Heidi Siefkas, TEDx Speaker and Host of the Look Up Mindset Podcast Showcasing True Stories of Resilience, Life Transformation, and Adventure
Heidi Siefkas is an author, TEDx speaker, podcaster, and adventurer. Originally from the La Crosse, Wisconsin area, she now calls Nashville, Tennessee, home. She has authored four books: When All Balls Drop, With New Eyes, Cubicle to Cuba, and Look Up—Global Stories of Resilience. Heidi has delivered TEDx Talks, including “Overcoming Obstacles and Evolving to Life 2.0” and “The Life Hack the Gurus Don’t Tell You About.” Also, she is host to the Look Up Mindset Podcast.
Share a pivotal moment in your life.
Throughout our lifetimes, we all make many crucial decisions that change the course of our lives. This life detour happened when I was in my early 30s. I was happily married. We owned a modern home in a nice neighborhood. I had a successful marketing and PR career in the travel industry. I had a loving and supportive community of friends, family, and colleagues. My life checked a lot of boxes. Things were seemingly good.
Then on a normal fall day in Hudson Valley, New York, I took out the trash and that changed my life. My plan was to take a walk around town and down to the river to witness the start of the fall color change. Before leaving the apartment, I grabbed the last night’s pizza box. I exited the building and turned the corner to the dumpster. That’s when my lights went out.
The next thing I remember was waking up in the ICU of the local trauma hospital five days later in a neck brace. Several doctors put the pieces of my puzzle together for me, explaining that I was very lucky to be alive. As I threw away the pizza box, a thousand-pound tree limb clobbered me, falling from nearly forty feet in the air. That limb broke my C7 vertebrae and left me unconscious. A good Samaritan called the paramedics, who transported me to the hospital. There I underwent neurosurgery with an uncertain prognosis. Only time would tell.
What the doctors didn’t know, nor did any of my friends, I had learned the evening before that my husband was living a double life with a younger woman and was planning on leaving me. If the accident wasn’t enough plus infidelity, that high-powered career forced me to resign. So, in one fell swoop, I lost everything I held dear: my health, my marriage, and my career.
My former life came to a complete stop. I call this my when all balls drop moment. But, what I didn’t know at the time was that losing everything gave me an opportunity, a clean slate. I could choose to rebuild my former life or architect a new one. And, I decided on the latter. In designing this new life, I was going to ground myself in the lesson that the tree taught me—we have very little control in this life, but we can harness the power of perspective. From my forced pause on life, I created the Look Up Mindset, which reminds us all that we have two superpowers, the ability to be in the moment and to find the upside. The Look Up Mindset has guided my life since 2009. It is also the throughline of all of my books as well as the Look Up Mindset podcast.
In your mid-forties another curveball struck. Tell us about your devastating loss.
Press fast forward to my mid-forties, I had changed careers to be more aligned with my storytelling craft as well as my thirst for adventure and travel. I had found love again. This time the love was my soulmate, someone who really saw me and inspired me to be the best version of myself. His name was Brian Treptow. I met him on a helicopter flight lesson. He was my instructor. That intro flight was our first date, and we were together for twelve years. We lived in places most people only dream of visiting: Florida, Alaska, and several Hawaiian Islands. In 2022, we were both living on Maui. He was a medevac pilot and I was working remotely as a lead storyteller for a business aviation company on the Mainland. It was mid-December and his first night shift of his hitch. He had a mission to fly to the Big Island to transport a critical patient to Honolulu. That evening, his plane encountered bad weather and was instructed by the air traffic controller to fly an alternate course. It was a perfect storm of weather, night flying, and avionics failure. As a result, Brian’s plane went down into the Pacific Ocean. He and two other crew members passed that evening upon impact. The plane and three crew were found many weeks later after a very aggressive recovery mission.
This impact was worse than the tree. This loss dropped me to my knees. I had panic attacks. I didn’t know how to continue. The life that we had planned was gone. Everything in the house, on the island, and more reminded me of the loss. I needed to once again repair my life like I was a triage doctor. I took a leave of absence from my position. I began liquidating possessions in preparation for moving back to the Mainland. I selected Nashville, Tennessee because Brian and I had been caregiving for my father in Maui. After Brian’s passing, I needed to make the next move where I would have support for him and my continued caregiving. We had family friends in Nashville who had known my father for fifty years and me, my entire life. With my community of friends and family, we moved with two suitcases a piece with the rest of our belongings on a cargo ship from Maui to Long Beach, California and then a long semi ride to Nashville. It took nearly a month for our belongings to arrive. It took nearly a year of intense therapy for me to start to forge a new life again.
