that, I mean, it was just. It was just nothing like I've ever known before. So it just kind of started there.

Eileen Noyes:

And so, long story short, I mean we were ones who shared our faith. So he's a very outspoken Christian man. We shared our faith with the team. We brought them to different outreaches you know sports outreaches that had to do with, like couples getting better, you know, encouraging people to have kids, and we were very big in the community. Well, after, oh gosh, about eight years after he was done with in the league. So we played for nine years, which is a long time he, um, he shifted his beliefs to one that was not part of our mouths and so it was, you know, going from our christian foundation of marriage to, all of a sudden, polygamy was okay, because I wore makeup and because I didn't have a t-shirt and long skirt and head cover. I was a Jezebel, the kids and I were property. So it was a complete 180 from what we knew.

Eileen Noyes:

And so I came to a crossroads. And all this under wraps, because I didn't want, I didn't know who to share it with. It was God. How do I navigate through this, like what is going on? I want to be a good wife, but this is not what we agreed on, and so it was about three or four years in private kind of. I mean, really, I had only only told five girls, and so they were the ones that helped me navigate through, and you know, after that I just I had kind of turned with.

Eileen Noyes:

Okay, we, he wanted to take us to this actual cult that was based out of tennessee, and I just knew this was not not something that we could do, and so we stepped, stepped away. We actually had an escape plan. We had to leave our home. We stepped away in the hopes that he would come back around, that he would see what was on the line, and he never did, and so his belief system has taken him to where more than one life is okay, he now has. That's what's going on. There's no relationship, no contact right now with the kids Very minimal, and it's never like it's not relational or anything like that.

Eileen Noyes:

But I mean, I really had to set the tone for my kids, of forgiveness, of choosing joy, of not playing victim. I just knew that I was in this position and so much comes spiritually I can't even separate that that my job is to take care of these kids, their lives, they have purpose, they have, you know, god has plans for them. And so I just knew it was such a significant thing to keep pushing through all that crazy, to give them the life and the upbringing and the drive to continue pushing through adversity that you know life is happening, even still, even in all this life is happening for them, not to them. And so that's I mean, in a super nutshell version, that's what happened. Wow, give me chills. Yeah, life just shifted for me and I'm super thankful and that whole thing.

Eileen Noyes:

I mean, if you take that pro sports world, you know that it looks from the outside, it looks like such glitz and glamour, and it's definitely a part of it, but it's not all of it. It's definitely a part of it, but it's not all of it. So my part is to see that those women who are in those fard seasons, they have someone to talk to, because mine is not an isolated incident. There's four women whose husbands, or now ex-husbands, have joined the cult. That was seven, eight years ago. This is still happening now to where just the fact that they see or hear my story, they know to come to someone, I mean, and it's how there's two that are going through it right now in a different situation. So so that's where heart is to help them again, not in just those tough situations but even the healthiest of marriages.

Eileen Noyes:

People that are part of that been part of the NFL world.

Eileen Noyes:

There's just place, and it's this feeling of I'm that been part of the NFL world.

Eileen Noyes:

There's just place, and this feeling of I'm suffering in silence because of the expectations and because of holding it in. Because you know, like there's one girl. She's like I had to hold everything in because people were telling me don't stress out your husband. It's like you know he's got to focus, he's got to, you know, just be ready for the game, and so she just felt like she stuffed all her emotions to literally adjust was affecting her health. So it's such a wide range of you know people that there's just they're just different dynamics to that world that people just don't know. So I just wanted to not just expose it for the sake of exposing it, but to really be like hey, I want to be that outlet, because I know I didn't have it, I didn't have anybody to help me navigate through, and I know that being, you know, a couple steps ahead, seeing what they don't see yet, to be able to help them be proactive, is something that I really, you know, desire to do.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, there's like my head as you're talking and there's so many things with this, right, like so many angles here, because it's like not only are you dealing, you know, we're talking about humans here, right, humans are complex. Right, that we're talking about there's this whole idea of you've got this like basically crisis in your world, but you are in a position to where you can't make a big scene Like you get, you're trying to hide this from the public and you're dealing with all this internally and it's like what do you do? Like, what's the right thing to do? Right, like you don't know in the moment. And so I say to you you know that, and it's admirable that you found that way, right, like you found that way out of that, because I think that would be hard for any human being outside of the NFL dealing with what you dealt with, period. And you had all these kiddos too. You had these children that you had to think about first and foremost and to make sure that they're in good space, safe, and all of those things. And I love that you said you know the happening for them and not to them thing, because that is something, oh my gosh.

