London Calling: I had a fabulous week in London seeing family, surprising my Goddaughter at her hen/bachelorette weekend, speaking at Jubilee church and Courage Sisterhood Conference

Worth Watching: The TV tends to take more of a backseat for me during the summer months. However, I somehow made time for The Five Star Weekend, and took a step back in time to watch The New Edition Story. And now some of my previous favorites, Ted Lasso and Trying are back on Apple TV. All is well.

The Time of My Life:

A major highlight: I went to see Dirty Dancing: The Musical. I loved it! Dirty Dancing was more than the soundtrack of my teens; watching the film was like an ‘80’s teen girl’s rite of passage. I wasn’t the only one cheering loudly in the audience. The atmosphere in the Ordway Theater sparked and sparkled with people anticipating every line, every song, every key moment. I loved the nostalgia of it all. At one point during the show I shouted out “I AM SOOOOO 14 AGAIN!”

It was a fun night. Special shout out to my girl Ashley Lalonde in the cast: What a voice!

Women 4 Women

A huge part of my summer was Team World Vision’s Women 4 Women 24 hour relay event.What an incredible privilege it was for Team Ezer Collective to be involved.

24 hours.

Multiple 6k relays from sunrise to sunrise.

150 women.

$1.3 million raised and rising. Donations are still coming in and you can add yours here

10, 800 more women and girls have access to clean water.

Countless lives changed.

Families and Communities transformed.

Generational impact.

It’s still blowing my mind.

It’s been a smorgasbord of a Summer, and I’ll be enjoying a few more fun experiences before Autumn kicks in (Hello Minnesota State Fair!). But I’ve got two announcements as we look to September:

Ezer Collective : The September Deadline Giveaway!

As you know, Ezer Collective happens Nov 12-14 and that we’ve adopted a pay-what-you-can model. But what you didn’t know is that we’re launching a September Deadline Giveaway!

We’re hosting a drawing (UK:raffle) to give away some amazing prizes. The drawing is open to everyone who registers for Ezer Collective by the end of September. So if you’re already registered for Ezer, you’re already entered into the drawing. But if you’ve been thinking about Ezer and haven’t registered yet, do it now. You want to be in this drawing! We’ll be talking more about the September Deadline Giveaway in more detail on social media and here in the coming weeks. Watch this space!

A New Substack Series:

I’ve started working on a Substack series called My One Wild and Precious Mid Life, reflecting on life and leadership during mid life. I’ll be writing about things like...

Leadership and calling: Talking about what happens sometimes when you’re too old to be the ingènue and not quite old enough to be considered the sage. And we’ll take a look at the challenges of leadership in a world we don’t feel trained for.

Body Talk: An honest conversation about aging, and the messages that shape/haunt us. I want to reflect on stuff like supplements, GLP1’s, Botox, menopause and more, exploring how we authentically show up as leaders in it all .

Friendships and connecting with your people. And then anything else that comes to mind.

The series starts in September and will run until I run out of ideas.

That’s all for now friends. But over to you:

What did your summer smorgasbord look like?

What are you looking forward to in September?

Much love,

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The views expressed in this newsletter are solely those of the author, Jo Saxton, unless otherwise stated.

I consider Denise Lee Yohn a modern day Lydia, a leader serving at the intersection of faith and Work. She’s the co-founder of Bay Area Center for Faith Work and Tech (formerly called Faith & Work Journey) She’s a speaker, author and consultant who spent over 25 years working with Fortune 500 corporations and writing bestselling business books.Today, she also addresses more personal questions of faith and identity on her Substack Called to Be. Denise is a wonderful woman; a thoughtful, insightful, kind and generous friend.

This is a conversation from my vault of coaching videos .It’s an interview from 2023, but still so relevant!

Denise recently relocated to Denver, CO and I cannot wait to watch her latest chapter unfold.

In this conversation we unpack:

• Denise’s origin story - Her journey of understanding her corporate career as her God given calling

• Her transition from corporate life to starting her own business

• 3 key things behind Denise’s multi-hyphenate life

• Her regrets from her corporate days and how she leads people differently today

• Denise’s reflections on the church investing in women with careers

• Why she co-founded an organization to equip Christian leaders in Silicon Valley

• When Denise took a sabbatical, and what it revealed in her life and leadership.

