For most of us, the idea of publicly broadcasting our family’s most personal struggles and triumphs feels terrifying. But that’s just what Deanna Brakefield decided to do.
Nine months ago, Deanna Brakefield found herself at a networking event, talking to a station owner named Fred who would challenge everything she thought she knew about her own story’s value. When Fred suggested she start a radio show about her neurodivergent family instead of her marketing expertise, Brakefield’s initial reaction was disbelief: “I have no authority. I’m not a psychiatrist. I’m not a teacher. Who’s going to listen to me?”
That moment of vulnerability—admitting she had “lots to say” about neurodivergence—would become the catalyst for a complete life transformation. Brakefield’s journey from marketing professional to radio host reveals something profound about what happens when we stop compartmentalizing our lives and start leading with our most authentic experiences.
Her story raises a compelling question: What would change in our own lives if we had the courage to share the parts of ourselves we’ve been taught to hide?
When Your “Real Life” Becomes Your Platform
The path to Brakefield’s radio show began with a misunderstanding of her own value proposition. As someone who runs a digital marketing agency with her husband, she approached Fred with what seemed like an obvious concept: a weekly marketing show. “I’m thinking this will be a great thing. I can do like 30 minutes once a week and just talk about marketing,” she explained.
Fred’s response was swift and direct: “You cannot do a show about marketing. It is boring.”
This rejection forced Brakefield to confront a question many of us avoid: What story do we actually have to tell beyond our professional credentials? Fred had been listening to her talk about her family for hours during their one-on-one meetings, and he recognized something she couldn’t see herself. “Talk about your kids and how they’re different. Talk about neurodivergence,” he suggested.
The resistance she felt to this idea reveals something important about how we value our lived experiences. Despite being part of a family of nine where everyone is neurodivergent—including herself with an early childhood ADHD diagnosis and her husband who is autistic with ADHD—Brakefield had never considered these experiences as valuable content for public consumption.
This disconnect between our most meaningful experiences and what we believe others want to hear often keeps us trapped in inauthentic professional personas. We present polished versions of ourselves while our most compelling stories remain locked away in private conversations.
The Overwhelming Response to Authentic Storytelling
When Brakefield finally launched her show seeking guests willing to share their neurodivergent experiences, the response shattered all expectations. “I had 80 people in my lead flow within a week,” she recalls. “The response was overwhelming. I had 80 people in my lead flow within a week… it was almost traumatizing, if that makes sense, because I was told not to expect a huge response.”
The flood of responses revealed something remarkable about the hunger for authentic representation. These weren’t people looking to sell products or promote services—they were individuals desperate to share stories that reflected their reality. “There were so many people looking to share their stories of what it was like as a neurodivergent entrepreneur trying to start a business when all the models are designed for neurotypicals, or trying to take care of your kids when you have executive functioning issues,” Brakefield explains.
Amy Stone’s interview question captured the heart of this phenomenon: “How did you decide you got 80? You said, I’m going to tell all these stories. How did that work out?” The answer reveals the power of committed authentic storytelling. Brakefield made a radical decision: “It doesn’t matter who you are. Let’s tell your story.”
This approach to platform building—prioritizing authentic stories over promotional content—created something unexpected. Rather than serving as a lead funnel for her marketing business as originally intended, the show began attracting clients who valued her understanding of neurodivergent perspectives. “People find out, oh, you’re a marketer, too. Well, let me get involved with that, because you understand how my brain works.”
Breaking Down the Walls Between Public and Private Self
Perhaps the most profound transformation in Brakefield’s journey was the integration of previously compartmentalized parts of her life. Before the radio show, she describes living “a very masked and sheltered life where I isolated myself” despite being naturally drawn to connection.
The concept of “masking”—which Brakefield defines as when “you suppress your natural reactions and instincts and supply society with a version of you that is not an accurate representation of who you are when you’re on your own, in private”—had created an exhausting split in her daily existence.
The radio show became a bridge between these divided selves. Instead of maintaining separate professional and personal identities, everything began working together. “It feels like a lot of the imbalances that I had have resolved themselves because I have this sort of consistency through everything that I’m doing now,” she explains. “Instead of the kids are fighting for this piece, and the business is fighting for this piece, and my own sanity is fighting for this piece. It’s almost like everything works together.”
