Starter Girlz Podcast

Why Two Sisters Left Hollywood to Empower Women (with Nancy & Amy Harrington, Founders of The Passionistas Project)

• Jennifer Loehding • Season 7 • Episode 95

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What would make two sisters walk away from dream jobs in Hollywood — working on Oscar-winning films, blockbuster franchises like Harry Potter and The Matrix, and high-profile campaigns — to start over from scratch?

For Nancy and Amy Harrington, co-founders of The Passionistas Project, the answer was simple but life-changing: purpose over fame.

In this empowering episode of the Starter Girlz Podcast, host Jennifer Loehding speaks with the Harrington sisters about their remarkable journey from Hollywood insiders to leaders in women’s empowerment.

What you’ll learn:
✅ Why two sisters left successful Hollywood careers for purpose-driven work
✅ How to redefine success when prestige and fame no longer fulfil you
✅ The power of sisterhood, storytelling, and amplifying women’s voices
✅ Insights into entrepreneurship after leaving a stable career
✅ How resilience fuels impact and long-term fulfilment

This episode is more than a story about leaving Hollywood. It’s a conversation about choosing authenticity, building community, and stepping boldly into your true calling. Whether you’re seeking purpose, courage, or inspiration, this dialogue will remind you that change is possible at any stage.

🔗 Learn more about The Passionistas Project:
🌐 Website → thepassionistasproject.com

📸 Instagram → @thepassionistasproject

📘 Facebook → The Passionistas Project

▶️ YouTube → The Passionistas Project Channel

🎧 Love this episode?
Subscribe to the Starter Girlz Podcast for more empowering conversations with women who are redefining success and living with purpose. Don’t forget to rate and review — your support helps us share more stories that inspire change.

Amy Harrington:

But it's also at the core of it is sisterhood. It's why we call it the Passionistas Project Sisterhood, because, as sisters and business partners, people always say to Nancy and I, I wish I had what you have.

Jennifer Loehding:

Welcome to the Starter Girls 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 well-being 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 Girls 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 Loading, and welcome to this episode. Welcome to another episode of the Starter Girls Podcast. Wherever you are tuning in today. We are so glad to have you. I am your host, jennifer Loading, and I am just I'm super excited to get this episode going today. So I want to open up with this what happens when you leave the glitz and glamour of Hollywood to follow something even more powerful your passion for purpose? Today's guest embodies the heart of sisterhood storytelling and social change, From building safe spaces for women to leading a movement that champions community collaboration and equality. They're on a mission to awaken the power within all of us, and so I am so excited to chat with them today. This is going to be so much fun. This is like our first time meeting and I'm so excited about this. But before I bring them on here, I do want to do a quick shout out to our sponsor.

Jennifer Loehding:

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Jennifer Loehding:

And with that I do want to mention to head on over to starter2girlscom. I say this every single week and you know why I say it, because one if you've missed any episode they're pretty much all there. You can go back and catch all of the beginning episodes, all the way up to date. You can also stay in the know. Sign up for our community newsletter and keep up with what we're doing and who's coming on the show. All of that good stuff. But also, if you are an aspiring entrepreneur, creator, or maybe you're in the thick of it right now and you want to know what is your number one success block, that may be holding you back. I have a fun, free two-minute quiz over there that you can take and if you're like me, I just love taking those things anyways to kind of learn stuff. And so head on over there, check it out, do all the things, and again, that is startergirlscom.

Jennifer Loehding:

All right, we're ready for our guest today. So joining me on the show today are Nancy and Amy Harrington, the dynamic sister duo behind the Passionistas project. With impressive careers in Hollywood Amy as a former VP of post-production and visual effects at Warner Brothers, and Nancy crafting Oscar campaigns for Miramax. They walked away from it all to create a mission-driven movement Through their podcast, global Sisterhood Empower a Passionista Summit. They empower women, especially those from underrepresented groups, to pursue their dreams and amplify their voices. From past conversations with legends like the late Carol Burnett to spotlighting rising changemakers, amy and Nancy are redefining what it means to live passionately and purposefully. So welcome to the show.

Jennifer Loehding:

Ladies, I am so excited to have you here today. Thank you so much for having us. We're excited to be here. This is going to be so much fun. So I'm so excited you guys have such cool careers. I think like, what fun. Like you guys have gotten to do the cool and now you've just sort of like are still getting to do the cool, but in a different way. You know what I mean. It's like you guys have just sort of lived this fun Maybe I mean, even if it's been behind the scenes sort of this fun, cool existence. And so I want to kind of open up with that. I want to talk a little bit about what you're doing now, and then we're going to backpedal to what led you to this.

Nancy Harrington:

So let's start there with what this whole Passionista project is for you guys. Passionista's project is a beautiful online community of women who come together to share their unfiltered stories and lift each other up, so it's a place. It's sort of like our own private Facebook group and people can come and introduce themselves and get to know one another, and we have workshops and classes and networking events, because all of the women in our community are women who are giving back in some way and want to make the world a better place.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, so it sounds. What I'm hearing is so it's really just a right way for women to come together and kind of collaborate, so to speak. Right, yeah, absolutely.

Amy Harrington:

Yeah, but it's not just business development, which is what's cool. There are definitely, like the business collaborations happening, which is really amazing to see, but it's also just this place. You know, like on social media, it can having a bad day and people will lift you up and support you, or you can have a passion project that maybe your family doesn't quite get and they're trying to be supportive, but they just don't understand the path of walking alone as an entrepreneur and these women do or they know what it's like to be an artist without a big infrastructure and a company. So it's really like a place where you can get real, genuine support, in addition to having the opportunities to build your business and then in addition to sharing things that are important to you about how you want to make the world a better place, and that may be as simple as I like to smile at people every day because I just feel like it makes their day better to having a real issue that you have built a platform around and you're trying to get people to support you.