Enjoy!

Here’s a snippet of our conversation, to watch the full version,
consider becoming a paid A Cup of Jo subscriber.

FOLLOW Denise Lee Yohn

SUBSTACK | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | LINKEDIN

FAITH , WORK AND TECH

TED X Talk - What Great Brands Do

Book Recommendations from the interview

The First 90 Days Michael D. Watkins

Take Care of Yourself Pablo Martinez

Full Conversation

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Sometimes I get a little austere and gritty in my walk with God . It’s about discipline, I tell myself as though I can reach some fresh level of holiness and meaning by doing and experiencing challenging spiritual practice. I don’t know that I expect God to love me more, but I wonder sometimes if he’ll like me more. Ever been there? No? Just me? Fine.

I’m handing today’s essay over to Stephanie Rousselle, who I met via a podcast interview a while back. She asks a question that quietly unsettles my austere approach and invites curiosity (a hunger, perhaps?) about something my faith may be missing. I wonder how these words will speak to you?

Read on readers,

I remember attending a service at my home church in Paris shortly after becoming a Christian. Most of the details have disappeared with time – like what the pastor preached, or the songs we used to worship. What remains with me is less concrete but, in many ways, more significant: I remember the people’s delight in God.

I could sense a quality about their faith that I couldn’t name. Their lives weren’t free from difficulty. Some were raising children. Others were navigating disappointments. They carried grief, or questions that had remained unanswered for years. Yet their relationship with God appeared to nourish them in a way that fascinated me.

Their faith didn’t seem thin, fragile, or sustained by willpower alone. There was substance to it, as though they’d discovered something about God that continued feeding them long after the church service ended, and ordinary life resumed.

I remember my Parisian church friends whenever I meet Christians who genuinely love God and sincerely desire to follow him, yet who find themselves spiritually weary. They aren’t rejecting God. They aren’t abandoning their faith. More often, they’re just tired. They continue praying, reading Scripture, serving others, and showing up faithfully. And yet, an indescribable hunger sometimes lingers beneath the resilient faithfulness.

Perhaps that is why Psalm 37:4 has become increasingly precious to me over the years: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

The wonder of this invitation increases every time I ponder it. Scripture often speaks about trusting God, obeying God, worshiping God, and loving God—and rightly so. Delight introduces a slightly different dimension. Delight assumes enjoyment, affection. It says that, of course, God is utterly worthy of our allegiance—but there’s more: he’s more than worthy of capturing our hearts.

As a French woman, I’ve always loved the word we use for delight: délice. In French, délice carries two English notions, encapsulated in this one word: délice is both delight and deliciousness. In French, the connection feels entirely natural. In French, God is both delightful, and delicious.

I suspect that’s one reason Psalm 34:8 has always felt particularly beautiful to me: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

There’s something wonderfully personal about that invitation. Tasting can’t be outsourced. We can listen to descriptions, study ingredients, and learn recipes. Yet eventually there comes a moment when explanation has carried us as far as it can, and experience must take over.

I sometimes wonder whether many of us spend years learning about God while experiencing relatively little of his goodness for ourselves. We know things that are true about him. We know he is loving. Faithful. Good. Near. Those truths matter profoundly. Yet Scripture repeatedly invites us beyond information into communion.

The purpose of knowing about God has always been knowing God.

The Christian life was never intended to be sustained by willpower alone. We can strengthen our discipline, establish good habits, and commit ourselves to spiritual growth. But ultimately, the heart is moved by what it finds enjoyable, beautiful, deligthful. Thomas Chalmers famously wrote about “the expulsive power of a new affection.” Lesser loves lose their grip when something better captures our attention.

The same is true in our relationship with God. Our hearts will respond when we encounter the beauty and delightfulness of Christ, when we discover afresh his kindness toward sinners, his patience with our weakness, and his faithfulness throughout every season of life. Delight grows, not because we’ve mastered a technique, but because we’ve become freshly captivated by Jesus.