This integration extended to her family dynamics as well. When one of her sons had a difficult day, he approached her with a request: “Mom, are you recording anything today? No. You’re recording me.” What followed was an honest conversation about “how tough it was being an autistic man, trying to interact with people in a world where they don’t want to interact with him, they don’t want to give grace.”
The fact that her son saw the radio show as a safe space for his own voice demonstrates how authentic platforms can create ripple effects of empowerment within families and communities.
Creating Space for Authentic Connection
The success of Brakefield’s show reveals something crucial about human connection in our increasingly curated world. When Amy Stone asked about the show’s impact, Brakefield’s response highlighted the fundamental human need for authentic recognition: “People just want to make connections. They want to hear your story and tell theirs and just understand that they were seen.”
This desire to be seen and understood transcends the specific experience of neurodivergence. In a culture that often rewards performance over authenticity, creating platforms for genuine storytelling becomes an act of service. Brakefield’s show serves a dual purpose: helping neurodivergent individuals feel less alone while educating neurotypical communities about different ways of experiencing the world.
The transformation wasn’t just personal—it was professional and relational. Her marketing business evolved to specifically serve neurodivergent entrepreneurs who needed “marketing in a way that works for their brain.” The show became a vehicle for building relationships based on understanding rather than selling based on assumptions.
The Courage to Lead with Your Story
Brakefield’s journey from reluctant storyteller to confident advocate offers a powerful framework for anyone struggling with imposter syndrome or feeling disconnected from their authentic self. Her initial resistance—”I have no authority”—gave way to the recognition that lived experience itself constitutes a form of expertise.
The radio show didn’t just change the direction of her business; it created what she describes as a “neurodivergent soup” where all aspects of her life—homeschooling, business, advocacy, and family—could coexist and support each other rather than compete for her attention and energy.
Perhaps most importantly, her story demonstrates that the parts of ourselves we’ve been taught to hide or minimize might actually be our greatest assets for creating meaningful work and authentic connections. When Fred suggested she talk about her family instead of marketing strategies, he was essentially asking her to lead with vulnerability instead of credentials.
The success of this approach—evidenced by the overwhelming response from potential guests and the evolution of her business—suggests that our culture is hungry for authentic voices willing to share their real experiences rather than polished professional personas.
For anyone feeling trapped between their public and private selves, Brakefield’s story offers both inspiration and a practical pathway. Starting with small acts of authentic sharing, we can begin to bridge the gap between who we are and how we show up in the world. The result isn’t just personal integration—it’s the creation of platforms and communities where others can find the acceptance and understanding they’ve been seeking.
Maybe the question isn’t whether you have authority to share your story. Instead the question might be whether you have the courage to discover who might be waiting to hear it.
This article was inspired by an interview with Deanna Brakefield and Amy Stone on The Art of Imperfect Adulting podcast. To hear more compelling conversations like this one and receive special offers from our guests directly to your inbox, join our email community today.
Interview Transcript Deanna Brakefield with Amy Stone | The Art of Imperfect Adulting | August 27, 2025
Amy Stone [00:00:06]:
Deanna Brakefield. Welcome to the art of imperfect adulting. I’m happy you’re here. Are you ready for a fun chat today?
Deanna Brakefield [00:00:13]:
Absolutely. I think this is going to be great. Yay.
Amy Stone [00:00:16]:
I start all my interviews by asking my guests what part of the world they call home. So where are you today?
Deanna Brakefield [00:00:21]:
Birmingham, Alabama. Us.
Amy Stone [00:00:23]:
Nice. Very, very nice. In a second, we’re going to start the official interview, but before we do that, we always say, laughter is the best medicine. Share with us something that brings you can count on. Something that you can count on to bring a smile to your face or a laughter to your day.
Deanna Brakefield [00:00:39]:
It would be having one on one conversations like this when I meet with lots of people throughout the week and I always find my energy comes up and I start smiling whenever I start talking to somebody new.
Amy Stone [00:00:49]:
I love that. What a beautiful answer. Thank you so much for sharing that. So the topic of the day is that you decided to start a radio show and you say that it changed the direction of your life. So my first question is, how long ago did you do this? How long ago did you start the radio show?
Deanna Brakefield [00:01:08]:
The radio show has been running for nine months now and it has been a roller coaster ride.
Amy Stone [00:01:13]:
So.
Deanna Brakefield [00:01:14]:
All right.
