Interview with Jayne Amelia Larson, Creator & Host, Bonus Babies Podcast, United States

Listen here or on your favorite platform.

 

CONVERSATION HIGHLIGHTS:

1. What is a CASA and its role in the Foster Care System?
2. What are the issues in the Foster Care system, and why do they exist?
3. What can citizens do to address the challenges in the foster care system?
4. Why are foster children vulnerable to trafficking?
6. What do many superheroes have in common … the answer may surprise you.
5. How to run a business and nonprofit together?
7 Who makes the best collaborators? … and more.

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Interview with Jayne Amelia Larson, Creator & Host, Bonus Babies Podcast; United States

Jayne Amelia Larson is the creator and host of the Bonus Babies podcast. As an agent of positive social activism, Bonus Babies shines a light through the cracks in the child dependency system and is committed to changing the current landscape of a failing foster care system. Through raw and hard-hitting firsthand accounts, Bonus Babies depicts the daunting complexity of the foster care maze by broadcasting the true stories of the kids who've been forced to navigate through it. Stories about foster kids and foster families are at the forefront of mainstream media, and the country is hungry for more. Shows such as This Is Us, The Fosters, and Harry Potter have catapulted those narratives into almost every living room in America, and Bonus Babies continues that work in the podcast world. Ms. Larson is a bestselling author and creative content producer based in Los Angeles. Her solo show, Driving The Saudis, was awarded Best Solo Show at the New York International Fringe Festival. Her nonfiction book, based on the same material, Driving The Saudis (Simon & Schuster), is a New York Times and international bestseller and a People Magazine Best Book Picks. With her partner, Darrell M. Blocker, she recently started SME Creatives and is developing several film and tv projects, including San Pedro, which shines a light on the extreme vulnerability of foster youth in the cruel world of human trafficking. Jayne Amelia received an undergraduate degree from Cornell University and a graduate degree from Harvard University. She was VP of Development at Entitled Entertainment and on the producing teams of several award-winning films and plays. She has volunteered with Los Angeles youth for twenty-five years and is a proud CASA volunteer.

United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal(s) addressed:
#3. Good Health and Well-being, #10. Reduced Inequalities, #16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

Social impact:
The BONUS BABIES podcast is on a mission to improve the lives of foster children worldwide. Through powerful storytelling, the podcast provides a 360-degree view of the foster care system by giving a voice to those with lived foster care experience, including foster care, adoption, and kinship care. It has evolved into a thoughtful exploration of what constitutes family, how families fail, and how society can better support them to help children thrive. The podcast's goal is to change the negative perception of foster children, who are often stigmatized as bad actors and doomed to fail. The hard truth is that circumstances beyond their control first fail these children and then fail again by a system that is meant to protect them. The absence of family, inconsistency in education, and lack of permanency can devastate a child leading to adverse outcomes such as homelessness, unemployment, incarceration, and more. The BONUS BABIES podcast is changing the hearts and minds of those who believe foster children are responsible for their own plight. The podcast builds awareness and empathy through first-hand narratives and inspires the greater community to take action. With over 50% of the world population listening to podcasts regularly, podcasts are a powerful tool to engage and motivate listeners. There are now nearly 650,000 children in foster care in the US alone, representing all walks of life and every race, ethnicity, and culture. The BONUS BABIES podcast aims to prevent children from entering foster care in the first place and to empower those in care to achieve healthy and sustainable independence. Through hard-hitting compelling storytelling, the BONUS BABIES podcast is changing the future of foster care and creating positive expectations for all children who have experienced adversity. By educating, informing, and inspiring the global community, the podcast is making a difference in the lives of foster children everywhere.

Website: http://bonusbabies.org

bonusbabies.org

Jayne Amelia Larson, Creator & Host, Bonus Babies Podcast, United States

Note: This conversation is transcribed using AI software, which means the transcription is not perfect. Watch the video or listen to the podcast to hear our guest’s wisdom in her own words. If you want to see more interviews like this, please comment below!

[00:00:00] Suzanne F. Stevens: Thank you for tuning into YouMewe Amplified podcasts, new season. Here is where we have conversations with sheIMPACTpreneurs, addressing the United Nations sustainable development goals. These entrepreneurs are transforming where we live and where we work. With sustainable social solutions. And the best part is in each episode you’ll receive actionable insights into what, why, where, and how to make a social impact.

No matter if you’re a conscious leader, if you’re an entrepreneur, if you’re an IMPACTpreneur or aspiring difference- maker. It can impact you and your organization and ultimately the community. So, it’s a great opportunity to find out how to make your contribution count. So, I so appreciate you joining me.

I am Suzanne F Stevens, international speaker, author, and a sheIMPACTpreneur community builder, and something I’m very proud of is a multi-award winning IMPACTpreneur and your host for YouMeWe Amplified

I am so excited about this episode. I was inspired and couldn’t help feel so much passion of our next guest just radiates through the conversation and through the screen. She’s an incredible woman named Jane Amelia Larson, and she’s the creator and host of Bonus Babies podcast.

Now, the reason I’m so excited about this interview is it’s something I know very little about and that is Foster Care. And Jane is from LA United States and she shares some great insight about the foster care system in United States, but I would imagine in many foster care systems, internationally, there are similar challenges.