This kind of delight doesn’t remove sorrow from our lives. Christians suffer, grieve, and wrestle with uncertainty just like everyone else. Delight in God isn’t a form of denial. Rather, it creates a deeper foundation beneath our circumstances. It reminds us that joy and sorrow can coexist because God’s presence remains steady when everything else feels uncertain.

I suspect this kind of delight in God is what many of us ache for. We yearn for a richer awareness of God within the life we already have.

The Christian story ends with delight. Scripture promises a future where God’s people dwell in his presence, see his face, and enjoy him forever. Delight is not a distraction from the Christian life. It’s one of its great themes, a foretaste of heaven itself.

And perhaps the invitation has been there all along, waiting for us to notice. Taste and see.

Come with an appetite.

About the author: Stephanie Rousselle is the author of Awaken Delight: satisfying your soul’s longing for God (IVP, 2026), sold at all the best bookstores. You can also find her on her top-ranking Gospel Spice Podcast, where she humbly seeks to inspire our generation to delight in God.

Awaken your delight in God today through a free digital devotional and the book at gospelspice.com/awakendelight

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The views expressed in this newsletter are solely those of the author, Jo Saxton, unless otherwise stated.

If there’s one thing you need to know about Louise is that she sees people. She has a curiosity paired with effervescence that means she has a big heart to welcome and genuine interest in your wellbeing. She sees women and the challenges and opportunities they experience in their leadership journeys, and she cares because she’s been there and she gets it.

As we prepare for Ezer Collective this Fall, it’s an absolute gift to have her on the team. Here’s her story.

I still remember walking into my first EZER Collective not knowing if I would know one soul.

I walked in nervous—which says a lot coming from this extrovert. I looked around and thought, Whoa... I think I just got dropped into a different fishbowl.

So, I walked over to the coffee station, slowly poured myself a cup of courage, and wondered…

Is there a place for me here?

Hi, I’m Louise, and I serve on the EZER Team, helping shape the experience and make sure every woman gets the very best welcome.

I do EZER every year. My family knows how it goes. EZER is calling, and I must go.

My journey to the EZER Collective began through Jo’s online coaching group. At the time I signed up, I knew I needed something more. I was hungry to grow as a leader, and the coaching platform gave me practical tools, challenged me to grow, and helped me take some big next steps.

What I didn’t realize, though, was how this coaching experience would become the doorway into something greater.

I came for leadership development.

I found a table.

It was a virtual table, nonetheless, but a community table was built. So, by the time I attended my first EZER Collective, I had started many of the friendships that I still have now, seven years later, friendships that started as squares on a screen on a Tuesday night in Jo’s online coaching group.

The Table

At my first EZER, a woman from my Circle mentioned that it was Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights, and they wanted to celebrate with real Indian food. I thought, Oh my gosh, I want to go - and plus, I’m local, I know where Lake Street is, and I have a mom van. So, I offered to drive and piled everyone in, most of whom I hadn’t even met yet.

It was a delight! As we passed around fresh baked naan and scooped our curry and rice, we also started sharing stories.

As I looked around the table at these incredible women with different stories and backgrounds, building visions and dreams, something shifted in me. I didn’t feel like an outsider anymore.

I felt seen.

I felt understood.

I felt like I belonged.

Here we were – so different, yet somehow all sisters, together, around one table. It was something my heart had always longed for but never had words to name.

I remember thinking,

This is it. This is what the Kingdom of God looks like.

And I wanted more of it.

And I still do!

The Ezer Collective

I’ve learned that EZER is more than a name. It’s something we embody. We become ezers for one another. Sometimes it’s wisdom or a word, a connection we need, or just someone who believes in us to take the next step. And the Collective shows up.

It’s like the African proverb that Jo often quotes, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” At EZER, we go together.

The people I’ve met through EZER are not just leadership peers or colleagues … they’re my friends.

A handful of us have monthly Zoom calls.

We share meals and coffees and hikes and prayers, many tears and birthday cards.

Over the last several years, I’ve walked through job changes, new opportunities, disappointments, and seasons of discernment. The women of EZER have been there, in the circle with me—listening to my story, reminding me who I am, cheering me on and giving me courage to say hello to the invitations and goodbye to what needs to end. (Shout outs to all of you, you know who you are!)