Amy Stone [00:01:14]:
So this is pretty recent. Nine months. All right, very good. So I’m very curious about this because I. I cannot actually think of the last time I listened to. Actually, that’s not true. I can think of the last time I listened to the radio because I had a rental car and I didn’t have connection to any of my devices and I didn’t have satellite radio. So is this, tell me more about this radio station. Is it a broadcast radio station? And how did this idea even begin?
Deanna Brakefield [00:01:42]:
So that’s actually the really weird part. I think I lost my mind because I was in a networking event and I got introduced to this guy. He’s an absolute character and he was looking for people to start show on his station. So it is a digital station. It is also a broadcast station. So we have terrestrial broadcast as well as digital broadcast. And I’m thinking, okay, so I own a digital marketing agency with my husband. I’m thinking this will be a great thing. I can do like 30 minutes once a week and just talk about marketing. It’ll be so much more impactful than like doing hours upon hours of networking. And he looks me dead in the face and he goes, you cannot do a show about marketing. It is boring. And I was like, oh, okay, what else would I possibly talk about? And he had listened to me talk about My family and my kids for hours at this point as we had one on ones trying to find a good place where I could work a show from. And he, one day, he looks at me and he goes, do that. Talk about that. Talk about your kids. And I’m like, what? What do you mean? I. I have no, like, authority. I’m not a psychiatrist. I’m not a teacher. I’m not like a parent adv. Who’s going to listen to me? And he said, no, talk about your kids and how they’re different. Talk about neurodivergence. And I said, oh, yeah, I got lots to say about that. Let’s go.
Amy Stone [00:03:08]:
Okay. All right, so we’re going to jump right into that. Well, actually, no, I’m going to backtrack. We’re going to come back to the neurodivergence in a second. But I’m a backtrack. So do you have a background in radio or in broadcasting? Had you ever done anything like this before?
Deanna Brakefield [00:03:23]:
Oh, no. This has been a deep dive into things I never thought I would even know. Need to know how to do everything from production and engineering to actual, like, guest relations. It’s. It’s all been a crash course.
Amy Stone [00:03:37]:
Very interesting. Very interesting. So the focus of the show is the kids and neurodiversity. Okay. Are the kids in neurodiversity? All right, so what. All right, so then let’s go straight into that. Right, so you shared, actually, on your intake form, you shared. You said that I’ll read it so that I don’t mess it up. That all of your children, you and your husband are all neurodivergent. Is. I think what you said is that correct.
Deanna Brakefield [00:04:05]:
We are a family of nine. And yes, ma’, am, we have different diagnoses, but we are all neurodivergent.
Amy Stone [00:04:11]:
All right, so tell me a little bit about that so that we’re all on the same page. Since this is the first time that you and I have met. Tell us a little bit about that and how it connects to the show. So you’re a family of nine. Two adults, seven kids.
Deanna Brakefield [00:04:24]:
Well, we have some adult children. We are a blended family.
Amy Stone [00:04:28]:
Oh, me too.
Deanna Brakefield [00:04:29]:
Three together. One that he brought from his first marriage and then three that we adopted.
Amy Stone [00:04:35]:
Okay, all right, so then this. So the word neurodivergent. I’m not a neurodivergent expert, so I’m going to rely on you to tell us what we’re talking about and give us an idea so that we’re all. We all Everybody knows what we’re doing here.
Deanna Brakefield [00:04:47]:
So essentially it’s an umbrella term, and it just means wired differently. So that could be anything from autism, which some people are fairly familiar with, and adhd, to things like dyslexia, where you have issues with letters on the page, or dyscalcia, where it’s numbers on the page and so many things in between.
Amy Stone [00:05:07]:
All right, and so is there, like, something specific that repeats in your family, or do you have, like, a smorgasbord of things going on?
Deanna Brakefield [00:05:14]:
So almost everyone has ADHD because my husband is autistic adhd and I am adhd. And they are. There are genetic components.
Amy Stone [00:05:23]:
Okay, all right, very interesting. Did you. Now, did you and your husband. Like, I’ve interviewed two people on the show that were diagnosed as adults with adhd. So were you. Did you guys know when you were young? Did you guys know before you met? Did you know when you were younger? Like, how did that. How long have you known?
Deanna Brakefield [00:05:41]:
I did know. I’m actually one of the wildly unusual females at 40 that had an early childhood diagnosis. It’s very uncommon. My husband was not diagnosed until he was a young adult. He had to seek his own because his parents were against labeling.