Jennifer Loehding:

Like you know, right now I'm thinking about John Maxwell, his book. You know, sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. And he talks about is it happening to you or through you? And it's something that I've talked to, you know, like I've had that conversation with my son, I've had it with my husband before, like, is something happening to you or through you? Is it for you, like what? You know how we look at things. So it's so admirable that you've been able to, you know, push through that weather, through that, and where you are now. I mean, just think about that. You've got a voice now and it's giving you the ability now to hopefully help these other women that are navigating this space to know that hey, here's somebody who's actually weathered through this and come out on the other side. So you know powerful.

Eileen Noyes:

Thank you, yeah, it's been. It's not been easy. And then the thing you know, if we're talking about, uh, the desire to, you know, push ahead. So here I'm stay home mom for 20 plus years, had one full-time job before I got married, and so then to to navigate through, I just like writing, you know, I, I I've always, that's just always been in me, and it's funny because I knew that as a writer, when I felt like it was time to find the right, I honestly thought all right, this is going to be a memoir, this is going to be all the things that that I went through, and not in a bashing way, but it was like this. You know, usually when you hear, especially in the limelight, um, you hear because, like, what they do is like they lift you up, and then, when things go crazy, they highlight that too, and then all of a sudden, it's like you don't hear about anything anymore and I just want to be like, wait, hold on here. Hey, things are, things are okay, you know. Yeah, it's not like, you know, just like too bad a tragedy, I mean, and and for sure there's a separate part of it. But I remember, you know, thinking, okay, I'm gonna write this book and I felt something in me say no, you can't go full throttle on telling everybody everything that happened because it's going to freak people out. It's like this first book.

Eileen Noyes:

It was to the pro athlete wives to say, hey, you know, I understand that there's a transition going into the game. There's relationship dynamics and the fans and the cheating and all that that people don't understand. How do you navigate through that? How are you his number one fan while still telling him hey, honey, can you hang out with the kids, can you pay the bills, can you take out the trash? Can we hang out? There's that, there's the expectations of family and the money and especially, seeing all this with the draft going on, I see it through a different lens. I know it's like such a great, exciting thing for everybody, but to know that on the other side of those celebrations is there's going to be crossroads of hard relationship dynamics, a lot of, like you know, relationship breakdowns.

Eileen Noyes:

So there's that I know I had a shopping addiction because I didn't I lacked purpose. That I know I had a shopping addiction because I lacked purpose. It was my way of numbing things and just kind of being in that world, of feeling like this is the expectation of how you're supposed to look and all those things. And then that transition out of the game which is super hard, not only for her but obviously for him. I don't think there's a grieving. There may be some things out there, but it's hard. Not everybody goes into commentating or coaching and that's what people assume. So in writing that and doing all those things, like it's hard.

Eileen Noyes:

I self-published, so it's just hard. It's like the writer part of me and that part is easy. But to go out there and kind of, you know you have to sell yourself in a way and that's definitely not easy for me. You know, doing all the things, the marketing, the promoting, all those initials at one point I think I'm getting them all. But when you hear ROI or the TRM, I'm like what is this stuff? Like what is this stuff?

Eileen Noyes:

So getting into this world of entrepreneurship which I really didn't even care for that word I brought just ticker and motivated by money but to see that an entrepreneur is someone who sees a problem and wants to solve it and wants to build a need, when I saw it from that point of view, it changed everything for me and so I'm just pushing through because I'm in the early stages, I'm doing some, you know, I think sometimes I have to oh I do.

Eileen Noyes:

Just like every person, you have to celebrate your wins and sometimes I don't. You know, it's like I wrote a book and I'm like, okay next, I wrote a book Next, because that's just my mentality, especially with a lot of kids. But to be able to celebrate those things and to like, yeah, just smell the roses and then go, okay, like it's okay, like there's there's lulls and it's this process and there's trials, and so I'm pushing through in a whole different way where, um, even in marriage, there's things that have been just as challenging, if not more challenging and crazy to say, than the actual going through all that cold stuff.