There’s a Seat at the Table

After my first EZER, something changed in me. I stopped looking for someone to invite me in. Instead, I started looking for the women standing where I once stood.

Who’s standing alone?

Who hasn’t found their people yet?

Who needs someone to pull out a chair?

Somewhere along the way, I realized I wasn’t just on the receiving side of EZER, I was becoming that kind of person too - empowered to make room for others.

The Table Gets Bigger

Looking back, I can see that EZER didn’t just help me find my voice—it changed how I lead. This table has shaped how I show up in every influential sphere of my life - as a pastor, preacher, spiritual director, mom and friend. I’m always looking for who is missing from the table, how to make the circle bigger, and how I can use my voice so that others can rise.

I’ve found some of the most important leadership formation of my life has happened around tables—with women willing to ask honest questions, tell the truth, pray, laugh, and remind one another that we’re not alone.

One More Table

I want to tell you one more EZER table story.

After last year’s EZER, a few of us were heading to dinner when Latasha Morrison walked up behind us and asked, “Do you have room at your table for one more?”

If you know Latasha’s work (@Bethebridge), you’ll appreciate the irony. The woman whose life’s work is making room at the table was asking if there was room at ours.

Of course there was.

Even after EZER was over, we naturally continued the Collective—stories, laughter, encouragement, and even brainstorming her next book.

Every table has the potential to become a circle.

Your Seat

The table that changed me is now the table I love inviting others to.

So, here’s your invitation: I hope you’ll come to EZER this year. And my hope is that you might just find what I found—a circle of women who walk beside you long after table time.

We’ll save you a seat.

Louise LeGrand Stanton

Instagram: @the_heart_of_lou

Substack: @louisestanton588868

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The views expressed in this newsletter are solely those of the author, Jo Saxton, unless otherwise stated.

As I walk past the green bushes in my neighborhood, I notice two or three red leaves amongst the green.You don’t see them at first, but when you do, you can’t unsee them either. Nor can you avoid what it means. The red leaves mark a season change and though you don’t see or feel it on a 93/34 day, an inevitable change is coming.

The Euonymus alatus or Winged Euonymus has another name by which it’s more commonly known: the Burning Bush. When the Autumn arrives and deepens these bushes are aflame with color: rich ochres, bold reds, tints of deep pink.

The bush is always there; it’s just that we don’t always recognize it for what it is. For now all we get are flickers if we choose to see them.

Read more

It’s a holiday weekend over here in the US, so people are getting together with friends or family, watching fireworks, and taking a few extra days off to rest.

So I thought this would be a good time to share what I’ve been watching, reading, and listening to recently, in case you were looking for recommendations.

What I’m reading:

Kin by Tayari Jones - A beautifully written novel on friendship, sisterhood and womanhood set in the American South. Jones is my favorite kind of writer, warm and lyrical in her prose, and astute in her character development. LOVED.

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke - A biting satire about a social media “tradwife”influencer who wakes up trapped in 1855 . I was late to the party on this book and so missed all the debates and conversation. But it was a good read and utterly unhinged in certain places. I can see why the book clubs were set alight by this one.

Never Tell a Black Girl How to Black Girl by Amena Brown - A warm and funny essay collection on growing up in the South, on date night and love, and hair, and family. It’s a beautiful collection on life, all the while reminding us that Black women are not a monolith and encouraging us to be all that we fully are.

A Quiet No - A powerful short essay for Austin Channing Brown reminding us that the world is often changed in our quiet consistency.

What I’m watching:

Voicemails for Isabelle - Rom Coms are SOOOOO back you guys. I know that technically they never left, but still. This is a good one.

The Bear - It’s the final season for The Bear, and it’s lovely in that angsty, tender, gorgeous looking food that I could never cook, but would very willingly eat, kind of a way.

Podcasts I listened to:

The Diary of A Ceo: Steven Bartlett talks with Professor John Lennox

Popular podcaster & entrepreneur Steven Bartlett talks with Professor John Lennox. John Lennox is Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University (emeritus) and a Christian Apologist. They discuss faith, truth, and what it means to be human in the age of AI. A moving conversation.

