Sarah Jackal, founder of the national nonprofit, Democrashe, shares how being told she'd never work again after a chronic illness diagnosis led her to study brain science and resilience, eventually building tools like the "inner best friend" and "inner champion." She discusses how these tools carried her into national political leadership roles and now power her program, which operates in 42 states equipping high school girls with resilience skills and civic engagement training.
Link to Democrashe’s website: https://www.democrashe.org/
Show Notes:
00:00 - Introduction to the episode's theme: resilience, identity, and turning adversity into impact
00:15 - Guest intro: Sarah Jackal's 2014 chronic illness diagnosis and founding of Democrashe, active in 42 states
01:06 - Sarah Jackal welcomed to the show
01:25 - Sarah recounts the moment she was told she'd never work again as a social worker
02:19 - Living on the couch for two and a half years and realizing she could control how she showed up
02:54 - Turning to studying the brain and resiliency during her recovery
03:47 - Question: what skills and brain rewiring emerged from that period
04:05 - Explaining the prefrontal cortex vs. the amygdala and fight/flight/freeze responses
05:04 - How the amygdala responds to somatic, grounding language rather than logic
05:37 - Studying Dr. Kristin Neff's self-compassion work and acceptance commitment therapy
05:49 - The "grounding with mother earth" technique explained
06:14 - Introducing the "inner best friend" and "inner champion" tools
06:39 - Barack Obama and her dog Max as her original inner best friends
07:37 - Host connects the concept to her own meditation and gardening routine as grounding practices
08:22 - Host shares her struggle with a harsh inner critic
09:04 - Sarah explains why the inner critic is trying to help, and the "Thank You Brain" technique
10:16 - More on choosing figures for your inner best friend (Michelle Obama, Wonder Woman, Taylor Swift)
11:12 - Explaining the "inner champion" figures like Stacey Abrams, Megan Rapinoe, and Jeannette Rankin
13:00 - Question: how resilience tools helped her step into national political leadership
13:34 - Breaking tasks into tiny steps, like "just get in the car," to overcome overwhelm
14:17 - Becoming national outreach director for Field Team Six and get-out-the-vote director for California NOW
14:53 - Learning to shift "no" into "yes" despite being told she'd never work again
16:08 - Host shares her own health challenges and the power of taking one small step at a time
18:04 - The research-backed importance of celebrating small steps to reinforce progress
18:53 - Using a pet as a stand-in to help celebrate yourself when self-celebration feels hard
20:56 - Dogs and cats as some of the most profound "inner best friends," including on Zoom calls with Democrashe participants
21:34 - Introducing Democrashe: teaching resilience and civics to high school girls
22:00 - Why high school is the last time boys and girls believe equally they can run for office
22:11 - Imposter syndrome and the gender gap in seeing oneself as a candidate
22:34 - Statistics on harassment faced by women candidates and current congressional representation
23:45 - The overwhelm and exhaustion facing today's teens, and hyperarousal vs. hypoarousal
25:09 - Host shares her own experience with workplace gender pushback
26:04 - Why women's voices are needed at every table, from policy to science
27:18 - The crash-test dummy example of how excluding women from research costs lives
28:04 - The peer-led model of Democrashe and letting girls run their own workshops
29:07 - The "prepare, love, let go, learn" motto and "you can't do it wrong"
30:29 - How listeners can find and apply to Democrashe programs via democrashe.org
31:05 - Explanation of the 10-week flagship program, one-day intensives, and free self-directed program
31:35 - Girls are paid a stipend to remove financial barriers to participation
32:09 - Donation options explained and how funding levels support different program elements
33:59 - Host adds her nonprofit expertise to frame the return on investment of donations
36:04 - Closing thoughts: resilience as a muscle you build, and where to find Democrashe
36:58 - Sign-off and call to like, share, and subscribe