Jennifer Loehding:

You know, the first time around, so it's life, yeah, and you know I feel like listening to you and we have very different lives. But there's so many things you said there that I think, as entrepreneurs, we all sort of feel like. I self-published my book as well, and when I wrote my book, many of the people listening to these episodes know my story. But when I wrote that book, mine was really probably similarly to yours kind of a cathartic release. I didn't I don't even know or I didn't care about making money. Really, it was really I just wanted to write to document what I had gone through completely different story from yours. So I don't ever like to diminish anybody's story, but I think where I'm listening to your heart is when I when you're talking about like ROI, like I get it, I want to say I get it because I've had to. Really, you know like I was.

Jennifer Loehding:

I spent 22 years in Mary Kay in leadership in Mary Kay, and then I had a health crisis that forced me to shift directions and then I ended up after 22 years leaving and forming a new business and going into a whole nother field, when that was all I had known from the time I was in my late 20s up until almost my late 50s now, and so you know, I hear these things and I want to say to you I think these are like things we go through as entrepreneurs this whole talking about marketing yourself and really putting yourself out there and, just to your point, also a stay-at-home mom for 20-something years my kids are all grown now but I've never worked outside of the home since I true story, since I wasn't let me take it this way I was an aerobics instructor for a while, so I did work at battles, I did work at some clubs, so I did get a paycheck up until about 2004,. But I haven't had a real like corporate job since 1996, if that tells you anything. So I wouldn't even know what to do at this point I'm in my early fifties now. What to even do if I had to go back out into the workforce to do an actual like I don't know where they hire me, like at Target or something, yeah, like to do. You know what I mean.

Jennifer Loehding:

I want to say all that to say to you, not to say anything like diminish you, but to say I hear you and I and I and I feel your, what you're talking about and the pain with that, but I think again it goes back to look at where you are now. I mean, I think that all of these things that you had have given you this voice now to be able to yeah, you've got a purpose and a passion, right, and all this money. I think that money all comes with that purpose and that passion that you have, but also the addressing those pain points that those people have right, like knowing where those people are coming from?

Eileen Noyes:

Yeah, for sure. And I think too, like I look at I don't want to say competitors, but what you're looking at, what's out there. And so there are different groups that you know. It's like how do you, how do you connect, like are you going to somehow do something together? And as I'm observing, I'm seeing that they do that, what I do and what they do. So there's just two particular groups that I know. There may be more, but there's women of the NFL and there's off the field. Those are two organizations that those are the only two organizations that I know in regards to, you know, pro sports or pro football. And you know I see that the season that they're highlighting is different than mine. So, you know, as I'm looking and I'm thinking like, why do I have to do this? It's already out there.

Eileen Noyes:

Well then, as these specific women are coming to me, you know, when you get discouraged and you want to quit but then there's always those things that you know, I know it's from God I just feel like someone will call and go. Thank you so much that you're doing this. Like this is such a need. Like I am realizing that what I thought I was just going through by myself this whole thing of this theme where I felt like I was going through healing and freedom, I'm realizing that that is going to be a big foundational thing for these women. A lot of times we try to go, push through and do career stuff and do you know the bigger things, but we've got blind spots and we've got different things because we're not healed. And so to me, I'm just thinking I want to get to those places. Let me give an example. So I have a podcast now too, and as it's getting out there, there's different women from sports have been saying, saying like I want to get on, I want to share my story and I really have to be discerning about it because I don't want it to be a bash session. I want it to be well, hey, like this is.

Eileen Noyes:

I have eyes of compassion for my ex, you know, and I have forgiven him and I've had to go through a huge layer of forgiveness of not even realizing that I didn't even allow myself to feel the emotion of all that stuff and all those things.