Where do you draw your strength from?
After various hardships, I draw on the fact that I have done hard things before. Each and every time, I’ve leaned into the community for support and the power of perspective. From each of life’s challenges, I have evolved to a different version of myself. The tree taught me resilience. Brian showed me how powerful love is and that life is short. You must savor the moment.
How have you turned your wounds into wisdom?
I’ve done a lot of work to transform my wounds into wisdom. I’ve spent countless hours writing in journals and reflecting. I’ve also not done it all by myself. I’ve sought out the help of mental health professionals and mentors in my life who have overcome tremendous challenges and came out the other side, real-life sheroes, heroes, and badasses. The saying goes that time heals all wounds. I would say that is correct, but you still need to do the hard work.
Tell us about the Look Up Mindset Podcast.
The Look Up Mindset Podcast showcases true stories of resilience, life transformation, and adventure. It was inspired by my fourth book, Look Up—Global Stories of Resilience. For the book, I interviewed nearly thirty individuals from all walks of life who had triumphed over tragedy. Not even a week after I published the book, another incredible story crossed my desk, which demonstrated I wasn’t done. Instead of penning another book, I decided to share stories in podcast format. Season 1 were contributors from the book. Season 2 is a hybrid of new stories as well as some from the book. The commonalities of all the stories are their connection to the Look Up Mindset, which embraces being in the moment, finding the upside, and leaning into community.
Please share your most inspiring guests. Are you currently looking for guests?
I started my fourth book with an inspirational story of a family that survived the Maui fire of 2023. I was no longer living on Maui when I interviewed Pamela Reader about her family’s story for the book and the podcast. Her Season 1 episode is a heroic account of resilience of not only her family but the Lahaina community or as they say in Hawaii, ohana (family). My favorite Season 2 episode is a personal and professional connection from South Florida, Dr. MBK. It recounts her immigration from Russia as a young child with her family, being the translator for her parents in a new country, becoming a dermatologist, having three children, and then opening her own medical practice with a young family and during the pandemic.
Yes, I’m looking for unique individuals that are real-life sheroes, heroes, and badasses. You can submit your story along with its connection to the Look Up Mindset in writing via this form: https://forms.gle/fFNDbdasUWBhNCrv6
Tell us about your new book, Look Up which has been described as a movement.
Look Up—Global Stories of Resilience is a compilation of true stories of people from across the globe that have overcome tremendous challenges and have thrived despite them. The stories span from immigration and war to surviving cancer and losing loved ones. Some stories make you laugh, cry, or a bit of both. The throughline is everyone’s connection to the Look Up Mindset as well as they had help along the way. Nobody gets through this thing called life alone.
Although the idea to craft the book was sparked by my story, the goal of the book was to inspire others through multiple accounts that highlight our commonality as human beings. Regardless of language, gender, age, ethnicity, religion, or other, we all struggle. We can learn from others’ stories. Stories matter. Stories connect us.
Tell us about your TEDx talk.“Overcoming Obstacles and Evolving to Your Life 2.0.”
My TEDx talk is an impactful talk where I share my story about taking out the trash and losing everything. Then, I unveil a lifehack that the gurus don’t talk about. Although you could wait for a thousand-pound tree limb to hit you in order to change your life, you don’t have to learn from the School of Hard Knocks. I could tell you what this powerful lifehack is, but it’s probably best if you watch it yourself: https://youtu.be/VfjrI_fbGYg?si=-2rfE-jR9EpH6hDx
I have a line-up of speaking engagements across the United States this year and next. I specialize in how to build resiliency in life as well as for leaders. I use not only my personal life experiences, but also my resilience research to give listeners practical tools to respond to life’s curveballs and evolve when adversity strikes.https://heidisiefkas.com/speaking/
Website: https://heidisiefkas.com/
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-look-up-mindset/id1864978939
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1cJ0HoMJWFtYt7NWx0wxp8?si=7a366071b63e4885
Social media:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HeidiSiefkas
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heidisiefkas/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeidiNSiefkas
