The LDS Women Project Podcast

Recording of our November 9th, 2021 Fireside Conversation with Melina Wheelwright Brown about her book Eve and Adam: Discovering the Beautiful Balance [https://deseretbook.com/p/eve-and-adam-discovering-beautiful-balance?variant_id=179985&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrJOMBhCZARIsAGEd4VFQRhoSrn4px2SMn4h9fln-LIfACDApyKWweqeglfYi0IK2jzN02ZAaAveWEALw_wcB]. Melinda Wheelwright Brown earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Brigham Young University and is a respected teacher and public speaker. She has a passion for solving problems, particularly those faced by women. This has led to her involvement in and support of several organizations, including Fight the New Drug, Days for Girls, Better Days 2020, Big Ocean Women, and the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, where she’s a current board member. Melinda and her husband, Doug, are the parents of four children and have recently entered the delightful world of grandparenthood.

A conversation with McArthur Krishna and Bethany Brady Spalding about their new bookA Girl's Guide to Heavenly Mother. We discuss how the knowledge of Heavenly Mother impacts us and influences our behavior. And we talk about the pandemic and racism within this context.

Robyn Burkinshaw is the secretary of her stake Relief Society, and a gay woman. She was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has always had a love of the Gospel. When she left the Church as a young adult and struggled deeply with depression, she felt a devastating distance between herself and God, believing herself to be unworthy of His blessings. Time, family, and tiny miracles led her back to the gospel and after a twenty-year hiatus, she returned to church. Robyn’s journey is her own. While her story may help LGBTQ people realize the love that God has for them, it is not a guide for their own lives or their relationship with the Church. Robyn is the CEO of BlytzPay, a financial technology startup. As a woman executive in the financial technology industry, Robyn is used to standing out and raising her voice for positive change. This interview is part of ourTales of Return Series [https://www.mormonwomen.com/tales-of-return/]. A condensed transcript of this interview, including photographs, can be found here [/mormonwomen/episode/mormonwomen.com/interview/on-my-road-to-damascus/].

Elizabeth Ostler interviews Amber Richardson, a storyteller with many credits in many mediums. Amber has produced a YouTube series, “Splitting the Sky,” and a podcast, “On Sovereign Wings.” She has performed in festivals and plays, such as “Mother Wove the Morning” by Carol Lynn Pearson. One of the common threads running through her creative work is the desire to expand the female experience within a spiritual context.

Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye chats with Meredith Nelson about her recent book,Crossings: A Bald Asian American Latter-day Saint Woman Scholar's Ventures Through Life, Death, Cancer, and Motherhood (Not Necessarily In That Order), published as part of the BYU Maxwell Institute's Living Faith series. Her book is a compilation of contemplative and scholarly essays on faith and the Church organization, of family newsletters, song lyrics, and playful doodles, and of letters to her still-young children. All of this blends together to form a picture of one bright and mighty Latter-day Saint life, refined to its current state by her discipline, by discipleship, and by a faith community that has challenged her, brought her casseroles, and taught her the holiness of humans. Melissa is currently on leave from her position at the University of Auckland to return to the United States with her husband and four children, as she continues her fight with cancer. She is now working at the Church History Department, documenting the global history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.