I did know some of the things she was talking about are happening right in my backyard in Toronto, Canada. So, you’re going to get a lot of learning, a lot of insight, and what we can do about it as citizens, as parents, as someone who’s just interested in our future generations. So, stay tuned for that. Much of this podcast is very much about sustainability.

So, of course we talk about sustainability in two contexts. Sustain the impact that Jane’s actually making, but also sustaining the podcast, which is a non-for-profit within her for-profit, life.

Everyone we interview is an entrepreneur, but they marry a social initiative into it. And Jane shares how she does that and who she collaborates with in order to make that successful. So she gives some great tips there. I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I did, and I do see the foster care system very differently. But not only the foster care system, but parents that are having challenges and children where they really want to be.

 Enjoy the show. Let me introduce you to our guest.

[00:03:40] Suzanne F. Stevens: Today we are having a conversation with Jane Amelia Larson.

In addition to being a bestselling author, actress TV producer, she’s also an activist and is the creator and host of Bonus Babies Podcast. Bonus Babies is committed to changing the current landscape of the failing foster care system.

So, I’m really excited to learn a lot about this. And the podcast aim is to prevent children from entering the foster care system in the first place and to empower those in care to achieve healthy and sustainable independence. So welcome Jane to the show.

[00:04:22] Jayne Larson: Thank you so much, Suzanne. I’m very very happy to be here. I love what you’re doing and I am grateful to be part of it.

[00:04:32] Suzanne F. Stevens: I am glad you said that because this is a particular topic I’m personally very interested in it because I don’t know a lot about it. So I’m really anxious to learn and gain your insights on how you’re able to make a sustainable social impact with all the other projects that you have on your plate.

So why don’t we start off with what was the catalyst for starting a podcast focused on bonus babies and the foster care system?

[00:05:00] Jayne Larson: I’ll go back a little bit to tell you that I have always volunteered with youth, usually in arts programs, doing plays, writing plays, performing plays, producing plays with kids either after school or through programs, to support them. And about seven years ago, I was in a new relationship with a wonderful man who started volunteering with foster youth and he would go every Saturday and I was like, Hey, can I come too?

I would. I want to go too. So, we started doing that and pretty soon I started hearing the word CASA CASA CASA CASA. And I had never heard the term before. If I had, it didn’t register so, I found out about it and its means in this country, a Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteer for youth in foster care.

In some States it’s called a guardian ad Litem, I know there’s an equivalent in Canada and other countries as well, but in California they’re called CASAs, and I thought, you know what? I think I want be a CASA. It’s a very important role because generally you’re the only person in that kid’s life who is not on the dime. Who is not being paid, who is not being paid by the state.

You’re not a therapist, you’re not an attorney, you’re not a social worker. You are a volunteer to act as the child’s advocate in court. For services for what the kid wants. Because what happens is kids get lost, there’s all these adults telling them what to do, and the kid has no say. I immediately realized it was one of the most important things I was ever going to do in my life.

And then I thought, I’m going to write about it. I’d already written a pretty successful book and I thought, here’s my next book. I’m going to be writing about this. And then Covid hit. And then I was like, wow, maybe I’ll do a podcast because I can just do that at I can tell the stories of these kids in care to create awareness so that more people get involved to prevent kids going into care in the first place.

And also, the people who are already involved can make it better for the kids who are in care. 650,000 kids are in foster care at any one time in the United States, then that’s roughly the size of the city of Baltimore. So there’s a lot of kids in care and they need more adults invested in securing them a happy and healthy future.

That’s why I started the podcast because I thought, you know what? I have a voice. I do voiceovers. I’m an actor, I’m a producer. I’m going to produce this podcast and I’m going to make some changes in the system. I’ll have an impact that maybe even a book couldn’t necessarily do because by hearing the real stories of kids who have been through foster care, you get a really, a much better sense of the, the.

the. I don’t know how else to say it, but just how awful, truly awful it can be, but the more of us who get involved to make it better, the better it’s going to be for our kids and also for society, by the way, because there is such a as, recurring foster So very often what happens is kids who are in care have had parents who’ve been in care, grandparents who’ve been in care, great grandparents who’ve been in care, and it just recurs. it recurs. But if you can stop that anywhere along the line, then you are bettering society in a very, very, substantial and permanent way, and I want to eradicate generational Foster Care.

There’s such a thing as also, generational trauma. They’re often intertwined. They’re often related. There’s violence in the home. The kids are traumatized. They grow up. They continue to be traumatized, and then they traumatize others. I’m oversimplifying it, but I think you probably understand.

[00:09:04] Suzanne F. Stevens: Soon as you mentioned, foster care is reoccurring from generation to generation. I couldn’t help but think violence in the home. That’s exactly where I went because that’s also generational. And if you don’t stop it, it reoccurs. So, I’m glad you brought that back.

There’s so many things I find really interesting about what you said. I’m going to go back to go forward. The first is your connection to youth and how you. Then saw an opportunity that somebody introduced you to, you didn’t actually seek it out, but it seemed like a natural fit for you because you were already connected to youth.

 I call this your sort of compassion-connection™. Everyone has something that they’re naturally drawn to. And when you then hear an opportunity, it’s like you latched onto it. When you’re interviewing people on your podcast, are they mostly youth or who are those people and what kind of stories get shared on your podcast?