Why Leadership is Designed to Kill You: Carey Niewhof talks with Nicole Martin

Carey Niewhof interviews Nicole Martin, the first Black female CEO of Christianity Today. They discuss the challenges of being the first, the pressures of organizational leadership, leadership and suffering, leading through division and more. A fantastic conversation!

Finally, one to watch and revel in: THE WORLD CUP

Call it soccer if you want and need to. The important thing is to watch it and enjoy the fun, the fans and yes… the football!

Have a great weekend,

Ezer Collective is now pay-what you can - grab your friends
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The views expressed in this newsletter are solely those of the author, Jo Saxton, unless otherwise stated.

Whenever our Ezer Collective attendees arrive, they ask to meet Misty.

Misty is the one who takes some of the ideas swimming around mine and Steph’s heads and brings them to life, or comes up with something better. Misty builds and leads the team that sets the table that welcomes our guests. She connects with Ezer attendees about where to stay…

Read more

Every so often I dig out an interview from my coaching platform archives, because the conversation is still relevant for us today. With that in mind, meet my good friend, Dr Lily Olgiati.

Dr. Lily Olgiati is a qualified psychotherapist, an experienced speaker, and a credentialed minister with the Assemblies of God. When I interviewed Lily awhile ago she was a pastor on the team of a church in San Jose.Today, she is the founder of LILY’S LEADERSHIP LAB which invests in leaders through coaching, counseling and leadership labs in the US and in Milan, Italy. One thing that is consistent about Lily’s leadership journey: she is a pioneer.

We talk about

• Resisting the call: Here I am Lord: pick somebody else

• How God prepared Lily to pioneer through her family’s example

• Discerning and exploring the different callings on your life

• Catalyzing women in Ethiopia through Tabitha Reach

• Building dynamic teams with people who are smarter than you

• Lily’s doctoral studies on Christian women and leadership opportunities

There’s so much good stuff in here

ENJOY!

Here’s a snippet of our conversation, to watch the full version,
consider becoming a paid A Cup of Jo subscriber.

Full Conversation

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(If you follow me or Steph O’ Brien on IG or Facebook then you already know this , but I’m not sure the algorithm is always kind to us, so just in case you haven’t seen it yet I’m writing it here too.)

We’ve led Ezer Collective for 9 years now and it’s been amazing to see women leaders from across the US (and beyond) ,from across industries, c…

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We stepped into leadership for a range of reasons, but whoever we are, whatever industry we’re in, our leadership includes a desire to make things better. We’ll work hard, pursue needed change so that our context, people , systems, and communities can flourish. Leadership’s demands have always been big, so it’s required that we dream big too.

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The days are long and warm, the evenings are light and balmy. Schools and colleges are out: SUMMER IS HERE.

I know you’re likely still working and leading, even if your pace is different. For some of us it might even be more demanding, as we struggle with the juggle of all of our personal and professional commitments.

So I brought this littl…

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I watched the Kylie documentary on Netflix recently. For those of you living Stateside, perhaps the first Kylie that comes to mind is Kylie Jenner, of the Kardashian family variety. But if you’re a Brit, especially one who grew up in the 80’s, there’s only one that comes to mind: Kylie Minogue. Kylie is something of a national treasure in th…

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I found this comment on art from Bulgarian essayist Maria Popova fascinating

“This is the power of art: The power to transcend our own self-interest, our solipsistic zoom-lens on life, and relate to the world and each other with more integrity, more curiosity, more wholeheartedness.”

I love the way that art not only entertains, but has the pot…

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Dare w…

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This conversation is with my friend Cammie Dunaway. Cammie built an incredible career as the former Chief Marketing Officer of Duolingo, Nintendo, and Yahoo! Our conversation covers

• Cammie’s corporate leadership journey in thirds -from professional achievement, to a holistic perspective and revitalized faith, to inspirement

• How to seek out Mentorship in unexpected places

• Advice and insights for women leaders building corporate careers

• Honest conversations with male colleagues about your own experiences

• Dealing with online misogynists

• Why Women should be on boards!

Here’s a snippet of our conversation, to watch the full version,
consider becoming a paid A Cup of Jo subscriber.