Amy Harrington:

So it's yeah, it's collaboration and it's, but it's also at the core of it is sisterhood. It's why we call it the Passionistas Project Sisterhood because, as sisters and business partners. People always say to Nancy and I I wish I had what you have and it's that loyalty and undying support and you know the shoulder to cry on and the cheerleader to cheer you on, Like we've actually built that for a group of strangers who now are finding that with each other and it's really beautiful.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, no, I love that and I think you know I was telling somebody not too long ago we were actually talking about Mary Kay, because I shared with you that offline that I'd been in that for a very long time. People that follow been following me for a while kind of know that. But I'm working now. I just started a networking group here in the Dallas area. It's actually it's a part of a larger community, is what it is, but they have both an online and then an in-person presence and one of the gals that I'm working with is presently in Mary Kay. She's in kind of in the same kind of leadership role that I was in when I was in, but she's been in. I was in 22 years, she's been in now 30 years and so we both come from that kind of that lineage is what I call it, and we were actually talking about this not too long ago that you know a lot of the times the women stay in that organization because of the community, the culture, right, like it's about the sisterhood, and so I don't know if I shared it with her or somebody else.

Jennifer Loehding:

I said one of the things that I miss. I like I have no desire to go back in. My time was served there. I have a new calling, new purpose. But one of the things I do miss about that was the team, it was the camaraderie, it was the having to be accountable to somebody and people being accountable to me, right, like having that bouncing back of ideas and support. You know when you're and you're right when you're in the entrepreneur world out here I call it on the other side a lot of times you are solo, doing things right, you're kind of in your own little world.

Jennifer Loehding:

And we used to always say and I'm sure they still say it Mary Kay, like you never get rich off family and friends, right? So you know you're in business for yourself. But we would always say, mary Kay, you're in business for yourself and not by yourself. And so I think that's so important when you're talking about sisterhood and community and you know, and having that, because I do think that as a species we're obviously driven to connection and all of those things.

Jennifer Loehding:

And women, you know, I think men need it too. They don't want to admit it, but women's, you know, like to really take advantage of that. So I love what you're doing, I think it's important and we know people thrive in those environments. So, thank you, it's good stuff, yeah, good stuff. So I want to kind of talk about what brought this about for you guys, because you both were in. Clearly you must have loved what you were doing before, because you had. I just think those are so fun, you know. So, maybe because I kind of touched upon it, share with our audience a little bit. Whichever you want to go, first tell us a little bit about your background and then maybe y'all can just lead us into what brought about this whole passion project for you, sure.

Nancy Harrington:

So I used to have my own graphic design business, amy and I. First of all. We grew up in Boston, massachusetts, and I stayed in Boston and Amy moved out to California to pursue her Hollywood dream. But I had my own graphic design business and my husband and I had a theater company in Boston for years and then I finally missed Amy too much and I moved out to California to be closer to her and I got a job working at an advertising agency that did the Academy Award campaigns for Miramax. So I did that for several years. In the meantime, amy was back in California and she was the vice president of post-production and visual effects for Warner Brothers. She was the first woman in the history of feature films to hold that position. So she oversaw post-production visual effects on over 250 movies like Harry Potter and the Matrix and Batman.

Nancy Harrington:

And just so impressive, such a big resume, and we both loved what we were doing. You're absolutely right, it was a passion for us. We grew up in a very creative family. Our parents met at art school and we were always encouraged to follow our passions and be creative. But we were both ready for something else and we didn't know what that was. And but we knew we wanted to work together, so we we quit our jobs at the same time and started on this long journey of taking any job that was offered to us, and we did all sorts of crazy things, but we landed in the world of celebrity interviewing. We've been celebrity interviewers now for 15 years and we love doing that. That is so much fun to do that. Together We've done red carpets for the Emmys and talked to major stars in television no-transcript, and we really wanted to be telling the stories of women who were empowered and who were doing amazing things that nobody was hearing about.

Nancy Harrington:

Everybody heard about the celebrities all the time. We wanted to talk about the women whose voices weren't being heard. So we started a podcast too, and, similar to you, we didn't really know what we were doing. We Googled it and how do you start a podcast? And we started it in 2018. And through the course of that, we decided to do a women's equality summit every year. So we do a summit where we bring women from marginalized communities together. We give them a topic and they tell their story around that topic, and then we have a beautiful roundtable discussion that talks about their common stories but also celebrates their differences, and then, a year and a half ago, we launched the online community. So it's been this long journey for us of really discovering our purpose and really getting to the heart of what we do is share women's stories and women whose voices have been silenced, and their stories need to be heard.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, no, I love it. Isn't it crazy, though, how, when you say this long journey, like how you have to go through this whole process of like, you like wish you could just cut the corners right and you got to quit, but then it wouldn't be, it wouldn't be as like we wouldn't have the ferocity behind it. You know what I mean? Like if you just got to it easily, it would just be like, okay, I did that. Next, you know, but it's like you have to go through this whole evolution of what am I supposed to be doing with this and where is this going, you know, but it's such a beautiful thing.