[00:10:04] Jayne Larson: I just want to add one other thing and then I’ll answer your question. The interesting thing about my role with youth is that I actually come from a family of 10 children and I’m at the bottom end. I’m the baby girl. I have a baby brother, but he acts older than me. He’s kind of like a bully. I’ve come from 10 children, but I’ve never had any children.

Now I know that part of that is probably related to the fact that I had a very tumultuous childhood. Nobody was in foster care, but we could have been. I. There was stuff that happened. And I talk about that on the podcast, and I think that is what essentially drew me to looking after kids because they are the most vulnerable.

I remember being a little girl and thinking, who is out here to help me? And all you need is one caring adult to say, I’m listening. I see you. I hear you. I’m going to make something good happen in your life. So just to go back to who I’m speaking with, in the same way that a CASA works, I try to give a 360 view of what’s happening in the foster care system.

The CASA acts as the hub of information for youth. She’s the only one, or he is the only one talking to everyone involved in that youth’s care. We’re talking to the judge, we’re talking to the attorney, we’re talking to social worker, teacher, the therapist, the schools, everybody. We’re talking to everybody.

They’re often not talking to each other. They don’t even know who the, who else is in the kid’s life because they’re doing their job related to what they are assigned to do. CASA acts as the hub of information and grabs everything and brings it together and say, okay, this is what is going on with the kid.

So I made a point when I thought about what is this podcast going to be? I’m going to talk to everybody. I. I’m going to talk to everybody, including the youth. Now, I don’t have any youth yet under 18. I’ve been a little bit careful about that. But that’s probably in in the horizon because I do know caregivers, who have said we’d like to have our kid on the show.

In general, I talk to youth with a lived foster care experience, any anybody, 18 plus. And then also anybody involved in foster care, either who have worked for the kids or cared for the kids. And what’s interesting about that too is that you hear from the kids what happened to them. And then you hear from other people who have a role in the Foster Care system and you see that actually their intentions are often very, very good.

But that’s not always what happens. Stuff gets, lost destroyed, it gets disconnected. And I think that’s probably largely in part due to the fact that there are so many kids in care and not enough people paying attention to what’s

[00:12:55] Suzanne F. Stevens: Let’s dive in there. What are some of the key concerns of Foster Care that you’re observing, particularly through your podcast?

[00:13:03] Jayne Larson: okay, the obvious one is going to be. What one kid says, it’s the foster care business. It’s a moneymaking business for many of the caregivers who are looking after kids, which is not to say all of them are bad, or all of them are doing it for the money. That is absolutely not true. But there are many people who were doing it for the money and they’re getting paid really, really well to do it.

And that money is often not reflected in how that child is cared for. And that is just abominable. It is inexcusable. And those people should be taken out of the system. I cannot tell you how many kids have told me, “oh yeah, we didn’t have anything to eat. They locked the refrigerators at night. All the cupboards were locked.

We only had one meal a day.” And these are, they, these are kids who, whose foster parents are being paid to take care of them. Who have a clothing allowance, who have a food allowance, who have an allowance for other things that they need in their life, and the kids never get them.

That’s one of the huge problems. One of the other problems is that, we don’t have enough support for families in need. If we could address the problem at the root, which is what’s happening in the family, that That means they are failing the kids. If we can address that, if we can get earlier to that and say, okay, that mom, she’s a single mom, she’s got three jobs.

She’s trying to support her kids, but they are home alone. I. Sometimes that means they get into trouble or something happens. The mom gets called in, they say, why aren’t you home? Well, she’s working three jobs. She’s working three jobs to try to take care of these kids on her own. The system doesn’t support her.

They will remove those kids from the home and pay someone else a stranger to take care of the kids, and they don’t help the mom. And that’s just crazy to me, just crazy. Now, I’m not saying I have the solution, I really don’t. I really absolutely don’t. But I think the more we pay attention to it and figure out, okay, what is working?

How can we keep, how can we keep the family intact, keep the kids at home? Because by the way, the kids always want to be with the people who they know and love, you know, they want to be there. Even if the mom has a drug problem. Even if the dad beats them. Even if there’s been sexual abuse with siblings. The kids want to be in a home with the people who they know and love.

[00:15:40] Suzanne F. Stevens: So how does your podcast, facilitate that opportunity? In reading and preparing for this interview, one the things I read is that, Bonus Babies, as an opportunity to prevent children from entering the foster care system in the first place.

So how can you see the podcast being pinnacle in assisting with that process?

[00:16:03] Jayne Larson: I feel that the more awareness that is paid attention to what’s happening to kids in care, then better changes quicker and better changes will be made. And I just want to also add one thing related to I, When I was choosing a name for the podcast, I was very careful. It’s very difficult because even now, I don’t like to say foster kid, foster youth.

You don’t say divorce kid. You don’t say kid with a dead dad, right? But you say foster kid. And with that becomes a stigma of problem child. A kid that’s going to get into trouble. Kids that’s going to get into jail. kid that you don’t want in your house. because something’s going to happen. And actually, the truth is most of those kids are just kids whose families have failed them and they have no one to help them.

So, they end up in Foster Care. My very first guest on the show, her name is Ms. Dory Woods, and she is a wonderful foster parent. She’s fostered over 30 kids in the past 25 years. And she calls her kids, bonus babies. She doesn’t call ’em her foster kids. She calls them bonus babies. And that’s how she says it.