Eileen Noyes:

But there's a place of just healing and maturity, that play that goes along with your, whatever it is you're doing. So I had to go, okay, time out, like, like, let's get you healed so that you because you're going to see with fresh eyes your, your, your situation, your, you know all those circumstances you're going to see them in totally different eyes a year from now, two years from now. And so I had to really, you know, just think about that and reflect on that and know that, gosh, this is part of the cross and all for me. But for these women like, hey, let's get you some healing, like this wound is way fresher for you. So let's not just go out there and just say something that you'll regret later on. So there's just different parts, but anyways, it's just like you're just seeing that for me, that super small linch that I'm trying to reach is even smaller than what I, you know, anticipated.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, one. There's great takeaways from that because, you know, in listening to that, I mean it's the same thing, I think, for really all of us as podcasters should be thinking that way about who we bring on. I mean there's a takeaway in that, right, by being selective about who you bring on, because you're trying to look for a certain whether it's a demographic or a type of whatever it is that you're looking for for your podcast, and I do think you know that comes in with you know the boundaries and really defining what you want and who you're looking for. But also, in your conversation here, talking about that forgiveness piece, right, like I think that's a huge piece, and what you're kind of alluding to here is this idea that it's kind of like the way I put it is when I wrote my book. You know, when I wrote my book in 2019, I was fresh out of a four year medical crisis with a disease that they call a suicide disease.

Jennifer Loehding:

It's extremely painful and I have a very different. I have a very different view then than I do now. Same thing with my ex-husband that I had, you know, when I married at 19. I have a very different view now. In fact, I saw my parents this weekend and they're like hey, have you ever? Okay, now let me back up. I've been married now for 29 years.

Jennifer Loehding:

That guy I was married to for three years. We divorced in 92. I don't know where this guy is, I don't care, but my dad asked me the other day. He's like do you know where thing is? If I were to see him today? There was no, there's no emotion, there'd be no hate, there'd be no like whatever, right, because it's over it. But when it happened I hated the guy like I hated this guy, right. So there's something about that whole healing process, right. And I think when you're like you're saying, when you come from a place of healing, you can look at things more objectively, right, you can look at the overall picture here and I just think you in that process, you allow yourself, like you said, to forgive yourself too, right, like you can't, you can't look at that fresh until you make that forgiveness for both the person victor, right and the victim, like whatever aspect that is that you're looking.

Jennifer Loehding:

So I think you're. You're right in doing that and it's good. You know, and I had ironically I never actually said ironically I had a girl on my show way back when on this Starter Girl show. It was one of my very first episodes when I brought my second co-host on. She was also a former NFL football wife and she had a really I need to connect you two. She had a really good story.

Jennifer Loehding:

The thing I'm bringing that, if we're up now, is she's doing phenomenal. I mean, she's just doing really, really well and at the time that she came on she was. But she is just a beautiful girl, beautiful girl and I need to connect you two. As you were talking, I totally need to connect you two because you will love her. I still follow her. But yeah, she was a fun episode and I can't remember all of her story. I don't know if there was some abuse, but I do remember her talking a little bit about getting lost in this whole process of being this NFL wife and you know the glamour of this and how we see it on the outside, but it's not. You know, when you're on the other side of it, it's like, right, the grass isn't always greener on the other side, kind of thing, right? Oh wait, hold on.

Eileen Noyes:

Okay, sorry I lost you.

Jennifer Loehding:

I was saying there's this whole other side, like we see it, you know on one side, but then the grass is not always greener on the other side, right yes?

Eileen Noyes:

Yeah, for sure, and I think yeah and it's. You know, it's how you receive it, it's how you just receive it Because it's well. I've learned, especially now like that, that timeframe of hearing all the fans and all the expectations, whether it be from family, whether it be from you know just different. You see things on what they say about him that it could have been. I could have been easily offended by those things or I could have gotten caught up in someone saying this and someone saying that and I made that choice back then. I'm not going to let this stuff get to me. I mean, I saw how there were certain people, you know, there was a situation where we were out to dinner with another couple and kids and things like that. They kept asking for autographs and I saw this girl just seething and I saw how it created tension in our dinner and between them as a couple and I was like gosh, like you know, there's certain things that we can't control. We can't control the fans. I mean we can say no, but they're going to come, you know, and so I just didn't want that. That was just very significant for me to say I don't want that. Well, here with all the fans and all those things fast forward to.

Eileen Noyes:

When things went down with my ex ex um I, when we stepped away, that was that was me being completely quiet and not knowing what was going on. And I come back, you know. So I'm gone for 40 days with my kids. We're just, you know, we just, yeah, my ex didn't know where we were. We felt like we had to bring him back to school. And I come back and I look like the crazy person.