Amy Harrington:

Yeah, yeah, I think when you find your purpose, you aren't going to give up. You know, like it's not easy. It's not easy building an online community. It's not easy serving women from marginalized communities. That's why they're marginalized is because people, intentionally, are holding them back. And you know, nancy and I had this realization a few years ago like, wow, it's hard to get people to financially support an organization that is serving these women, but we're not going to give up. It's probably why a lot of people do give up, but it's like, yeah, we're not giving up on this because it's what gets us out of bed every day and it's our passion. It's what gets us out of bed every day and it's our passion. And now that we know these women personally, we are going to keep fighting and making this work, making this successful is all that matters to us.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, I love it. Well, I'm feeling, I feel a little bit of empath in there because I think those of us that pick up on these things we do, they become kind of who we are because sort of our existence, you know, but I love this story and I love you. Know, I think it sounds like you guys are you're doing a little bit different than I do, but I feel the passion and I love this. You know, I can share with you when you talk or say I hear you when you talk about the interviews and the stories, because it's crazy to me Like I always tell people like I'm a sucker for a good story, like I love people's stories.

Jennifer Loehding:

Now, I'm not talking the ones where people are just moaning and growing. I'm talking the ones where people are like survivors and they're really doing things and making a difference, and so people always ask me. They're like how do you find your people that come on your show? And, as you can probably tell, I don't really have a shortage. I'm so glad you guys got in as fast as you did, because I think I opened some dates up, because I was trying to find more dates for people, but I never really have a shortage of people to come on the show.

Jennifer Loehding:

It's more for me of going through and finding the people that I really want to talk to and talk about their stories. You know, and and I don't I don't know about you, but I don't always really even care who they are in as much as about what they stand for and who they are as an individual. Like I don't care how glamorous they are. Like you guys have a really cool story and I love it, but I also love what you're doing. You know what I mean, and so it's like when I go through and I'm looking for guests, it's like I'm looking for this X factor. You know, like this person that's either just really passionate about what they're doing They've got this really raw story or there's something about them that just gets me excited stories and I think it's just fun when we get to share them and put that out there for people to hear and see other people doing great things, yeah, yeah absolutely.

Nancy Harrington:

When we started our podcast, we one of the things we did was we asked every everyone that we interviewed to nominate someone, interviewed to nominate someone. So it served a couple purposes. One, the women that were nominated felt comfortable with us and knew that they were being recommended by a friend. But it also created this amazing spider web for us, because we were introduced to so many people that we never would have ordinarily met, doing extraordinary things. And one of our favorite stories was we went to a woman's house.

Nancy Harrington:

In the very beginning we used to lug around gear and cameras and lights and interview people. We were grateful for zoom now, but we went to a woman's house to interview her and she's like I know, you know you nominate, you want me to nominate someone. So this woman right here sitting at my dining room table is Lynn and you should interview her when you're done with me. And we're like no, it doesn't work that way. We need to prepare and write our questions and do some research. And she's like no, you don't understand. Lynn is the largest arms dealer in the world. She buys discarded nuclear weapons and melts them down to make peace angels. And we were like okay, how much time do you have Lynn and we were there. We spent the whole day at this woman's house doing both interviews.

Jennifer Loehding:

You're talking about adaptability right, you're just going to pivot and do it.

Amy Harrington:

Yeah, I've had those moments too.

Jennifer Loehding:

Like I've had those weird moments Like I, you know, we pretty much I do. It's funny because when I first started my show, I used to go in studio, so I had the whole nice setup and everything. And then you know, of course COVID hit and I still believe it or not during COVID was still driving into the studio and you would be amazed, I think I had one person not show up for their recording. People were still showing up, you know, and we weren't in a big room, so it wasn't like there were a ton of people around, but we still did it. And then, finally, you know, I was like, okay, well, now they got all these platforms, now we can go home and go back online, and so I've been doing them like that.

Jennifer Loehding:

But every now and then I will get somebody like I had a fighter, he was a boxer and one of his friends um, they did, his name was Cam F awesome, they actually did a Netflix documentary on him. And so I meet this guy at an event and I'm like, okay, we're coming to your studio. So I got my editor guy. I'm like, load your stuff up, we're going to this guy's studio to record in there, cause I want to do this in there. So every now and then I'll do something like that where we go in somewhere crazy. But I've had those two where you're like, just pivot, make it work, sit down, we're just going to do it. You know like, however it comes out, it comes out, we're going to do it.

Nancy Harrington:

So I think it's a great thing. Women are great at just, you know, adapting and making those pivots.

Jennifer Loehding:

So I love it, I love it. So, um, what would you? I'd love to know, like and I want to talk to you even, too, about working as sisters, because I think this is a great topic to the family thing working. But I would love to know, like, besides this arm, this arms deal that sounds like that was a great one what's been like maybe one of your other coolest stories that you I just like it has it kind of still stuck with you.

Amy Harrington:

Yeah, I mean, I think there have been so many. I'm always just, you know, grateful that we've met this woman. Selene were, you know, the goal was diversity and we were realizing that we didn't know a lot of people in the disability community, and so we, you know, through our network of people, just started to ask around. We were looking for just someone to do a short presentation about their life, and somebody suggested that we reach out to Selene, who nobody, none of us knew, we just somebody. She's a stand-up comedian, among other things. And so our friend said oh, you should check out this woman, and here's her website. And so we reached out to her, cold, and she ended up recording, pre-recording, a presentation for us, and now she's become a dear friend and it really set us on this path to becoming disability rights activists.

Amy Harrington:

But her story basically is she was born a little person. She is a little person and one of the smartest people we know. She was a little person and one of the smartest people we know, but when she was a kid she was because she had this disability. She was put in a corner in school and like, literally until like, no, we're not going to teach you anything, you're not smart enough to to learn this stuff. Yeah, and she's brilliant. And so she spent her entire life being kind of put in a corner and she became an actress and um was getting roles that were typical of you know people with her in, you know, with her disability, um, which is she explains it is always like the creature or the you know, the elf or whatever the stereotypical things in media are.

