Chavie and Abi start off discussing how important it is to be selective with friendships as adults in order to preserve emotional bandwidth for deeper relationships. Abi shares her experience moving between Chabad and non-Chabad schools and how she was always drawn to creativity from a young age, from tinkering with Barbie clothing and scarves to studying fashion in school. She talks about working in retail fashion, stepping back to raise her children, and later joining a children’s wear store in Toronto. There, she became involved in everything from buying and visual merchandising to sales and running the store’s social media. Chavie asks Abi to walk her through her approach to growing an Instagram presence, including her top tips for reels and the tension between being real online without sharing more than feels right. Chavie and Abi also share date night ideas and talk about navigating relationships with people who struggle with anxiety. Chavie closes out the conversation by asking Abi to share her ideal daily routine. Abi explains that her non-negotiable is starting the day without her phone and giving herself a quiet buffer before everything else begins.

Abi Radcliffe is a Canadian modest content creator. She enjoys sharing light and easygoing content that bring joy. You can find her sipping black coffee at work or fleeing the country to discover new places. She is a mother of three plus a cat that is definitely considered her fourth child. Abi loves sharing fashion finds and content that is happiness inducing.

Referenced On the Pod

• 11:08 Andrew Huberman’s podcast, The Huberman Lab
• 57:25 Abi Radcliffe's Fierce & Frum blog
• 1:00:29 Astrology episode on Totally Unexpected! with Mendel Zirkind
• 1:18:36 Sha’ar Habitachon - Gate of Trust by Rabbeinu Bachya ben Yosef ibn Paquda
• 2:05:09 Moishe & Chaya Chanin’s podcast, Undecided & Committed

Stay in touch with Abi @abiradcliffe_ on Instagram!

Stay in touch with Chavie!

@chaviebruk on Instagram

www.totallyunexpected.blog

Want to sponsor or dedicate an episode? Reach out to Chavie on Instagram or by email at chaviebruk@gmail.com.

This week, Chavie welcomes her lifelong bestie, Chevee Szokovski, to the pod. They start by rewinding the clock to their high school days in Chicago. Chevee shares that she never quite fit in with the popular cliques going back to grade school and that she often felt socially isolated in high school as well. Chavie and Chevee dive into what it’s like to forgive childhood bullies while still carrying the scars they left behind. They reminisce about their seminary days and what life was like living in an Israeli dorm. Chevee opens up about dating, marriage, and how she and her husband were primed to start a Chabad House, until her husband came to the realization that his values didn’t align with that life path. Chavie asks Chevee how she navigated this life-altering shift while maintaining her marriage. They also talk about Chevee’s work as an early childhood educator and her focus on normalizing the inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream classrooms. And of course, if Chavie's bestie and book club buddy is on the pod, you know there will be plenty of Brene Brown quotes to go around.

Chevee is a wife and mom of three, and has been best friends with Chavie Bruk for more than half their lives. She strives to live a values-driven life and is deeply passionate about education and inclusion. Chevee has been teaching for over 20 years and is a lifelong learner. She is the director of FCHS, a Hebrew school for children with special needs.

Referenced On the Pod

• 6:56 "Sorry I’m Late I Didn’t Want To Come" by Jessica Pan
• 1:11:48 "Call Me Back with Dan Senor" podcast
• 1:39:08 “Clear is Kind” - Brene Brown
• 1:40:15 "All I Needed To Know I Learned In Kindergarten" by Robert Fulghum
• 1:47:14 "What Happened To You" by Oprah Winfrey & Bruce D. Perry

Stay in touch with Chevee at cheveeh@gmail.com.

Stay in touch with Chavie!

@chaviebruk on Instagram

www.totallyunexpected.blog

This episode is dedicated it to Eli Schlanger and all the other beautiful souls who were murdered in Sydney, Australia. We keep in our hearts their families, for whom Chanukah is never going to be the same. As Jews, we are not strangers to holding pain and suffering and fear alongside joy and light and courage and strength. From the bottom of my heart, I wish everyone a happy, peaceful, and joyous Chanukah, and I ask that we keep in mind all the souls that lost their lives for being Jewish, and elevate them in our determination to not back down. Want to sponsor or dedicate an episode? Reach out to Chavie on Instagram or by email at chaviebruk@gmail.com.

Chavie and BrookeLynne dive into all things parenting in this episode. BrookeLynne shares how a Chicago girl like her ended up with a name like Brookelynne. She talks about excelling in grade school, then running into challenges in the magnet school she attended, and later in college, where she discovered that the standardized educational system wasn’t the best fit for her. Through it all, she still got a master’s in early childhood education. Chavie and BrookeLynne talk about normalizing parenting struggles and finding ways to address them without shame. They bond over hot takes, like: you can be a playful parent without having to constantly play with your kids; it’s ok to limit screens even on plane rides; and not every child will feel like their parent is “their person” — and that’s ok.

BrookeLynne Dukes is a parenting coach, early childhood educator and presenter. BrookeLynne gets parents and gets kids. She helps adults get clear on their role in a child’s life, how to decatastrophize, move out of urgency, how to understand brand new humans, and learn how to teach them the skills that don’t always come as naturally to them!

Referenced On the Pod

• 26:34 Ken Robinson - Do School’s Kill Creativity?
• 44:23 Hunt Gather Parent
• 1:33:20 Shoshana Bruk’s interview on Totally Unexpected!
• 1:39:10 Dr. Shefali on Conscious Parenting

Stay in touch with BrookeLynne!

• @brookelynnedukes on Instagram
• Brookelynnedukes@gmail.com
• WhatsApp Business: ‪+1 (312) 298‑9810‬

Stay in touch with Chavie!

@chaviebruk on Instagram

www.totallyunexpected.blog

Want to sponsor or dedicate an episode? Reach out to Chavie on Instagram or by email at chaviebruk@gmail.com.