Read more

In my early 30’s I had a crisis of confidence and confusion about what leadership was supposed to look like for me. In some ways my 20’s had been clearer; I was discovering my gifts, learning what I was good at, dreaming dreams while making the most of opportunities that came my way. There was a lot of momentum.

This was a different chapter, …

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I’m usually excited or inspired around Women’s History Month. The feelings of “We’ve come so far!” temper and motivate the feelings of “We’ve got so far to go!” It makes you want to keep going.

This year feels different. I’ve been preoccupied by headlines like these:

A jury ordered that Bill Cosby pay a woman millions of dollars for drugging and sexually assaulting her in 1972. The measure of justice in response to her suffering has taken decades. Others still wait.

At the age of 96, civil rights leader Dolores Huerta revealed in a statement that she was sexually manipulated and assaulted by Cesar Chavez, whom with Gilbert Padilla she co-founded the National Farm Workers Association which later became the United Farm Workers. Yet she kept her experiences silent to protect the farmworker movement she’d given her life to. I can’t imagine the terrible loneliness in the decision she made or the weight and cost of the secret she’d carried for decades.

The deliberate deflection, gaslighting and lack of accountability in the United States when it comes to the Epstein files. Women and girls were violated and abused, their lives ruined. Abusers have been protected and their crimes covered up. We are not nearly angry and insistent enough about the details of the Epstein files coming to light, and justice being served. It’s already been decades, how much longer?

It’s weighty to remember that I’m only mentioning three specific things. Women around the world are experiencing so many other distinct challenges in their contexts. There are personal, professional, relational issues. Challenges around health, safety, economic opportunity. We may have come so far, but we still have a long way to go.

I’ve been thinking about the work of sociologist Rodney Stark (The Rise of Christianity , etc) and how he (among others) found that the early church was particularly appealing to women. It seemed that when women became Christians, the way of Jesus transformed their entire existence. Because when it came to a woman’s worth, her relationships, her societal contribution, her potential for leadership roles, the early church was often a counter cultural prophetic example to the wider Greco Roman culture.

I think that today’s studies and reports indicating women are leaving the church (Here are a couple of them) suggest that we’re losing or have lost that countercultural prophetic example seen in the early church.

As I consider the kind of example we could be:

Could the culture look to the church’s example for how to blow the whistle on decades of abuse and violations, no matter how famous/powerful the perpetrator, or how influential the movement?

Would they come to the church to learn how to protect and tend to women and girls traumatized by powerful abusers and ensure that the evil that happened in darkness is brought into the light?

And looking at the bigger picture, could the culture come to the church to learn how to holistically invest in women in ways that are life-giving, empowering and transformative - for their relationships, careers and community?

***

Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to hear the stories of a range of Christian women - from ministry leaders to activists, C-suite leaders to scientists, corporate titans to creatives. Young adults emerging into leadership, established leaders living every demand of the sandwich generation, experienced leaders daring greatly in their encore act. Different denominations, cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds. Women containing multitudes…

I hear the stories of those who are present at church but distant and disillusioned, of those who love Jesus and yet cannot bear his community, of those who have left the church completely .

Some speak of the abuses they’ve personally experienced or the coverups they’ve witnessed.Some were tired of being used; women who tired of being the help and not the ezer. Others described the erosion that comes with chronically overlooked, consistently ignored. If you won’t miss me when I’m gone, why am I trying so hard to stay…

Then there are other women who have no complaints or church hurt, but they are not compelled either. Their careers, communities have already invited them to participate in and contribute to a vision bigger than themselves, and invested in them accordingly. In comparison, church is … fine. But it’s so disconnected from the lives they actually live, there is no commission there.

All that said, disillusionment, despair and detachment are not the only stories.

There were women with a hunger, a desperation.who search for meaning beyond the algorithms expectations and pressures that they are fed by the culture.They are dissatisfied with the stories society tells them about their value, their bodies, their minds, their relationships and their purpose.They search for a life of faith that makes an impact in tangible, meaningful everyday ways. They want to be part of something, shape something, build something.

Do we see these women, all of them? How might we respond?