Amy Harrington:

And she met Margaret Cho. She started actually doing burlesque, a burlesque show with Dita Von Teese, and she met the comedian Margaret Cho. And Margaret Cho said you need to become a stand-up comedian because then you can tell your story, you can claim your story. And so she did. And she's a hysterical standup comedian, so good. And then ultimately she ended up getting a role. I mean, she's been on a ton of stuff.

Amy Harrington:

She does a voice on a cartoon on Apple TV too, but she had a role on the Sons of Anarchy spinoff, mayans MC, and she had this really pivotal role on the final season of the show and and she's just an amazing person and her story is so deep and rich and and it it set us on a path in the sisterhood that we might not otherwise be on in terms of what does equality mean? Who are the groups we're serving? Who are the people that especially like women with disabilities? If you talk about representation and stuff, they're kind of the last group mentioned and, frankly, they're probably the biggest group and they're the group that most of us are going to end up in, because the number of women that actually become disabled in their lifetime is, you know, the people that become disabled is massive. So it's um, it's just been. She really changed our lives in an amazing way and, as a result, has helped us change other people's lives, because we've learned more and can be more supportive. So that's one that really stands out to me.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, I think the stories I know people ask me I know that was probably a loaded question, because people always ask me. They're like, what's your favorite episode? And I'm like, okay, seriously, I have interviewed probably 600 people between the two shows. Like I, I like there's always the ones that I kind of stand, but I'm like where do you want me to start, cause I mean I've had so many great people. You're like I had Cass Haley. He's a singer they did His song was on the Grammy awards. He sang on my show.

Jennifer Loehding:

You're like I've had so many great stories but, like you, there have been so many. I feel like you know, like I was telling someone the other day, even, just as when you talk about journeys and growth, like in all the years, as much as I love Mary Kay, you know, like I feel like I learned so much about leadership in that and about community. And and also because I didn't grow up personally in a home where my parents were always, like you know, like encouraging us to do things, I was in a very serious family and when I went into Mary Kay, that was like a game changer for me because it taught me a lot about, you know, positive affirmations and all that, and I firmly believe that you know all my children are adults now. I firmly believe they would have had very different lives had I not you know gone through all of that. But I will tell you, I feel like most, I say some of my biggest growth lessons have come in the conversations that I've had through my podcasting, because I had been put in places with people that I would have never come across. I would have never met you ladies, had I not been doing this. There have been so many I mean we're talking professional players to Olympians, to unique. I had people from Shark Tank, I mean people that I would have probably never come across had I not been doing this.

Jennifer Loehding:

And it has forced me to have to have different kinds of conversation, to have to research different things, learn about things I didn't know. I mean, like, get on a conversation with a tech person Like I have no background in tech and I'm honest, I'll jump on. I'd be like I know nothing about tech, but then to have that conversation and then you're like, wow, that was an interesting conversation, you know. So I just think there's so much that comes from this and the people that you meet in the process. They lead you down some really neat roads, if that's, if that's like the simplest way I can put it right. Like, and I'm thinking as I'm talking to y'all right now, I'm like I have some people that I feel like I need to introduce you gals to that maybe would be I don't know what you know like I met a lady a few weeks ago through a network that she walked with Martin Luther King jr and yeah, that's, I'm like y'all probably need to meet her.

Jennifer Loehding:

She's a new lady here. She's done some really. She has a whole thing of stories back there. I'm trying to get her on my show, but y'all need to talk to her.

Amy Harrington:

She might be somebody y'all need to know.

Jennifer Loehding:

They lead you to great journeys and paths, and you never know where they're going to take you in the end.

Amy Harrington:

On the other side and paths and you never know where they're going to take you in the end and on the other side.

Amy Harrington:

You know, the greatest, most fun interview life moment for us was interviewing Dr Jane Goodall, who has been our hero since childhood like literally our hero, since we were little girls and we presented her with an award at our summit a few years ago and she virtually accepted the award and we got to interview her and it was like you know, the with all due respect to all the wonderful people in our lives, it was probably the greatest moment we'll ever have in our lives, talking one-on-one with you know, our hero. So.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah.

Amy Harrington:

Wow.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, it's funny because I always, you know, like I again going back to this whole idea of like how things happen, you know, like I having you know, all those years I was doing all that, we always would talk about Zig Ziglar, Zig Ziglar, zig Ziglar, right, and so then I move here to Dallas and I tell you, things always come full circle. It's so weird because two years ago I run into a guy who basically traveled with Zig Ziglar for like 20 plus years. He was on stage with them, traveled around with them, and then I ended up doing a presentation. I had him on my podcast and then I ended up doing a side-by-side presentation with him at a speaking gig. And it was so funny because I remember somebody coming up to me he's a very strong presenter, I mean he's really good, and I had somebody come up to me and they're like you did pretty good, you held your own against that, brian Flanagan.

Jennifer Loehding:

But aside from all of that, I just thought it was ironically funny that all these years I mean, if I think about going back to 1997, when I joined Mary Kay and I was in my late twenties and I had no idea what was going to be happening some odd. You know years down the road that that would all transpire and I just think it's so incredibly crazy how our lives unfold and things sort of come like. You talk about getting to interview your hero right Like you would have never known that was going to happen.

Amy Harrington:

I think you also have to be open to it. Right Like you were open to the opportunity and when that opportunity presented itself, you didn't shy away from it, you ran toward it. You know, and I think that it's really it speaks to entrepreneurship the people who are willing to go on the adventure with the understanding that it might fail. It will definitely change shape along the way, but if you're not up for being open to the change and the excitement of the unknown and the willingness to step into the moment, then you're not do it.

Jennifer Loehding:

You know, you gotta find something else you know, yeah, let's speak to that, let's talk about that, because you guys talked about like giving up that job and then take it.

Jennifer Loehding:

And I feel you know, like I, different, even though our paths are different, different. I'm listening to y'all and I'm like, oh my gosh, because I know that feeling of taking the things, because you're trying to pursue the big things, so you take a few things to get like to suffice to get to the big thing right, like jobs. You know, I've done all kinds of things too and I wouldn't even I would say I'm building out a pet sitting business with my middle child right now. I'm trying to help her build a business up and so I got all these little things going on in there. But I would love to know for our audience, maybe some of those you know, I guess, maybe I don't want to say hard spots, but just challenges, potholes that you had to work through to go from that. You know, that lush or what you call it, stable job to this unknown, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a scary thing to do, that's for sure.

Nancy Harrington:

I am lucky in that I have always been an entrepreneur. Our dad owned his own business. We grew up in a world where it was normal to have your own business. So I, right out of college, started my own graphic design business. So the couple of years that I worked at the advertising agency doing the Academy Award campaigns, that was the only time in my life that I've had a full-time job working. So for me it was a much less scary proposition to leave that job, and I I was yearning for it. I didn't like working for somebody else, um. But for Amy it was a totally different situation because right out of college she got into the Hollywood system, and so I'll let her talk about that. But it's definitely a scary thing to leave that stability.

Amy Harrington:

Yeah, I was really lucky, even though technically the entertainment business is a freelance world where you go from project to project. I moved to California. A week later I had a job. I always had something that I you know if a T, if I was working on a TV show and summer came I always had a summer job. So I really worked consistently.

Amy Harrington:

And then I got to Warner brothers and I started on a TV show called Lois and Clark, which was like a superman show and then I ended up, as part of that, we ended up starting a visual effects company within the studio, so that was a stable thing. All of a sudden I was, you know, I knew I had this gig and I wasn't gonna have to jump from show to show. And then they asked me to come to the studio and be an executive. So that's when I signed a contract and I had a, you know, three-year contract that got repeated until I left, and so I only really knew stability and really good pay, and so that was really scary for me. It was like, oh my God, and I was single, I was young and I bought a house on my own and I was like what happens if we don't make money? And Nancy was like we will, but if we don't, then you sell your house and you'll be fine. And Nancy was like we will, but if we don't, then you sell your house and you'll be fine. And you know, luckily I never had to sell my house. I sold it when I wanted to and bought another one.

Amy Harrington:

So it was this money thing was definitely the scariest part, and I think it's the only thing that's been scary, even to this day. Money can still be, you know, scary, can still be, you know, scary. Like I said earlier, we're creating something very different than the standard model. So getting people to understand what we're doing is challenging. But the doing of it, the adventure that Nancy and I have been on, all the twists and turns, and what we're doing now, the rest of it isn't really challenging. It's tiring. It's just the two of us. It's a lot. We have a lot on our plate and we're idea people. So we always say we're never short of ideas. So reining ourselves in from the like, okay, that's a next year idea, that's not a right now idea, that's challenging.

Jennifer Loehding:

But beyond that it comes pretty naturally I think, yeah, I love the idea. I was smiling when you all said that, because I feel you on that one. Because I'm partnering with these three people I'm working with we're all idea people and I might put me in a room with people that have ideas all day long. I'm excited hearing about your idea, like I don't even care what it is. I'm excited if you got an idea Like cause a lot of people don't have ideas, right, they just sit around, they complain they don't have ideas. I'm like I love ideas, you know, but I get it, because it's like sometimes you have into this meeting and the day of one of my partners is like, hey, I got an idea and I'm like you know what, we're going to write that down or hang on to that one for the next thing, because we can't be throwing them all in right now, you know. So I get it. It's, it's hilarious, but I love this and you know what? And I and I think that, yeah, it's funny because people always ask me like, even with the podcast, and I'm honest, I mean I don't make money on the podcast, most of this, you know, when I started this, I never, honestly, I'm going to be truthful, I never intended in the beginning for the podcast model to be. We've got about 20,000 followers in the YouTube now. We're growing it and if it does, great. But that was never really my whole intention. I mean, I should probably be smart and say, yeah, we should be trying to as long as we've been running this thing, but it's really always sort of that part of it has been kind of a passion project for me and I think when you get led in that space sometimes, yeah, you've got to be smart business people, but at the same time it is you do it because you love what you do Right, and the minute it gets icky and hard, then I don't want to do it Right Like it's in. I'm just we're not doing this anymore.

Jennifer Loehding:

And and you guys are probably figuring this out too is that that's when you start having to really pivot, because as you're working, you go okay, you know what this is not making me happy, this aspect of this, and I need to pivot and either figure out how I'm going to delegate, change this, you know, and so that's why, even like now, you probably like me, like I have systems for the podcast I finally got somebody to help me with like some of the YouTube work, just because I was like this is stupid, like I hate this part of the podcast.

Jennifer Loehding:

I just want to talk, I don't want to sit and type, you know, be typing up the words and all that you know. So I'm like help you know, so you do you just learn to sort of you know, figure out what's important. But I think also, embracing that journey and recognizing, like you're saying, or we've kind of been saying through all this, is that you're gonna have to expect these challenges and these pivots and and be adaptable and curious and all those things in this yeah, yeah, I think curiosity is key.

Nancy Harrington:

Yeah, yeah. Just like us, we started this as a passion project. It wasn't. Our podcast was never about making money and it doesn't. We got our first $11 check a few weeks ago.

Jennifer Loehding:

It was like whoo, and when you get right, you smoke. I've got a little money for different things and it's always exciting when you're like yes, except that it paid off and subsequently, the rest of the Passionistas project really wasn't about making money.

Nancy Harrington:

We were just following what was coming up and we realized a few years ago that we had to stop doing that. That, and we actually worked with three different coaches in 2022 and 2023 to rebrand and to really figure out what was important and how we could make this sustainable. Because we realized, you know, we still have clients on the side, we still work for the Television Academy, we still have clients that we serve and that's most of our income, and we don't want that to be the case. We want the Passionistas Project to be our main source of income, and so we're working really hard to make that happen.

Nancy Harrington:

But we worked with three coaches to realize that, you know, we were just doing what was happening in front of us, what was presenting in front of us, instead of making a plan. Someone told us you're driving down the road, looking at the map, pull over to the side of the road, plan out your route and then get back on the freeway. So we did that, and that's when we realized that we needed to start the online sisterhood, because that was really at the core of what we wanted to do was create a community. So that was a huge pivot for us and we're starting to make a little money from that. It's like Amy said it's challenging because we serve women in marginalized communities who, you know, bad business model for anyone listening. We don't, we they tend to not have a lot of money. So so we are, we are still working on the make money part of it, but, um, but we wouldn't give it up.

Nancy Harrington:

So we're just going to figure it out. It takes, and I, like you, I had to kind of do the same thing for our clients, you know, but um, but it's uh, it is a challenging journey and you know that it is good to have a plan, that's for sure.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yes, I'm with you, Plans are important and, yes, sometimes you have to have those little wake-ups where you do you realize, okay, yeah, you can do parts of this that you enjoy for free, but you got to make some money somewhere, so you got to get a plan. Right, I'm with you. I worked with. I say I've had so many mentors and coaches over there. I do that with people, I work with people to do that, but then I get them for myself too. Believe it or not, you will laugh because I, when I was, I worked with a coach I guess last summer for about three, like it was like a mastermind for about three months. Before that, I had a guy that I worked with for two years and he helped me kind of craft out this big course and I was like, okay, great, I got this great immersion, high ticket course and then I'm like, what do I do with this thing? Like, hello, what do I do with this? So then I worked with this coach over the summer to just kind of, I guess, engineer it backwards, probably kind of a little bit like what you guys did, and really get into, okay, what is it that I'm doing? Because I don't know about y'all. But like for me, my, because I've had this whole healing journey that started out with a healing of a physical ailment, transformation, but it went into all of this that I'm certified in, like all these different areas so like I can do business, coaching, life coaching, health coaching. I'm keto certified, nervous system certified. So then I had to figure out, like what do I do with all that? Like that's a lot I can't tell you, tell you where do you go, where do you start? So I had to work with this coach and I'm telling you this because what she helped me do is figure out, like how to tie those together, like what was the thing I'm trying to solve? And the thing I was trying to solve is how do I help basically high achievers make transformation that actually stick. It doesn't matter whether they're doing health, transformation, life all of it ties together because really how you do one thing is how you do all, but whatever way they come, to me the methodology is the same.

Jennifer Loehding:

My point I'm telling you this is that I had to also get a coach to help me see that I was kind of sort of spinning my wheels. I had all these ideas and these great things I was trying to do and I was wanting to help. But I had to make I have to figure out how to make money at this and I had to get clear on what that looked like and what I was trying to do. And so that was like a big eye opener for me. And it's so funny because I'm now working with my friend who's sort of the one that's in Mary Kay is sort of trying to. She's got this whole like wardrobe clothing thing she does where it's all like personality, and so we've kind of sort of been going through that whole thing like helping her brand and how does she move from this to this broader you know, and tie it all together?

Amy Harrington:

It's a lot of work. When you talk about your position, your you know career, in particular, it's like it comes down to the messaging right. Yes, like we, we had the same thing. Like we do this and we do this and we do this. And it's like we help women tell their own unfiltered stories. Yes, they can come to our community and there's a platform where they can share what's going on in their life and they can talk about themselves and they can educate other people in what their business is or what they're personally going through. They tell their story.

Amy Harrington:

We have the Power of Passionistas Summit coming up, august 26th through 28th. It's a virtual summit. We help women from around the world tell their stories. They literally come. We do a storyteller event and then we have a conversation with the women on that panel after we watch their stories. We have an anthology book series that we started Awakening your Power. Women come, we interview them, we help pull out their moment of awakening. We help them tell their stories. And so, if you look at what we do from like, oh, they have a community and they have a book and they have a summit and they have a podcast, and it's like, yeah, that's really confusing, right, we help women tell their stories. Bingo, yeah, and that's what you had to do. It's like oh, okay, I do. I help people in transformation.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, yeah. No, you're right it comes down to messaging, yeah.

Amy Harrington:

At the end of the day, Our friend Kelly always says like people don't care about the boat that gets you there, they care about the island that they end up on. Yes, about the island that they end up on. Yes, you know it's like right okay.

Jennifer Loehding:

No, I actually got it down to like it's a four. I have a four-step system that I developed that helps make transformation stick. That's what it came down to. But you are so right, it comes down to messaging, because I would go into a networking event. It's like what do you do? And I'm like um, I don't know what angle are you coming from. Are we talking? Are we talking life? We talking business? What are we talking about? You know?