So, I said to her, can I use that name? I would really love to use that name. And she said, of course. And that’s what I named the podcast. And that is what the book will be. And the important part of that is eradicating the stigma that is attached to foster care. I do believe as well related to your question, that the more attention we pay to the families in need to keep the families intact, the less kids will be in foster care. And the less, billions and billions of dollars in this country, by the way, 300 billion a year, I think some crazy number like that, the le the less kids will be in

As I said, keeping them out of foster care by creating awareness of what happened to that kid, not what’s wrong with that kid? Why is that kid acting out? Why is he in trouble? Why is that mom in trouble? But what is happening in that house? We can address to take care of those kids and that mom and that dad, and that granny who’s taking care of the kids to keep the kids out of the system.

[00:18:32] Suzanne F. Stevens: I love what you’re saying is really the podcast is helping with the stigma and in changing by having that conversation with many of the kids and the other players. You start hearing from the child’s perspective of their experiences that they’re human beings at the end of the day, and that they crave the same things everybody, other human and child and youth actually craves.

And if we could see them that way. It’s like any label, not a fan of labels. Period. And labeling, can be very detrimental and traumatizing for kids. So I do love the Bonus Babies is such a benefit. I love that you’ve called it that for that reason. So, thanks for sharing that. Human trafficking is also something that is a devastation in our society. And something I personally feel is not talked about enough. I don’t think people realize that slavery is worse now than in any point in history because of human trafficking. And it’s my understanding that, human trafficking foster kids find themselves often vulnerable in that situation. Can you share with little bit about that?

[00:19:56] Jayne Larson: Absolutely. Unfortunately, youth in care youth in foster care are a very vulnerable population to trafficking. And by the way, it’s not happening by strangers. It’s not because they’re snatch in a mall. Although that does happen, and there’s a very big movie here now called The Sound of Freedom, which addresses that.

What actually mostly happens is kids, young girls and young boys sometimes, are trafficked by their own families or by a member of their family, or by a close friend or by a neighbor because that neighbor wants to make money off of them. And also, because that kid wants attention and love and even happens, particularly it happens in group homes.

Say there’s a home for teenage girls. These girls have not been able to find any kind of permanent placement in a regular foster home. So, they’re all living together. A young girl comes in, she sees some of the girls have phones and new hair and great dresses and great fingernails, and the girls say, you know, you can have all the stuff that I have.

You just have to meet my friend. And that friend turns out to be the groomer. Who then traffics that girl. And that girl is a never ending stream of money. When you do drugs. When you sell drugs, the drugs, they’re gone. You know, say it’s, if it’s cocaine, you snort it, it’s gone. But actually, Trafficked kids are an endless supply of money.

And foster youth a particularly vulnerable population for that. Exactly. Because what we have just talked about, because they want love, they want acceptance, they want to be acknowledged, they want attention. And if it means that it’s going to come from a guy that says, okay, I’m going to pay attention to you and love you.

Just have to do this six times a day and then come home with 600 bucks and I’ll love you. And that’s what’s happening. That is what’s happening right now all over the country, as well as all over the world as you pointed out.

[00:22:08] Suzanne F. Stevens: It’s devastating. I look to some work I was doing in Kenya and they don’t have Foster Care programs and, they have homes for young babies and it’s a money maker, and they’re encouraging more foster programs, and yet foster programs don’t seem to be working either.

So, at the end of the day, it’s, as they say, go upstream. Where’s the problem actually happening? What can we do to fix the problem to avoid people getting into foster care in the first place. So, I’m curious, do you in any way have a call to action with your podcast that addresses the foster care system, or even more specifically to avoid or circumvent children from getting into the foster care system?

[00:23:00] Jayne Larson: That’s something that I have been wrestling with exactly how to put that out in the world. The way this grew organically was I wanted to create awareness and then I would start getting feedback my listeners saying, you know, I heard that episode and you know I really want to become a CASA.

I didn’t even realize there was such a role. Or I hear people saying, I want to be a foster parent because I think I can do it. I know it’s not right for a lot of people, but I think I can do it. Or I hear things like, my sister has kids who I think are in trouble, and I don’t want them to go into foster care, so I’m going to figure out a way that I can help her to try to prevent that. I’ve actually heard that. So that’s really what’s happening with my podcast now. It’s getting into people’s homes and their hearts, their ears and their hearts and saying, what can I do myself in order to make this situation a little bit better? And I’m glad you’re asking me this question now because it’s always is.

When you are working to create social impact, you constantly have to revaluate, what am I doing? How am I doing it? How can I do it better? Right? You, probably talk about this all the time. And this reminds me, I really want to start thinking about how I can say on the podcast, you can do this now by calling this number, by doing this, by talking to that person, by getting involved by when you see that kid who’s scared with bruises on him, find out what’s going on at home, be that person that says that so that he can trust just so that he can say, I don’t want to go home because my mom’s boyfriend is beating me.

You want to be that person who that kid can talk to so that you can do something about it.

[00:25:09] Suzanne F. Stevens: Thanks for that and I strongly encourage you to do that and I also just food for thought is. Being that what your mandate is to really avoid foster care. At the end of the day, going far enough upstream is actually connecting yourself with, an opportunity far upstream. So be it if somebody doesn’t know what to do, perhaps be, donate, volunteer awareness of this opportunity could be a great fit, for.

