Welcome To the Pretty Passionate Podcast!
Hello and welcome to the Pretty Passionate podcast. I'm your host, Doctor. Ruth Celestin, board certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon, wife, mom, entrepreneur, dog mom, and a very passionate ornamental gardener. I'm a Northern New Jersey girl living in Georgia. And I'm also a first generation American born from Haitian immigrants who came here in the 60s and really grabbed their slice of the American dream pie.
Dr. Ruth:I'm a proud veteran of the United States Air Force Reserve. But enough about me. How about I tell you a little bit about this podcast? This podcast is really about holding space in my mind, in my heart, and in my life for the things that I'm truly passionate about. I believe engaging with your passions is really important to make life richer, more fun, more enjoyable, and easier to navigate those inevitable difficult times.
Dr. Ruth:I always, and I mean always, feel like I am being pulled in multiple directions and like there is always something on the list of things that I should do. But what about the things that I just want to do? The things that don't have a particular purpose, but I do find enjoyable. Things such as your passions. Let's start by being Merriam Webster clear about what a passion is.
Dr. Ruth:A passion is defined as a strong liking of or desire for or devotion to some activity, object or concept. Right. A passion to me is just something I feel drawn to and really enjoy doing. My personal passions include life and self improvement. So think health and wellness, creating beauty in my surroundings, interior design.
Dr. Ruth:I have this powerful makeover spirit that results in many home improvement projects I'm sure my husband is thrilled about. This obviously has a really solid place in my career, but it definitely spills over into my personal life. I also love and am passionate about beauty and cosmetics. I'm always looking to level up my makeup game, my skincare regimen, my haircare, and overall self care. If there's a wonderful product out there that is really just taking off because it's that great, I want to know about it.
Dr. Ruth:I want to even try it if it applies to me. Other personal passions for me, if you ever talk to me on the phone, include entertainment, pop culture. I'm really into movies, TV, zeitgeisty things that everyone's talking about. Sometimes we just need a little brain candy. It doesn't have to be that serious.
Dr. Ruth:Travel and culture are huge passions of mine. Although motherhood, career, pandemic have limited my passport stamps, at least in the recent past, that's changing and intentionally. And that's something I'd love to share with you all here. Let's talk about format. This will be a once weekly podcast.
Dr. Ruth:If there's something special going on, super interesting, maybe more episodes. We'll be starting off with both audio and video. I know that successful podcasts these days are doing audio and visual, and so when you want to be successful, just do what the successful guys are doing. That said, as much as I know that everyone loves video, sometimes if I do these in my PJs, take that, not as me being lazy, but as me being a 100% real with you, that this is going on after the kids are down at the end of the day, and I'm very dedicated to the project. So episode format will be as follows.
Dr. Ruth:I'll start with a life update, You know, what's going on with me, news about the podcast, interesting topics in my world that came across in social media, and then, of course, if there's some important, maybe, broader news or things to discuss. And then we'll cover whatever the episode title calls for. So if it's a movie or, TV recaps, you know, my fave genres include sci fi, fantasy, thrillers, and period dramas. Oh, I love a good period drama. Maybe the episode will be a product review.
Dr. Ruth:Beauty product, hair product, something like that. Maybe gardening, kids stuff, anything that I come across that I think is really interesting that you might be interested in. Pop culture and entertainment. So definitely not much on celebrity gossip because I just think there's so many people out there focused on that who will definitely do a better job than me, but more what's going on in entertainment that might be interesting and takes on stuff that everyone's just talking about. And then I'm gonna have a miscellaneous fifth category, leaving space for the show to evolve based on your feedback, based on anything that changes on my end, and anything that you want to hear about and you express to me, be it career, entrepreneur stuff, mom life, whatever.
Dr. Ruth:I do endeavor to have guests on, at least on occasions, whenever the subject matter calls for it. So if we're talking about something that I think is kind of over my head, and I know someone great who can bring you guys some great information and keep it really interesting, then that's who I will have join me. But for now, I'll just focus on us getting well acquainted. In conclusion, this is a passion project of mine. I have wanted to pursue a podcast low key for about two years.
Dr. Ruth:Five years ago, my husband and I moved out to the country, and that essentially doubled my commute so that I actually discovered podcasts. I mean, knew they existed, but I discovered how much I like this genre of entertainment. I love how deep into a topic you can get with a podcast and how each show builds its own sense of community. I convinced myself though that the content creation space was overstuffed, overfilled, and there really wasn't any room for an elder millennial black woman who is a blend of a nerd, beauty expert, mompreneur, wife. Where does that fit in?
Dr. Ruth:What's my niche? You know? The internet is all about niching. Add to that the fact that I've been in survival mode. I have two kids under six and a busy career, and I kind of put my passions to the back burner.
Dr. Ruth:I accepted that all of the above pretty much precluded my ability to make room for this and to do it well. But I recently adopted a radical belief that my voice, being uniquely mine, with my unique experiences, my sense of humor, my interests and perspectives deserves to be heard. I've decided to be heard and more fully pursue my passions and goals, including this one. My hope is that some of this resonates with some part of you and that you'll decide to join me on this journey. Come along and let's talk about things that we're pretty passionate about.