Jennifer Loehding:

And I realized like what is it that I'm trying to do with people? It's like I figured out like cause I started coaching in all these different areas and I realized what is it that I had to go through to make the biggest transformation? And I started figuring out sort of this like pattern that I did, that I've kind of sort of it's not, it's not all like perfect, but I have sort of a four-step thing that I did and I've I started seeing this and I'm like, okay, every time I do this similar thing doesn't matter what I was talking about, but I would do this similar thing. We would have a better luck if I could get them to go through all this. And so that's how it came down. But you're right, it was total.

Jennifer Loehding:

And I tell you that three months I worked with her. Oh my gosh. You know, at times I would sit there and I'd look at that thing and I'd be like, ok, what is it we do? What are the pain points? Ok, they don't care what I'm doing, I've got to get them the result they want. So how do we get the result?

Jennifer Loehding:

Just take them to the end you know, and they want things that are going to stick. Sustainability, you know, reduce burnout, all of those things. So, anyways, I say that to you, to commend you, because that is a hard process for real.

Amy Harrington:

Yeah, when we were working with one of our coaches, she like took us to the very beginning. She's like all right, what are your four keywords? Oh, ok. And then we worked with her for weeks and months on what our four keywords were. We kept changing the purpose and passion and inclusivity and whatever, and it took us I don't know a good six months to land on sisterhood and she was like finally I knew you were going to get there eventually.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, it's like when you know too, like right when it clicks, it's like yes, that's what I feel, like it's like you have to go through this, you know this whole journey to get it. But then when it does and that's what I tell people when I'm working with them I'm like you're going to know because it's going to, it's going to hit you, it's just going to, that's it. You know, like I came up, like my, my whole system. I call it inner block detox. That's what it basically is, because it's like a detox really, and I'm like that's it, like it just when it hit, it hit, you know. So I love it. I do want to ask y'all and I brought this up in the beginning, I want to come back to this, talking about working with the sister, because you are the sisterhood and you are two sisters working, and I would love to know from your perspective, you know what that's like for y'all? Like what is that being able to work together, you know, as family and sisters in this whole project?

Nancy Harrington:

We are so incredibly lucky. It's easy and beautiful for us. We thank each other every single day, and we know it's unusual. We talked to someone yesterday who was like I could never work with my sister. I love her, but I could never work with her. We often joke that we share a brain. We say that we can't even imagine what it's like to be a twin, because our connection is so tight that I can't imagine a tighter connection. But we are very lucky in that we never disagree very, very rarely, um. So when we do, we know it's something that's important to one of us. Um, but it's I. I. I'd love to regale you with stories about the challenges we've had and how difficult it's been for us, but it's not. It's really easy and it's beautiful and I just. We both know we wake up every day and we have each other's backs and I can't imagine doing it alone. I had my own businesses for years before working with Amy, but I can't imagine going back now to being doing it alone.

Jennifer Loehding:

I love it.

Amy Harrington:

I love it, do you want?

Jennifer Loehding:

to add anything, Amy.

Amy Harrington:

Love it, I love it. Do you want to add anything, amy? No, I mean, I'm just so fortunate. I mean, nancy is the greatest human being on the planet, so it's like I get to work with her every day. And, like she was saying, yesterday we went to a networking event. Our charitable partner at our summit this year is an organization called she Angels Foundation. It's really amazing. It's a group of women who they've given in the last five years they've given about $300,000 worth of grant money to women-centric organizations. So yesterday there was a networking event and we also are giving their grant recipients scholarships to become premium members of the sisterhood.

Amy Harrington:

So the woman who runs the organization, kat Curry Williams, was like okay, we'll come and we'll announce the partnership. You know the collaboration and you can speak for a few minutes about the Passionistas project. And and I just looked at Nancy and she knew right away like okay, you're gonna you going to do this one because I can't. I'm great in one-on-one, I'm great in a Zoom. With 10 people. I cannot speak in front of a room full of people. It totally freaks me out and Nancy doesn't like it either. But she stepped up to the plate and she was like I got it, I'll do it, and she was amazing stepped up to the plate and she was like I got it, I'll do it, and she was amazing.

Amy Harrington:

And so we just are so fortunate that, like, even when we're both in a moment where it's like, okay, we're both scared but one of us will ultimately step up and have the other ones back and um, and then we get to, like, be at this lovely gathering and talk to people, and I always know that like I'm never going to be standing in a corner by myself because Nancy's there. I'm always gonna look like I'm having fun, because I am having fun because Nancy's there. So it just I never want to know. I mean, nancy got sick a few years ago and I had to kind of carry the business for a few months without her, and I don't want to do that ever again. We've never been in a capacity where we've had to work together, so I don't really know how it would work out.

Jennifer Loehding:

But I think it's impressive because I think family can sometimes be some of the most difficult. I always admire. You know, like I've been married 29 years and I will be honest with you, I don't think there's a day that my husband and I could work together because you know, he's a chemical engineer by trade, very quiet dude, a few words, doesn't say a whole lot, and I'm an over communicator and I move fast and he does not. So I think I'd be like dude, are you going to move or are you not moving? So I don't know. But I'm always impressed when I see couples that are working together and I'm always like tell me how you do that, what are you doing? But I think it's great when you're able to do that, and you definitely. I don't know how y'all grew up, but there's something definitely there that y'all your parents did something right there, that you two have it figured out and I love it. I think it's amazing.