Amy Stone [00:05:59]:
Okay, all right, very interesting there. So, but. And when you guys. But by the time you guys met, you knew that I thought about each other. It was already there before you. This was something you knew before the relationship. Did it surprise either of you guys that this. This was something that showed up in your kids? Probably not, right?
Deanna Brakefield [00:06:16]:
No, not at all. I mean, when we were first together 20 years ago, we didn’t know as much about it. And so it wasn’t a confirmed genetic component, but crazy families running crazy families. Okay, you said it.
Amy Stone [00:06:33]:
There we go. All right, very good. So you say that the show changed the direction of your life, which I think is that. That’s a pretty big. That’s a pretty bold statement, and I’d love to know a little bit more about that. Like, how. Because, like, it’s not. It’s. Yeah, tell us more. Tell. Tell me more about where that came from and what it means to you.
Deanna Brakefield [00:06:53]:
So I had. When my husband decided he wanted to start our business, we had kind of dipped our toes into this pool a little bit because we were helping therapists and counselors mental health provide. Advertise their businesses and services so people like us could have easier access. That was the direction where we started from. After I hooked up with the owner of K Fred, everything completely changed. I. I won’t lie. When I put out that I was doing a radio show seeking guests. The response was overwhelming. I had 80 people in my. My lead flow within a week.
Amy Stone [00:07:32]:
Yeah.
Deanna Brakefield [00:07:32]:
And it was just. It was almost traumatizing, if that makes sense, because I was told not to expect a huge response. It’s radio. But there were so many people looking to share their stories of what it was like as a neurodivergent entrepreneur trying to start a business when all the models are designed for neurotypicals, or trying to take care of your kids when you have executive functioning issues. And so it’s hard to even make yourself start tasks that you know are vital. There were so many different perspectives, and I. I recorded them all. I said, it doesn’t matter who you are. Let’s tell your story. And when that happened, people. I started building relationships with people. I mean, my radio show overshadowed my business, like, by a landslide. But then they find out, oh, you’re a marketer, too. Well, let me get involved with that, because you understand how my brain works. And so now our business is actually design to help neurodivergent business owners do marketing in a way that works for their brain.
Amy Stone [00:08:40]:
That is really interesting. All right, so there’s a piece of that story that really resonates with me, and we’re going to come back to that. This does feel like it’s a good time for me to pop in and just talk directly to the audience and invite them into the conversation. We put up a discussion question on social media for every single episode. So if you pop over to YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, you’ll find that question. You can interact directly. I’ll be there with you. Maybe Deanna will pop into other listeners. It really is taking off people like these questions. If you’re not already following the show on social media, the links will be in the show notes. It’s a lot of fun. All right, so now there’s a piece of that story that absolutely didn’t surprise me at all. And that is that you said you put out a call for stories and you got lots of responses. And a very similar thing happened when I started this show. I had no idea what to expect. And I just said, let’s go. And, you know, within the broadcasting space, I’m in podcasting. You were in radio. And it is reasonable, if you’re not already famous and a celebrity, to have reasonable expectations, you know, who’s going to respond. But I got a lot of people who are like, yeah, I’d like to tell my story. And it’s fun. But also then you have the immediate question that’s like, well, all right, you know what? Now, how am I going to do this? So how did you do that? How did you decide you got 80? You said, I’m going to tell all these stories. How did that work out? Tell me more.
Deanna Brakefield [00:10:03]:
Well, I. Ultimately, I did end up telling some people that it wasn’t a great fit because they came on and they wanted to sell things to my audience that I didn’t even have yet. But a lot of them, it was really heartfelt, authentic stories. And so it was just about getting it produced and getting it out there. Some stories are still pending release because there were so many of them. And, you know, you can only put out so much content in a given week or you’ll drive yourself crazy. But they’re really powerful and moving. When people, I mean, they open themselves up and they get vulnerable when they get one on one like this, they’re very nice.
Amy Stone [00:10:41]:
So then this is a digital and broadcast radio station. Digital, broadcast and streaming station. How often are you releasing the show? Is it weekly? Is it on a schedule? How does that work?
Deanna Brakefield [00:10:51]:
So now I’ve actually subdivided the show into two segments. We have what I call a showcase piece. Every single Friday drops through the podcast archive on the station. And then it broadcasts out whenever Fred feels like he wants to do it. But the. The big deal is every Sunday at 5pm Central, we go live over K Fred, and it’s me and my husband and we bring on the abs. Most wonderful professionals. Tomorrow we are actually having a Hollywood star on with us. But the. Get the. Your audience will hear about this in a few weeks. So. Yeah, it’ll be old hat by then.