I’ve got no comprehensive answers yet and we’re all too grown for formulas. Besides, we’re not talking about mere cracks that can be sealed over; we’re facing fault lines and tectonic cultural shifts that require something more. So for now, I’m wrestling with the muddy, messy sense that we need to activate our imagination, we need to resurrect that fearless prophetic voice exemplified in the early church.For women yes, but actually a church that speaks and lives prophetically for all, to every part of society.

Where are you wrestling and wondering, searching for the church counter cultural prophetic example?

I’d love to hear your thoughts,

Til next time leaders,

Leave a comment

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The views expressed in this newsletter are solely those of the author, Jo Saxton, unless otherwise stated.

Due to all of the things*cue to me gesticulating wildly in a vain attempt to capture or convey the state of the world at any given hour* it’s been a while since I did an ordinary newsletter just talking about what I’m watching, reading, observing, learning, wrestling with. So I tried it and it was egregiously long, so now it’s in two parts. Part two will arrive tomorrow!

What I’m watching

Like so many of us, The Pitt and Shrinking has become must watch TV.

But PARADISE is the show that has me talking back to the TV at the end of the show, has people in my texts and DMs as we recap and sends me straight to Threads to gather reactions and conspiracy theories!

Honorable mention: I tried to avoid the awards season because it’s annoying but got dragged in by the Oscars and was as frustrated as I expected I would be. Still, yay Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jordan!

What I’m reading

Bitter Honey by Lola Akinmade - She has this precise, intense way of writing that captures the tensions and complexities of identities and relationships for African immigrants in Europe. I resonated in some ways, felt I got a peek behind the curtain in others. LOVE HER.

Spark by Al Gordon. Full disclosure: I’ve known Al for over 20 years and he’s a friend. I got the chance to read this a few months ago and I have been itching for this book to come out because I think it has an incredibly salient message for today’s leaders.

Al asks, What if creativity wasn’t a luxury for the few—but the sacred calling of every believer? and contends that “In an age of algorithms, your creativity might just save the world.”

We desperately need new courageous, innovative, creative ideas for today’s challenges. We need our leadership imagination to soar and our bold unapologeticness (that’s not a word but stay with me) needs to match it. We need space to incubate new systems, strategies and solutions. And this book tells the stories of a community exploring some of this and encourages each of us to try it too. Buy the book.

What I’m listening to.

I couldn’t think of anything and then I listened to Amy Poehler interviews with Viola Davis and Steve Carell on her Good Hang podcast. Both were awesome.

Experiences

Me and my husband were in DC for 24 hours for my speaking engagement. . ANd then a storm walloped the Midwest so we were stuck in DC for a few days. Determined to turn lemons into lemonade we turned ourselves into tourists.

We spent four breaktaking, profound hours in the National Museum of African American History and Culture. What stood out - every inch of it :

- There was a wall that noted the numbers of people in different European countries enslaved and trafficked in ships. Inscribed by those numbers were the names of enslavement ships , the number of people they took and the number that survived . I nearly swore out loud when I saw that one of the British ships was called HAPPY.

- Painted on a glass case holding a whip, the words of writer and abolitionist Olaudah Equiano

“O Ye nominal Christians! Might not an African ask you- Learned you this from your God , who says to you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you?

-The faith of Harriet Tubman. Her dreams, visions and action.

While not the most shocking, some of the most disturbing pieces articulated the way land, resources, education, opportunities were taken in ways that technically were legal, but were nowhere close to moral. Sometimes the imagination is used for nefarious purposes. In a way it reminded me of the bureaucratic hell CS Lewis wrote about in the preface of The Screwtape Letters where Lewis said the greatest evil

“is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern.”

Thoroughly nasty indeed.

Then there was the beauty of the many floors highlighting athletes, artists , activists, entrepreneurs. It was stunning. I nearly wept seeing Luther Vandross’ handwritten lyrics to Dance With My Father. All in all, it was such a rich experience. If you haven’t been - get yourself there.

DITTO National Air and Space Museum which got me wishing I was a STEM queen. Who dreams up this stuff? It seems that innovation and imagination has the potential to take us anywhere.That said, I was freaked out by the OG space ships that took people into space with what looked like little more than tin foil, a metal frame and a calculator. (Again, I am not a STEM queen) I also loved checking out the planets. Is Pluto still one or not? I vote YES.