Eileen Noyes:

So all these stories have been said about me on YouTube. Then we're talking like if you, if you google me or my ex, there's over 300 videos of how I, you know, tore my house down and how I was the gold digger and I never loved my spouse. All these things are on YouTube to where, like people talking about me and my name being like just gone through the ringer to be able to. I mean, it's just like a preparation like you know what. I don't need to be focused on what people say. I know the truth. The truth sets me free and I'm not going to sit here and defend myself. I'm not going to let it get to me. I'm just going to stay laser focused on what I need to do and that's, you know, stay close to God, raise my kids and do what I'm called to do, and so I see all that as kind of training ground for the hard, for the real hard stuff that came my way.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, well, and I just it's like crazy to me to think that you had to go through that because you know it's interesting. Yeah, I, you see, like, when I think about you know, like being in the wildlife, we just talk let's back this up, let's, let's take the remove this to like, say, somebody trying to build like their YouTube page or their podcast page, remove this out, like I had a girl on my on my show a few weeks ago. That was she's an amputee and she started doing her, her social media. She was tracking she's a, she's a paradisage which is Paralympics horse riding, and so I had no idea. I didn't look that up, I didn't know what it was, I had to go look it up, but she started documenting eight years ago this journey that she's doing. Well, now she's built her social media. Her Instagram paid up to like almost 200,000 followers, right. And you think about somebody now like you're in the entrepreneur space now building a podcast, and so think about, like, where we are as entrepreneurs, right, we're like trying to build our audience and all of that, right.

Jennifer Loehding:

And we got into this whole conversation about kind of what you're talking about in a different way, about social media and the hate messages and how people would send her. And I'm thinking this poor girl, she is an amputee and all she's doing right now is really just trying to be an advocate for disabilities, right, disabilities. And she gets these hate messages from people. And we had the whole conversation about, like, how you had to have, you have to have thick skin, right, and I'm thinking the entire time like, like, do you want this? Like, why do you really want this in your life?

Jennifer Loehding:

Because here we are building our business and we're building podcasts, right, like, and I'm talking to my YouTube guy and we're talking about getting clicks on videos and I'm having this internal dialogue with I don't care if those videos go viral. Like, I just wanted to hit the right people because I don't want all that mess, I don't want all that garbage from these crazy people out there, right, like, because I don't know about you, but I just don't have the energy for it, like, I don't have the patience or the energy. So I listen to this and I think, gosh, that has to be so hard to be in those positions where you have no control of that and you've just got crazy people out there just putting garbage out there, the unfactual information about you out there and you just got to basically put the blinders on and just ignore it.

Eileen Noyes:

You know, you just have to have thick skin. Yeah, you definitely have to treat it for that, because it was hard. I remember going okay, I don't want to fight, but that's not true, and that's not true and I just want to defend myself, it's just like people don't know, right, they don't know.

Jennifer Loehding:

You know it could just be so hard. I get in, you know, I get in sometimes and even, like when I get into X and I'm looking at all the stories and things going you know I can still call it Twitter, but X, whatever and I'm looking at all the things going I don't like, well, you know we're lying, they're just putting stuff out there for clickbait to get people to click on. You know they're lying and people just don't like I don't know about you, but the whole integrity thing just makes me crazy, you know, and that's what it is. It's about the how do we get the clicks? Talk about things that are, you know, are going to get people's attention, you know, and oh, it just makes me crazy. I just it's admirable. Like I said, I'm so glad you're on the other side of this. That's that's all I got to say. You are definitely a an inspiration for other, for other women that are going through what you're doing, but even people out there that are trying to. You know, weather through that and just in in helping give people the ear that sometimes you do. You just got to put those blinders on and stay true to your purpose and your calling and your truth. Okay, so awesome, eileen, so you're doing awesome stuff.

Jennifer Loehding:

So here's what I do want to ask. I've got a couple of fun questions I want to ask you, but for somebody we've talked a lot about. You know the NFL life and your book, and then you know what kind of what brought you to this place. But I want to focus on the entrepreneur side of this, because you did write this book. You've got this podcast you're doing We've talked a lot about you know the art we mentioned the ROI and really moving into that space where we got to think about, okay, the business part of things. So maybe you know, what advice would you lend somebody that is maybe, I don't know, maybe they're coming from the corporate space or maybe they're like you and I. They're in the you you know stay-at-home mom space and they're moving into this entrepreneur space. What's something maybe you would lend them as advice?