Beyond the awareness, the consciousness piece, so just food for thought.

[00:25:44] Jayne Larson: Yeah, absolutely. I do appreciate that. There many programs and including mine that need support in order to continue the work that we’re doing, and to have more impact to reach even more people. My podcast is now, I believe, in 66 countries in 1300 cities. And I always make the joke saying, and they’re not all my friends are listening. There are people out there who care about these things and I’m so happy that do.

Well done you. because it’s only been a few years then, so that’s great.

Let’s hit the pause button for a quick breather. And some words from our sponsors

Let’s dive back in.

[00:26:25] Suzanne F. Stevens: Why is this conversation really important now?

I’m not sure if this is true in Canada. I suspect there, there are some some of this going on, but in the United States the number of kids in care is greater than ever, number one, because of Covid. Number two, because of the opioid crisis and everywhere, there is no community that is untouched.

It is in the back hills of Tennessee, the farms of Nebraska, the mountains of Vermont. It is all over. The opioid epidemic is all over, and that has resulted in an astronomical amount of kids care because their parents cannot take care of And I think the reason why this is important, this is so important right Very well said, and a hundred percent that would be the case in Canada. the opioid crisis is off the charts. It’s and yes, COVID, that makes complete sense why it’s now more than ever. Now moving to sustainability because you do have so many other things going on. Do you have an income strategy to sustain.

[00:27:35] Jayne Larson: Now I know Bonus Babies, it is a non-for-profit. Is it registered as a not-for-profit? Okay. (I need to get name of fiscal sponsor) Yeah. Yeah. I’m a.org. I actually have a fiscal sponsor, IFERS.org Institute for Education, Research and Scholarship. And they’re terrific. So, they handle the admin stuff of it, and I am a non-profit. I’m sorry I interrupted you. I think your question is, so how do I hope to continue going?

[00:28:01] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yeah, because sustainability is always important for a nonprofit, but at the same time, As I mentioned to you when I reached out, I interview people that are IMPACTpreneurs. So, you’ve got your own businesses and this you started this nonprofit becasue this is your labor of love.

Sometimes when you have those conflicting priorities, one, the non-for-profit doesn’t get the attention, that often is the case. So is there any plans in place that you have now or in the future to ensure that you’re always able to deliver on your non-for-profit opportunities and obligations?

[00:28:40] Jayne Larson: As I said at the beginning, this, I realize being a CASA is probably is the most important thing I’ve done and maybe will do, and now this podcast is directly related to that, as well as my social activism. It’s all related to that. But being in the entertainment business and as a writer and as a producer, and as a creator,

my world, my exposure to foster care and to kids in care is informing everything I So, For instance, my partner and I have a slate of projects that we’re developing, and in all of them I. Is a story related to foster care and it’s feeding right into it. So, even if it’s not, maybe it’s going to be a TV show, but actually the hero is a former foster youth who has who,

who has overcome incredible obstacles and who has succeeding in life because he had the resilience and the help, by the way, in order to surmount terrible, terrible So my activism is feeding my creative life and also it’s also informing the way I’m looking at things. So, I’ll give you the really excellent, weird example.

A lot of the people who I am working with and with who, whose work has influenced me talk about changing the narrative for foster youth, changing the narrative in media for foster youth. But interestingly enough, if you look at any of the great superheroes, almost all of them, had a lived foster care experience.

Their orphans. They grew up with their grandparents. Their auntie raised them. They grew up in an orphanage. So, we’re talking about Superman, spider-Man, guardians of the Galaxy, all of them. They’re all kids with the lived foster care experience. And those are all stories and characters in our living rooms all over the world that are entertaining people and moving people. It’s all part I mean, even Batman, he’s raised by Alfred, parents. He was raised by the Butler. and I just love that part of It already exists out there, but I’m tapping into it to say the work that I’m doing, is ever present, and it will always be important because stories of people with a lived foster care experience lives in our hearts and our minds in our imagination already. I’m just putting a more pointed view on it by the authentic stories of people who have been in care. In terms of say the fundraising, right?

It’s always, nobody likes to ask for money, right? But amazingly enough, I have people that come to me who after hearing the podcast or hearing a story say, I want this to continue and I’m going to support you. I’m going to underwrite you right now with this contribution. Now, sometimes they’re small, sometimes they’re large, sometimes they’re great.

And, that’s what’s keeping me going. But what is really keeping me going is the stories of the kids that I’m telling. the people who I’m allowing to share or supporting to share their stories on the podcast, that’s what actually feeds me. That’s what’s making it sustainable.

I feel like I have a higher purpose now, much larger than even doing a voiceover for a cartoon or doing a TV show as an actor or a producer. I’m doing something much more important. I’m possibly changing the life of a kid for the better. One kid at a time, one story at a time. and continues and continues.

[00:32:24] Suzanne F. Stevens: There is no doubt in my heart and in listening to you have a lot of meaning, and that’s the motivation. And it’s so important to, to find that. Being an advocate of sustainability though, and this is where sometimes people get caught, is you may be passionate about something and it gives you so much fulfillment, but it can’t be sustained.