Amy Stone [00:11:30]:
Oh, my. Yeah, no, that’s true. So you’re doing. You do a live broadcast. I have avoided life because. Yeah, no, I just. I’m just going to leave it at that. I just have avoided live. I just. I do the production, and that gives me time. I give. There’s a little gap to do things like that. All right, so what were when. So this is a person who you knew who said, I have this radio station project. You could be on it. And you were pitching an idea, but then it shifted to be about your family. Did you have any fears or concerns or apprehensions before you started this project?
Deanna Brakefield [00:12:07]:
I mean, yeah, I have. As a neurodivergent mom, specifically, I’ve always struggled with imposter syndrome. Yay. Big buzzword. But it’s real. Because you wonder who is going to see any value in what you have to say, who cares about your experiences? But the reality is, what I experienced was that people just want to make connections. They want to hear your story and tell theirs and just understood that they were seen. And so as I started to realize that, it’s become second nature.
Amy Stone [00:12:39]:
Very nice. What did your family think when you shifted the. The focus of what you were going to do away from the marketing business to the family?
Deanna Brakefield [00:12:49]:
So my husband was all on board, but he’s not a social person, so he doesn’t get in front of the camera, so he gets to avoid the heat. My kids all think I’m absolutely crazy, but they love the. We have three adult children that listen every week, and after we get off the air, they call and they’re like, mom, Mom, I can’t believe you said that.
Amy Stone [00:13:11]:
And is it okay, the things you’re talking about? Or has there ever been. Have there ever been any drama about. You shouldn’t talk about me that way, Mom.
Deanna Brakefield [00:13:18]:
So, no, because that’s actually one of the focuses of the show is showing neurodivergent people as we are so that the neurotypical community can learn how to be approachable to us and to be approached.
Amy Stone [00:13:32]:
Very nice. All right. There’s probably lots of good information there. Absolutely. All right. So I don’t think that. I don’t feel like this was a spur of the moment project, although maybe it was since it was only nine months ago. But it’s a show. There’s a concept. We’re going to talk about how your life has changed. But before you actually began it, what were your hopes? What did you think would happen when you launched this?
Deanna Brakefield [00:13:57]:
Honestly, I was hoping. It’s selfish, but I was hoping it would be a massive lead funnel for my marketing agency because every guest I had on was going to become a client. That was completely unrealistic, but okay.
Amy Stone [00:14:11]:
So the intention behind this was always that it was going to be affiliated with your business, that it was an expansion tool for visibility and things on the marketing business. And there’s a piece of that. It looks like it has actually grown your business, which is pretty exciting, just not in the way that you thought it would be.
Deanna Brakefield [00:14:28]:
The interesting part was the fact that it took on a life of its own. I. I homeschool my kids, the four that are still in school. And so, you know, between the business and the radio show and the kids, we kind of live in this neurodivergent soup now. And it’s grown into a beautiful thing where I’ve had one of my kids who he had a bad day and he went, mom, are you recording anything today? No. You’re recording me. Okay. And he just let loose about how tough it was being an autistic man, trying to interact with people in a world where they don’t want to interact with him, they don’t want to give grace. And it ended up being a beautiful episode.
Amy Stone [00:15:12]:
That right? Yeah. No. So that’s a really powerful experience. That. And there’s a lot. There’s actually a lot in that story because it’s that he’s comfortable talking to you. He’s comfortable being a part of the show. He wants to have his message heard. He sees this as a safe community. That’s really interesting. Are you getting feedback from people who are listening outside of being guests on the show?
Deanna Brakefield [00:15:38]:
Yes, ma’. Am. Not as much as I would wish. But people tend to be pretty closeted with their opinions. Sometimes they don’t want to hurt your feelings. I know personally, the first five to 10 episodes that I did, I was a robotic stag. You. It was horrible. But you get comfortable with it. I mean, I can see your own ease in what we’re doing. You get comfortable with it over time, and then you can open up.
Amy Stone [00:16:02]:
Yeah, it does take time. That’s the. Somebody asked me recently, they said, what advice would you give to somebody about starting? And I was like, this is a catch 22, because you want to be really good when you start, but you’re not going to be any good until you do it. And so you’ve got to figure out a way to just. Just get in there and do it so that you can hopefully get good. And people do that in different ways. So there’s a bunch of different ways. For me, I just started Hit, Go and Start. But not everybody does that. All right, so let’s talk about how your life has shifted since you started this project. So nine months ago is when you launched the show. How long before that were you talking to Fred about the project?