Eileen Noyes:

well, a couple of things. This one keep pushing through, um, staying positive and kidding with people that have gone before you. So for me, I think that's been a hard thing is, you know, going into the entrepreneurship world. It was, there was a blanket entrepreneurship, which for me at that time was great, you know, just understanding what, what all that meant. Like I said, you know, just helping people out. But you know there was a. I felt like there was a lull because I was in these big general groups that you know they were talking about their own businesses and I just felt like there was a lull because I was in these big general groups that you know they were talking about their own businesses and I just felt like, okay, let me glean as much as I can, but I need someone to help me step into really honing in on. You know, for me it's reaching them, it's establishing things so I could start coaching. It's very specific stuff and I wouldn't have known I probably would still be floating around if I didn't connect with people that have gone before me who really who I can really pick their brains and again, that you know that thing of being positive.

Eileen Noyes:

Here's another thing who are stay-at-home moms and, just like you and I, I think the one big thing is seeing that you have what it takes, because it's easy to like disqualify yourselves and say, okay, I don't have a, I don't have a.

Eileen Noyes:

You know, I don't have this degree, I don't have this license, or I don't, I have not, I don't have like a resume, but I know that as a stay-at-home mom, there are so many skills of what, just what we've gone through and I don't know if you're gonna tell us your audience, but just the whole thing of like being flexible and anything goes. We've had fun, like you know, internet issues, probably on my side, but there's so many things that um, there there's. We've learned so many things to to just shift on a dime or, you know, like um, to learn to to. For me, I have these divide and conquer type of mentalities because it's easy to get overwhelmed, but when you're stable mom, there's just something in you that just has to find the answers and so I just think, um, stable mom, you have, you have all the things.

Jennifer Loehding:

You have a CEO mentality in a lot of ways, so don't underestimate those things. So those are my big tips network marketing space. For so long, you know, I built out this program and it was so crazy because when I built it out it really had the mindset of, you know, like people ask me like who is it for? Well, it's really for any female entrepreneur any of them. But a lot of it. When I was building it out, I really had that mom in my mind because I knew what it was like working that business, you know, with an 18 month old and then having another baby and then having another, and going through the navigating those spaces all the way from babies in diapers to young you know toddlers to young age, middle school, high school and now we're in young adult, you know age, which is all another damning in itself, Right, but you are so right and just in case in point, it's just today in our podcast episode we have had to pivot and turn like three or four times each time.

Jennifer Loehding:

So, yes, I agree with you 100%, wholeheartedly, that just because you have been at home raising children does not mean you can't do all the things you need to do and be successful as an entrepreneur right, Because it's just a pivot. It's just a different thing that you've had to learn to probably tackle in all the times you've been doing diapers, navigating kids, the dinner and the car. Hey, carpool, let's not talk about that Like having kids in multiple schools, right, and navigating the carpool in different schools. I mean, that is a challenge itself, right.

Eileen Noyes:

For sure. Oh my gosh, all of it, all of it. And you know, I, I'm proud that there's been times where I've talked to my husband. I'm like, you know, this stuff is hard. I just wanted to go back to just being a stable mom, so all this stuff is just just challenging.

Eileen Noyes:

But you, you just push through, you push through and I think that you know when they're, when you're passionate about something. To me it's like when your passions and your burdens and your skills, like when they fall in line, man, that's your sweet spot. And when you're in your sweet spot, when you know that you want to do this, like when adversity comes. Adversity comes in so many different ways, but I want to do this. I want to keep pushing through. I may have to take shifts on you know, just different things here and there, but I'm going to keep going up. I don't want to quit this one and I know I'm not like. I know that I'm going to push you because it all comes from that heart of what I went through and how I want to help them. And and I, I just know it's it's just, it's just, it's just timing and and and just diligence, determination.

Jennifer Loehding:

So yeah, and you guys have 15 kids blended now. So you are like the mom. I mean, you are doing it.

Eileen Noyes:

I mean I, I don't know, because he has a seven like I, um, he, we have his uh, two youngest, which are 13 and 16 and they get along great with um, with mine and so, and so a lot of his are older, so we don't see them. So they are in, uh, they're, they're, you know, the midwest um, so we don't get to see them too often, but it's not ever been those, you know, big, big christmas gatherings or thanksgiving. I wish it had been nice, but there's nothing like that.