And then you lose that meaning. So, two things that, that I heard from you that I love, one that people want to donate to you. And because you’re non-for-profit, you can accept that. The other is the circular effect, which I like to call it, where one thing’s, feeding the other. So, your insight, your advocacy and your insight with your interviews are then going into your TV programming and cetera, et cetera, and everything comes together, so it’s very holistic. Which is the Shangri la in, in my opinion, of having a purposeful life that creates meaning is when it is very holistic and one thing feeds into the other. Feeds into the other. So that’s brilliant. And something that I encourage our audience is to try to find that holistic approach to contribution so it can be sustained so that one day.

[00:33:38] Jayne Larson: with actors out right now and writers out right now and everything going on, still get food on the table. Yeah. I think also sometimes it’s actually paying attention to what is happening right in front of you actually helps you move forward. And I’ll give you an example. That that partner who I talked about who started volunteering at Peace for Kids in Los Angeles every Saturday with youth care.

He’s a retired CIA operative and he worked undercover for 28 years, and he worked for 32 years in the intelligence community. And that’s the person who I’m now volunteering with at Peace for Kids who has helped me become a CASA and whose shows and whose stories we are developing into TV and film. I just pay attention to it. That’s it.

[00:34:30] Suzanne F. Stevens: Thank you for sharing that. Because collaboration is such an important part of that sustainability. And it’s who around me can I ask or can offer? Like often we don’t look the people that are sitting right in front of us and they’re just waiting for us to ask them to contribute. And often we don’t because we don’t to impose ourselves on them.

Curious, did he offer or did you ask him?

[00:35:06] Jayne Larson: You mean for the TV shows, for the film work and for the story work? A combination of things. When we were first together, he was still working for the CIA, so I learned something from him to say, oh, can I use that in a story? I, can I use that? Can I, what if I change all the names?

What about if I put it in a different country? Could I use that? And he would say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And then he retired

and then I said, so can we maybe use some of it now? Maybe just your life experience to help us build stories. So, then he and I started to say, yeah, maybe we can do this.

Maybe we can. Yeah, we can actually, we definitely can do this. And my background and his background very very different, obviously, but we’ve combined them to build a foundation of storytelling that we could never do independent of each other.

[00:35:54] Suzanne F. Stevens:

Do you have a couple recommendations when you’re looking for a collaborator? What to look for?

[00:35:58] Jayne Larson: Whatever collaboration you have needs to be built on a foundation of trust and integrity, and you need to be, you need to have matching values. I. I wouldn’t be working with someone who said, you know what? Let’s just make a lot of money. Let’s just make some shows and make a lot of money.

No, I’m with a person who wants to tell stories about foster care as much as I do. He has the same values and I trust that he will want to execute them in a way that has, that is poignant and heartfelt and true and moving and also compelling and entertaining, and I. possibly, hopefully very commercial.

So, I think that’s the most important thing, is finding somebody to collaborate with who you truly trust, but also finding someone to collaborate with who brings as much to the table as you do. I can’t tell you the number of times people have said to me, I would love to work with you. I would really love to work with YouMeWe.

Seem to get a lot done. You have a lot of ideas and you’re very proactive and very productive. And in my head I’m saying, yeah, but I don’t want to work with YouMeWe. Because I don’t think it’s going to be an equal partnership.

Stop.

You really have to find somebody who’s going to bring as much to the table as you do that has as much work ethic as you do. When I first started the podcast, like most people, maybe not you, but I was immediately overwhelmed with, even though I’d done a lot of homework and I did a lot of prep and I had all the right stuff, and I had the plan and everything was moving forward, I, it was still overwhelming.

It’s much, so much work. And all on your own. So and even though I had an, I had a talented engineer, I mean, still it was all in my head coming outta me. Finding everything. And I called a friend of mine who is also in the entertainment business, who I had done a film with a while back, who is in sound.

He’s also a sound designer, really talented actor, and a sound designer and a producer. His name is Jake Eberle. And I said, Hey Jake, I’m doing this thing. maybe could you help? I, can I talk about it and see if it is something you might respond to? As soon as I showed him what I was doing, as soon as heard, he said, I’m in.

I’m in. will, I will do it with you. And now he’s my producer without him, I could not be doing the podcast. He’s doing as much work as I am. He is as actively invested in it as I am. His heart is as big as mine and I a really good critical ear and eye. And that’s also important part of it. As you know, you need to work with people who tell you the truth.

It could be their opinion, but they need to tell you the truth and not be afraid to tell you what you don’t want to hear. So often I’ll say, you know, Jake, I’m not really pleased about that. I don’t think it really works, and you’ll say, no, it’s fine. Leave it, move on. And I have to say, okay. Okay. Yep. I’m going to move on.

[00:39:02] Suzanne F. Stevens: Is there any challenge, what are, any challenges or hurdles to sustaining your social impact that you’ve had?

Is there any recommendation for how you overcame it?

[00:39:16] Jayne Larson: I’m doing it ongoing. It’s an ongoing thing. It never stops. Oddly enough, it’s really social media. That is a little overwhelming to me. I’m just not that interested in it. And you have to use social media to get your word out. And if you don’t, you’re crazy. You just, you, if you’re not doing that, you’re not doing a good job. So, in my dream of dreams, I would have a couple talented interns that wanted to do social media all day and did all my social media. And that’s not happening. I do have a gal that is doing it in part, but that’s a, been a huge challenge to me, and I have forced myself to pay attention to it.