Deanna Brakefield [00:16:48]:
It probably took him about two or three months to completely convince me that neurodivergent news was the way to go versus doing something about marketing.
Amy Stone [00:16:56]:
Okay, so I love that he was very direct with you. Like, no.
Deanna Brakefield [00:17:01]:
Yeah, that’s one thing about him. He’s very direct.
Amy Stone [00:17:06]:
And so this has been like a year long thing. If we were to rewind your Life to about 18 months ago and compare it to today, what are some things that have shifted?
Deanna Brakefield [00:17:20]:
It feels like a lot of the imbalances that I had have resolved themselves because I have this sort of consistency through everything that I’m doing now. Instead of the kids are fighting for this piece, and the business is fighting for this piece, and my own sanity is fighting for this piece. It’s almost like everything works together. It’s almost imbalanced, almost.
Amy Stone [00:17:45]:
That is really interesting. And why do you think that? Why do you think that is? Why do you think the radio show pulled it all together?
Deanna Brakefield [00:17:51]:
It spotlighted something in my own life that I knew needed to be expressed and talked about. But I live in the south, and so neurodivergence isn’t a word that most people know, let alone understand. Beginning to understand some of the intricacies involved with it. And so I lived a very masked and sheltered life where I isolated myself and it’s made absolute people person.
Amy Stone [00:18:18]:
All right, so let me see if I can recap this and see if. If I can tie this together. So if we went back to look at your life two years ago, you and your husband had a marketing company that was a marketing company, but you really didn’t. And you had this lived existence within the walls of your family where you knew about your neurodiversity and the neurodiversity of your kids and your adult kids, but that wasn’t. You were. You had two different versions of yourself that you were presenting. The two were not mixing. And then by bringing the. But you were talking to Fred. You were talking. I guess you would talk to your friends about the things that were really happening in your house or how did.
Deanna Brakefield [00:18:58]:
Fred know Fred knew? Because he actually ease. Dropped in on a conversation that I had with someone else during networking.
Amy Stone [00:19:07]:
Okay.
Deanna Brakefield [00:19:08]:
So he. He learned. He did it naughty. But I appreciated it because he, like I said, he changed my life.
Amy Stone [00:19:16]:
Okay, so then because he knew about this piece of your life that otherwise you were keeping segmented and private, he was able to suggest that. And now what has happened is that there is no part of your life that doesn’t honor and respect and include the reality of neurodivergence inside your house.
Deanna Brakefield [00:19:36]:
That’s the goal. And we do succeed most days.
Amy Stone [00:19:39]:
That is really interesting. So tell us. There’s something that you talked about, which is a word I’ve heard before, but I. When I try, I do my best to try and make sure that when we’re talking about vocabulary and things that if there’s anybody who’s listening who doesn’t know, I bring it up and give it some airtime. So tell us a little bit about what you mean when you say masking.
Deanna Brakefield [00:19:56]:
Okay. So that. That’s I don’t want to call it a psychological term, but it is a clinical term. It’s when you suppress your natural reactions and instincts and supply society with a version of you that is not an accurate representation of who you are when you’re in on your own, in private.
Amy Stone [00:20:17]:
Okay, so it’s. Is it. Is it reasonable to say. And I know you’re not an expert, so I’m just asking for your opinion. And I mean, I. I think that you have expertise for sure, but I don’t want to put you on the spot like I’m asking you to present something. I’m just looking for your opinion based on your life and your expertise. Is it like almost a version of performing in a way that you think people will accept?
Deanna Brakefield [00:20:40]:
Absolutely. Okay. And it’s not something exclusive to neurodivergent people either. Everyone does this to an extent. But when you’ faced with the shame and the criticism that often comes at you for the behaviors that are a direct result of your neurodivergence, you kind of build it as a wall to protect yourself from everyone else. To an extreme.
Amy Stone [00:21:02]:
Absolutely. No, I mean, to some. Yeah, I agree with that. We do all do it. When we’re going to go to the bank and ask for a loan, we dress up to make sure we look like we’re the part we don’t wear, you know, or we do if we want to have a better chance. Right. When you go to a job interview, you try and put your best foot forward. That’s a version of performing in certain. Certain sex sections. But it’s definitely. It’s. So what we’re talking about is the reality of having to cover up who you are and your natural behaviors because they’re not accepted kindly and compassionately.