Nancy Harrington:

Our parents were very loving and very supportive and my, our mother always told us that our, your brother and your sisters are your best friends and, no matter what, they'll be there for you and never take advantage of that. Never take that for granted. So it was a lesson that was instilled in us from when we were kids, and Amy and I are very, very close, but we're also very close with our brother and two other sisters.

Jennifer Loehding:

So that's how my kids are too. My, it's funny because my sister and I didn't grow up like that so much when we were growing up. But my kids, my three are pretty, my two youngest, my, my boys, the third one. So my two youngest are like this. I mean, when they were little people thought they were twins and they were not. They were three and a half years apart, but because they were always together. But all three of them are pretty.

Jennifer Loehding:

Like if I, if one comes over and I'm like, hey, one's here, the other two want to. If they're here, they want to. You know they're. They've been traveling a lot so it's kind of more difficult now to get them all together. But yesterday or the other day I had them, I think Wednesday I had them all here and it's like when they're here we go. I've got to get dinner, the kids are all in the same spot, but they're like that too. They will.

Jennifer Loehding:

And I laugh at him because, like I will see that the two youngest will get into a spat and they will be like they will be going at it. But then they're the first ones that call each other, like when they call each other more than they talk to me seriously Like they. They will talk every day. When my son was in Florida for five months working, I'd be like to my my middle page. I'm like, have you talked to your brother? She's like, yeah, he FaceTimed me the other day. I'm like I have not talked to this kid in like a month. What is he doing?

Nancy Harrington:

You know, they are always they will lie for each other, they will cover, they will I mean the whole thing, whole thing.

Jennifer Loehding:

You know, and I'll be like are you telling me the truth? There's this a story which, what do we?

Amy Harrington:

who's not who's telling the truth here you know when nancy still lived in boston and I first moved to la and I would go home to visit, you know, my parents would, I would stay at my parents house, they would want to pick me up at the airport. And so we finally hit a point where, you know, nancy and I just wanted to hang out and her husband was always great about me coming, so I would fly in a couple of days early, so you can hang out, not tell our parents, and we would hang out. We would have like two or three days where I just hung out with Nancy and her husband, and then we'd, you know, go oh, nancy's with Nancy and her husband, and then, and then we'd, you know, go, oh, nancy's picking me up at the airport, and then we'd go don't show up and Nancy's husband.

Amy Harrington:

God bless him. It is like you know, george Washington, he cannot tell a lie and he like he'd be like, oh you know, when we were watching that movie the other night and we'd be like your parents, like what? I wasn't there. I was not there when you were watching. I watched that movie back in la while you were watching it here in boston, because I didn't fly in until an hour ago. So I yeah so funny.

Jennifer Loehding:

Well, I always I laugh about it because I'm like look, if my kids all like each other, I'm happy. I think it's a good thing. Right like so, but I do tease them sometimes because I'll be like why do you know that? And I do not know that?

Amy Harrington:

And they're like Mom you did a really really good job.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, I tried, I didn't want, I tried. You want, you want your kids to have each other's back. I mean, at the end of the day, as parents, right, you want your kids to have each other's back. You know you want them out in the world by themselves. And you know, in fact, I was with my oldest yesterday because my husband was trying to help her save money and working on a turbo in her car and she just got back from Paraguay. She was out of the country for 30 days and I told her.

Jennifer Loehding:

I said you know, you and your sister, because the middle one loves to travel. She was in Japan in March. They're both little travelers. Now I'm like you two should plan a trip together and go. And she's like, yeah, because she speaks fluent Spanish, they could go to South America and Paige doesn't know Spanish, so she could be her little bodyguard, you know. So she's like, yeah, we should do that, you know. So I'm all for it If they, if they all want it, they like each other and they want to do it, go for it.

Nancy Harrington:

You know, so I can manage you.

Jennifer Loehding:

You guys are awesome, so I love it. You guys are doing great things. Anybody listening to the show maybe they want to learn a little bit more about the podcast. You know all the the the project summit that's coming up. Where would you like us to send them?

Nancy Harrington:

Uh, they can go to the passionistasprojectcom and you'll find everything you need to know about the sisterhood, the summit, the anthology book. You can find our socials and hit us up on Instagram. That's the easiest way. Thepassionistasprojectcom.

Jennifer Loehding:

Well, I'm going to follow you gals too, so I can keep up with what you got going on. So you'll be look for a little request for me. I'm going to catch up with what you have, but we'll make sure to, when this goes out, I'll get the website in there too, so that anybody people do hopefully read some of them read the show notes They'll be able to get on there. We usually put something on the video too, that way that they're visual, they can see it as well. So so, thank you, you guys. You guys are awesome. I, like I said, I love what you're doing and I want to, you know, just commend you and keep encouraging you to keep, you know, doing the thing making the world a better place, and that's really what this is all about at the end of the day, Right?

Amy Harrington:

Absolutely. We're not going anywhere. We'll be here for everybody. It's there's a free tier so you can join the sisterhood for free and you can start connecting with other women and being a part of the community. And, uh, I recommend that everybody come and do that today, because there are sisters who want to be there for you and support you.

Jennifer Loehding:

Well, thank you for that. Yeah, we'll make sure we make a note of all that in there. So good stuff, all right. And, of course, to our audience. You know we appreciate you and hope you found this episode both inspiring and informative. And if you do, you know, do all the things, of course. Go check out the Passionista Project and what they've got going over there. You know, do all the things, of course. Go check out the Passionista project and what they've got going over there. But also go hit like subscribe, share, you know, comment, do all the things so we can keep sharing all of our content as well. 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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Jennifer Loehding

Host
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Nancy and Amy Harrington

Guest