[00:39:58] Jayne Larson: You cannot say, I’m going to ignore that because I don’t like it. You just can’t do that. You, that’s, that itself is not sustainable. It’s like putting your head in the sand. The reality is most people, especially for podcasting, they’re sharing things via social media. We’re on LinkedIn now, it’s, that is social media now.

It’s a very professional and grownup social media, but that’s what it is. So you have to, you really have to embrace it, get over it. YouMeWe know, get over yourself and, and do it as best that you can and get a support system to help you to do if it’s not immediately comfortable for you.

I will tell you that part of the reason why I’m not on social media as much maybe a lot of people is because I, my book, the Saudis, I really couldn’t be on social media. I really couldn’t. I didn’t have my real name. I didn’t have any way to reach me. Now that is abated in in large part.

That’s how that started. everybody. I was behind in Facebook. I was behind in, in Twitter. behind. behind. And playing catch up is is very difficult, but like you probably, we’re pretty good at catch up, I, I’ve been working on that. So just keep on working. That’s my advice.

[00:41:06] Jayne Larson: Keep on doing it, keep on doing it, keep on doing it, keep on doing

[00:41:10] Suzanne F. Stevens: So, what is next for you in regards to your social initiative?

[00:41:14] Jayne Larson: The truth is it’s, I’d like to get to two policymakers and I want to figure out a way to do that. As I said in the beginning, there’s a lot of well-intentioned people and I a lot of people trying to make a big difference in the system, but it’s slow going. And once something is fixed, then often something else needs to be fixed. And policy can be changed nationwide, then that really puts change in place.

And a perfect example is Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, just announced that state education, the state schools in California will be free for all foster care. That is huge. That is just huge because there’s one guest on my program, her name is Jacqueline. She actually tracks you how difficult it was for her to get her education.

It was jumping through hoop after hoop. How pay for. for that, how to that scholarship. Oh, it’s not coming through until May. I already turned 18. I’m going to age out. Oh, and but you know, that foundation will give me this money only if I do this. It was one thing after another, one thing after another.

And now she’s going to have, or she would, if she had to go through it again, she’s going to have her college education paid for. That’s policy change. That is so important for all those kids in care. So that’s, I’m thinking right now is how can get to that? How can I make that happen?

[00:42:48] Suzanne F. Stevens: Well start getting them on your podcast. That would be a great place. Okay.

Yep.

Fabulous. That’s where I’ve been able to get, people in government on the podcast. People can be pretty receptive. So we’re going to dive in with our 10 and five.

And if it can make it less than five minutes, that’d be great. It’s 10 quick questions. You have five minutes to answer all 10 questions. There’s no right, there’s no wrong. This is just to get to know you better and, we’ll move forward in.

[00:43:17] Jayne Larson: I am a Scorpio.

[00:43:20] Suzanne F. Stevens: do not ask your sign. All right, so we’ll dive in. What is the one thing you wish you knew prior to engaging down this contribution path of Bonus Babies?

The one thing I wish I knew was how hard it is to hear the stories of the youth. It’s really, really hard I wasn’t prepared for it. I’d already heard a lot of stories of trauma and abuse, I, I just wasn’t prepared for the, how much it rocks me, and I don’t know what I could’ve done to prepare myself better.

I really don’t know because I’m a human being, but I wish I’d, I wish I’d steeled myself a little bit better because there have been rough rough nights.

I have so much we could talk on that, and that’s why I do this as a short segment, because that alone is a great conversation from a mental health standpoint and people that do what we do, that it can weigh us down. What is the worst piece of advice you ever received?

[00:44:27] Jayne Larson: Wow, that’s a really good question because I’ve had so much really bad advice that I’ve completely ignored. Yeah, I would say, this is not exactly advice, but when people say, you know what? Aren’t you a little too old for that? Or Aren’t you a little, it’s not, not really up your alley, or do you feel like that’s really right for you?

I don’t, maybe it’s not all those kinds of, those suggestions slash advice, they’re all bad. You know what, just shut up. I don’t wanna hear that stuff.

I don’t wanna hear

What

[00:44:59] Suzanne F. Stevens: is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Live your dream. If you don’t, you’ll regret it. Live your dream and put a lot of energy into that. Allow it to bloom. Allow it to prosper. Allow it to grow. Put your energy in that.

 That’s a really good piece of advice. What is the one piece of advice you would give to an entrepreneur who wants to have a social impact?

By

[00:45:28] Jayne Larson: engaging in something important, something that has social impact, something that’s going to change the world for the better. It makes you better. It makes your life better. It makes everything better. It makes, it gives your life meaning. it gives you a reason to wake up in the morning more than just money or advancement or power or anything.

It gives you so much more than you will ever give it.

[00:45:56] Suzanne F. Stevens: And although you have two collaborators, do you have one recommendation to create a culture of contribution in a small business, for example? Do you have any thoughts on that?

[00:46:09] Jayne Larson: I do, I would say that you have to hold yourself accountable to the same standards that you hope for other people. and this goes back to what I referenced before, which is work with people who you know that are going to do as much work as you. But that also means that you need to be the person that shows up.