Deanna Brakefield [00:21:37]:
I mean, this isn’t. You don’t pick your nose in public or you hide it. If you. This is your anxiety almost has you vibrating because you’re holding yourself still so that you don’t react in what others might view an inappropriate way.
Amy Stone [00:21:53]:
Okay. So. And. And that’s. Yeah, it’s a big concept, I think, for me to wrap my head around. And I appreciate you taking the time to explain it because I do think that there’s really big value in. In talking about these topics when. Between groups, between a group that experiences it and in a group that doesn’t, so that we can be more aware. And at the same time, I’m a person who. I have the reality and the understanding that I can’t actually understand some things that I’ve never experienced for myself. I can really just try and learn and be aware and do the best I can. And so I appreciate you sharing all of this with, with me and with the audience. All right, in a second we’re going to do the final fun questions, but I want to give you a chance to tell people about what you do. You mentioned you have a marketing agency. You mentioned your clientele has shifted a little bit with the radio show or expanded. Tell us what you do. Tell us how you want people to follow up with you after the show.
Deanna Brakefield [00:22:52]:
So you can find me@lionheartkingdom.com or you can find me on Facebook under Deanna Brakefield. Whether you’re a neurodivergent entrepreneur, a parent that has a story to tell or just someone looking for more information, you I would invite people to check out neurodivergent news on kayfred.com and if you’re interested in a different perspective on marketing, that’s where you find me at Lionheart Kingdom.
Amy Stone [00:23:18]:
So I’m definitely going to check out kayfred.com because I’m fascinated to know more about what he’s doing. And I’m going to look at the show for sure. Neurodivergent News. It’s a good title. It’s a good title. Okay, so you have a special offer that you prepared for the audience which is a brand strategy call and a social media profile optimization. And so there are details about this in the show notes are really, really thorough explanation of what it is. One brand, a complimentary one hour brand strategy call and then you get a discount off of the social media profile optimization. So that is a spectacular deal. It’s really, really good. And the way you do that is by mentioning the art of imperfect adulting when you reach out to Deanna. So the details about that are in the show notes and the best way to get the details about the offers is usually to be is always to be subscribed to the imperfect adulting email community because then you don’t have to grab a pen and take notes while you’re listening or watching. I send it directly into your email box and it’s super convenient. And so that is that I encourage everybody to do that for sure. Are you ready for the final three questions, my friend?
Deanna Brakefield [00:24:24]:
Let’s do it.
Amy Stone [00:24:26]:
All right. Very good. Modern technology sometimes gets a bad rap. But what is a recent or modern invention that you are happy was invented and you actually would not try and.
Deanna Brakefield [00:24:38]:
Live without it as of a year ago?
Amy Stone [00:24:42]:
AI I love that it could have been anything. Could have been anything. But, you know, like, we do. We. We blame. I. I’m. I’m in there, too. I blame technology for a lot of problems, but also there are things that I would not want to try and. And live without. No. All right. If you are making a lunch or a dinner, but just for yourself. And I wrote this question, Deanna, before I knew that you were in a house of nine people, I just thought of it on my own. But if you were making a meal just for yourself, what is a go to meal that you would make?
Deanna Brakefield [00:25:12]:
I have a deep fryer on my counter for a reason. Mom makes friends French fries just for mom all the time.
Amy Stone [00:25:18]:
And you do it in a deep fryer?
Deanna Brakefield [00:25:20]:
Yeah, I just drop like a handful or two in the deep fryer, and then three minutes later, I’m going to.
Amy Stone [00:25:26]:
That is amazing. So I’ll do french fries, but we do them. We do, like, the. The frozen ones in the oven. Like, I. I absolutely love that. All right, very good.
Deanna Brakefield [00:25:34]:
Last one.
Amy Stone [00:25:35]:
Do you have a favorite color? And if so, what is it?
Deanna Brakefield [00:25:37]:
Blue. And me and my youngest son will fight over every blue thing in this house for who it belongs to.
Amy Stone [00:25:46]:
I love it.
Deanna Brakefield [00:25:47]:
That’s it.
Amy Stone [00:25:47]:
Deanna Brayfield, thank you so much for being a wonderful guest today on the show.