Jennifer Loehding:

So I don't have 15 ever at once in a white guy hey, but you let you moved with eight and I'm impressed with that because I have three. And I'm telling you, you know, like I always joke, I say you know that one, like going from one to two, I think, is like the hardest. After that you could probably have a bunch, right, cause you're crazy anyways. But like I just really have this story, I, you know, I, I remember having my second child on my hip crying, and the four-year-olds jumping up on the island to make a tortilla, like put American cheese on a tortilla in the microwave because she had learned to cook tortillas.

Jennifer Loehding:

Because I was like I am going to pull my hair out with these two kids. Like I got a baby on the hip, I'm trying to be a mom and I got the one climbing the counter trying to cook tortillas, you know. But after that we got to number three and I was like man, we were just crazy at that point. Like I got baby number three, you know sumo crawling on the floor after baby number two because he wants to walk. I'm like at that point you just have 10, I guess I don't know, you know you know well.

Eileen Noyes:

So I admire them like yeah, yeah, it was like that for a long time, where it's like you know it is, it's like I just enjoy, enjoy the ride. But and there, when they get older, it's challenging, whether, like now, the high school, the college and trying to go to different games and catching everything, it's for sure, right, especially so I. They're all in school now, so I've got my youngest, who's seven, so he's finally in school, and so it gives my window of, you know, typically from like 8, 30 to three. It gives me window opportunity for me to do my stuff.

Eileen Noyes:

But, man, after that from three to nine. Sometimes I'm driving, which is just doing it.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, you know what eileen is so weird? Because we're kind of now we're at the empty net stage, which is so weird because for so long, you know, I hear you and I'm like it was like soccer karate. It was this every week we would have soccer tournaments that we'd go from Fridays, you know. And now it's so weird because we're like they're all kind of out right now and they're adults and we're like they're adults and we're like we're bored. You know like what? That?

Jennifer Loehding:

We were like her job, we're gonna go up there sit up and she's a bartender. You know like we're gonna go sit at her job and just hang out. So we do, we show up. We're like, hey, page, we're coming to hang out at the bar today with you. Yeah, I'm not gonna drink it, I just want them offer. You know, like that's where we're at. It's such a weird feeling because you know we were, we were young when we had kids. We never had that whole like time where we were doing like all the traveling. And now we're like in this other phase where it's like we're back to like when we were in our early 20s, that short time, that very minimal window of time we had where we didn't have kids, and so now it's like we can do things and I'm like, hey, it's kind of cool, we got free time, we can change.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, we can be when we want. You know I always tell people, I give people hope. It's like you get back to that. You know you hear the people say the empty nest thing is like great, you know, because you're like get to be a kid again. You know. So, yeah, well, that was perfect for a long time with me. It's a little ways to know. Like you know, as a mom doing all these things, like what's the one thing that you do for yourself like every day to just be like to maybe recharge yourself? You said you got that window where they're all gone.

Eileen Noyes:

So what's the one thing that's important to you? Well, this is not the recharging window, but I have to get up early, like't I don't care to. I mean, it'd be great to sleep in, but that's where I know I can have um, just time, that peace and quiet. It's something about getting up where there's no one that I have to answer to. I can work out, I could pray, I can, I could just watch the sun. I mean sunrise, all those things like that is, I guess, in a sense, recharging, but that's that's me time I would love to do, you know, and then working out, working out for sure, like if I can work out, that is definitely, uh, that stress reliever and it's just, you know, when you like I'm 50s also, that was when your body is going through those changes in that whole menopause stuff, it's like I have to do that, like I need to work out because I'm still. It's a puzzle.

Jennifer Loehding:

It's a puzzle right now If you you know, in Philly it's always no, and I but you, yeah, I get up early too. I like that more. You get so much done in the morning when you have that little quiet time by yourself, right like you get that almost Donald man. You know it's so weird because I don't know about you, but I was not like ever was a morning person like my mother used to when I was a kid, come in there and get me out like she'd have to turn my way. You know, now it's like I set my alarm, but I really don't even need it. I just wake up. Even on the weekend I'm like, oh, I'm gonna sleep until 6 am. It never happened doesn't, it doesn't happen.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, I just love those listening times yeah.