You as the leader, need to be the person that makes the deadline, that shows up, that does what they say they’re going to do, and does it even better than you hoped. You need to be that person always, and that’s how you build a team, a network of people who want to support you or support what you’re doing.

It’s Because you’ve inspired them by your very actions, not just your intent to do good, but your actions and the way that you fulfill those dreams. That is what inspires people. builds, it builds support systems. It builds networks, builds a foundation. It builds all the stuff that everything else can grow up from.

Great. Thank

[00:47:06] Suzanne F. Stevens: you. What’s the one thing you had to do that made you uncomfortable, but if you did not do it, you would not have the desired impact or in your social initiative? I. So you’ve achieved a lot of success, and I think you said 66 countries are being listened to. What’s something that you had to do that made you uncomfortable?

But if you didn’t do it, you wouldn’t have 66 countries, listening to your podcast?

[00:47:34] Jayne Larson: I don’t normally share this except actually with my guests on the podcast, and that is that I am a stutterer and I am. I am a stutterer. I stutter. I stutter all the time. I used to stutter so much when I was a little girl that I would rather faint than speak. And that translated into me being an actor and doing voiceovers and doing a podcast, which is sometimes extremely difficult because I’m a stutterer.

Especially if I am a little bit tired or confused or not sure about something, then I will always stutter. I just did a podcast called Proud Stutterer, or rather, it’s called Proud Stutter uh, I think it’ll be a, in a month or so. It’s terrific podcast by a stutterer. And I learned that I’m what’s called a covert stutterer, that because most people don’t know that I stutter, I’m a covert stutterer. So that has been one of the hardest things that I’m in front of a mic and it, by the way, it’s just me and the guest, but it doesn’t matter. I’m in front of the mic, just like what we’re doing now, and I’m always on the cusp of a stutter. Trying not to make a sound that makes everybody else uncomfortable.

thank you for

[00:48:55] Suzanne F. Stevens: sharing with us and it’s a, it is just a great example of you push through and I haven’t noticed any stuttering at all. now, who is the greatest female influence in your life? And why?

[00:49:11] Jayne Larson: Okay, now I really can’t answer I, I cannot because I have, I come from a family of 10 I’m sorry. I have four sisters, four older sisters. I in. My family has five girls and five boys. I would say my four sisters who raised me are. The most important people in my life and my mother, who is dynamic.

She was an Italian war bride, came to this country at 18, had 10 kids and then put herself through college and graduate school, and became a practicing psychotherapist and has had a, now her practice with 35 years. She’s 95 years old. So she’s, she, and then she raised all these terrific women. My, my four sisters,uh, they sang me to sleep.

They changed my diapers. They helped me confront my fears. They helped me confront my fears about stuttering. They supported my art, always. was, I was the child doing the thing that’s different. They always supported me I adore them for it.

[00:50:13] Suzanne F. Stevens: What three values do you live by?

[00:50:15] Jayne Larson: Put your money where your mouth is.

[00:50:18] Suzanne F. Stevens: I’m going to leave you there ‘because I think that’s just perfect. Besides yours, which beneficiary do you think needs the most investment of time, research, and money besides yours?

[00:50:35] Jayne Larson: The children are our future, and we need to invest in the children who, in any country, whether it’s here in Kenya, in Canada, we need to invest, put all the resources into the children of our societies because they’re our future. Truly. And I say this,I I don’t have any kids, but that those are my kids, that they’re all our kids.

[00:51:01] Suzanne F. Stevens: Okay, thank you. So where can people connect with you, Jane? They, where can they follow you even though we don’t want to be on social media?

so

[00:51:10] Jayne Larson: You can go to bonusbabies.org. That’s my website. I also have a page on LinkedIn, the Bonus Babies Podcast. At Twitter there is Bonus Babies Pod Facebook. Bonus Babies Podcast. It’s all bonus babies all If you just put in bonus Babies and the podcast will come up after the baseball players that were the bonus the the real, I mean not the real, but first Bonus Babies. Otherwise, you can just put in Bonus Babies Podcast and you’ll find

Fabulous. Thank you. So we’re going to give you the final word. Do you have any words of wisdom for your, for our audience regarding making a conscious contribution and a social impact? I would say if you’re not doing it, why not? Why not? Just do it. Get in there. Get your hands dirty. Do it. It’s worth it. It’s so worth it. So that’s my advice. Just what are you waiting thank you. Thank you, Jane. Let’s do it. I think, that branding’s already been taken, but nonetheless, thank you for sharing your insight, inspiration and social impact with us today. And to discover more podcasts with sheIMPACTentrepreneurs, transforming where we live and work with sustainable social solutions.

Please visit YouMeWe podcast at podcast dot YouMeWe dot ca, and each guest has a page where you can read about Jane’s bio, but you also can read the transcript. You can watch the video and you can listen to the podcast, but you. Also can listen to the podcast where all your favorite podcasts are, including Spreaker.

So please, share and review, would be great. When, and subscribe and tell us who you would like us to interview. I’m always looking for good conversations with people like Jane that are creating a business, but at the same time making room for social initiatives. So please do let us know who that is.

And until next time, I’m Suzanne F Stevens and I encourage you to make your contribution count for You. Me, We,

To read about changemaker international, check out Suzanne’s book Make Your Contribution Count for you, me, we. 

Visit bio for resources.