Eileen Noyes:

It is, and I don't know. I don't know what my cat's problem is, but she, she'll jump across us at 3.30. It's almost like clockwork and I'm like dude, like, and then, because I know she wants to go outside, I left the door open yesterday practically, and she still didn't. I was so mad. I'm like dude, I need that extra, because I'll wake up between 4, 3, and 5. And so I'm like come on, Just oh shit. So she's been messing up.

Jennifer Loehding:

Your cat mind must be in sync right now, because I just was telling someone today that last night I was like man, I went to bed early and I was so excited because I went to bed and at 3 am in my bed this morning, my cat comes in and starts meowing and pawing. I'm like, uh-uh, I was first born Cat, my cat, or you and some fellow. I love it. Go to bed. I love it. Wiley, you are awesome. Yeah, no, go to bed. I love it. Wiley, you are awesome and I applaud you for like all the things you're doing and your, your books and your podcasts and you know and uh, being a mom to all those kids and and doing it all you're I mean, you're wearing the hats, you're doing it all and I think it's great. I think that's what this is all about. You know the funny thing when I started just so you know, in the very beginning you mentioned about when you hear starter. You know we're thinking of thing. When I started just so, you know, in the very beginning you mentioned about when you hear starter you were thinking of sports.

Jennifer Loehding:

When I first started this show I've said this in several episodes we were two ex-Mary Kay sales directors that started the show and when we started it, it was all about empowering women and the tagline was basically whether you're starting a business, a brand or a movement, we're here to talk about it. That's what we were doing. We had no idea what we were trying to do with this show and I tell people you know I've heard a lot from you about passion and all of this. You know this show has taken many navigations. I've, you know, co-host came and left, another one came and left still great friends of mine, but they just went on to pursue other passions.

Jennifer Loehding:

But this show, you know, I put it on hold for a while, for a year, brought it back and when I brought it back in 23, it had a little bit of the original movement, but it really became something more powerful for me and it was really about how do I help women which is so weird because we have a lot of men listen to the show but it was really about how do I help women navigate this space, being entrepreneurs and wearing all of these hats that we're talking about right now, like being the mom, being the CEO of their family, being successful in work and life, and everything that I do with this show is really because of a lot of the lessons I've had to learn in my journey being a mom, weathering a disease. You know the complexities of all of this marriage, all of these different things and the story is very different than yours, but a lot of it is. We have parallels in that we've gone through hard things and had to have resilience, grit to get out on the other side, and you know the purpose and passion in all of this, and so I love that when I can find people like you to come in here and speak these truths and talk about these things. Even though the stories are different, the parallels, the resonating messages are always the same and that is how do we help women thrive in relationships, money, career, our families and, most importantly, health and well-being? Right, because that's the most important part.

Jennifer Loehding:

So if our audience wants to get in touch with you, I know after listening to somebody's gonna be like you know, where do I find eileen? Where do I get her books? How do I listen to her show? All of those things, where do you want us to send them? I mean?

Eileen Noyes:

well, you know eileen noise on facebook. That's the easiest. Hello at lady bellator, um, uh, that's um my brand. So, lady bell, just let me tell you real quick Lady meaning royalty, so she's a daughter of God. And then Bellator is warrior in Latin, so you're royalty, so you're a princess, you're a queen, but you are, you're a driven warrior. So you're both of those. So hello at ladybellatorcom. You can watch my podcast, the Unsideline Life those you're both of those. So hello at ladybellatorcom. You can watch my podcast, the Unsideline Life. Those usually launch on Wednesdays. And yeah, just all the things Instagram, linkedin, same stuff.

Jennifer Loehding:

And then my books are on Amazon. I love it. You're awesome, eileen, you're amazing. Keep doing your thing. I love it.

Jennifer Loehding:

I love it For our audience of course, you and all the you know tuning into the show. We hope that you found it both inspiring and informative and, of course, if you did, you know what to do Share, like, comment, help us keep spreading all this fabulous content and, of course, follow Eileen and get in touch with her if you need to, and that way you can keep up with what she's doing. And, as I always say, in order to live the extraordinary, you must start, and every start begins with a decision. You guys, take care, be safe, be kind to one another and we will see you next time.

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