It was so incredibly inspiring, not so much about personal notions to go into space (not my thing) but about dreaming in general.

Here’s to the ones who dream, dare and do…

What are you watching, reading, listening to?

What are you experiencing and what is it teaching you ? I’d love to hear!

Leave a comment

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The views expressed in this newsletter are solely those of the author, Jo Saxton, unless otherwise stated.

Women’s History Month is always a great time to remind ourselves that women lead, have always led and will continue to do so.

So I’m excited that it’s also the time of year where I love to share about all the upcoming Ezer gatherings- spaces dedicated to invested in Christian women leaders across industries. Registration is open so now is the time to gather your people and make some plans!

Here’s what we’ve got lined up:

EZER REVIVE

We hosted our first Ezer Revive in January 2026 in Puerto Rico. A space set aside for Christian women leaders across industries to get away, to reset. 20+ leaders gathering at the idyllic setting at The Kineo Center, a location locals had long nicknamed “The Garden of Eden.”

Where better for a group of image bearing Ezers to reset, to get renewed, reinvigorated?

Where better to take a weary soul to breathe?

Our first Revive provided all of this and more. It was a huge exhale, a hiding place from brewing storms, a space of sunshine and beauty, and a place to hear the still small voice, or a loud one. It created time for long conversations and connection on the beach, or space for silence or a nap. It offered time for the heart to ache, for tears to flow and for laughter by the bonfire to ring out into the night. A chance to say all the important, vulnerable and honest things out loud.

I came away from Revive reminded of how much leaders need retreat, how rare it is for women leaders to get the chance to retreat, and the catalytic impact a retreat can have on your leadership.

Retreats are definitely essential for our wellbeing; physically, emotionally, mentally. But there’s also something about getting extended headspace that is vital for our leadership imagination.

So often our leadership is reacting and responding to the crisis in front of us, dealing with the immediate or the urgent. But leaders also need the time to think, reflect, assess, imagine, dream, create and think forward so that we can lead forward. A retreat can create the opportunity to help get that process moving.

Revive was such a profound time that we’re partnering with The Kineo Center to do it again: Jan 11 - 15, 2027. Join us!

Space is limited, to find out all the information you need about Revive CLICK HERE.

RESTORE AND REBUILD

EZER COLLECTIVE: A LEADERSHIP INTENSIVE

Ezer Collective - a space created specifically for Christian women leaders across industries - was always designed to be a catalyst, equipping women to do what they were put on earth to do, freely, fully and unapologetically. Unlike Revive, it’s less of a retreat, and more like a bootcamp packed with teaching, training sessions and leadership panels. There’s also space for worship and prayer and for connecting with other likeminded leaders.

This year’s theme: Restore and Rebuild - Leading Through Adversity

You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,

rebuild the foundations from out of your past.

You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,

restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,

make the community livable again.

(Isaiah 58:12 The Message)

In a demanding era marked by seismic cultural shifts and challenges, we’ve experienced moments that have changed our world, impacted the workforce and reshaped us and our leadership. This year at Ezer we’ll explore what it means to be leaders who restore and rebuild even as we lead through adversity. Leaders who look honestly at the ruins and the rubble, and yet see the potential for creating spaces for human flourishing.Leaders who carry both the tenderness and tenacity to restore the long devastated places in our communities and organizations. Leaders who renovate and innovate.

Ezer Collective November 12 -14, 2026 Minneapolis

To find out more information CLICK HERE.

Early Bird registration and pricing is open now. Grab your people and sign up!

One more thing:

Finally I want to remind you of our Ezer Collective Pre-Intensive, a training day open to both men and women.

EZER COLLECTIVE PRE - INTENSIVE

Peacemaking in Polarized Times

November 12, 2026 Minneapolis 9am - 3pm

Hosted by Jo Saxton, Pastor Steph O’Brien and Ramón Pastrano

Jesus said “Blessed are the peacemakers,” but peace making is not for the faint of heart. Peace in Hebrew is shalom, not the absence of war, conflict, stress or anxiety. Shalom is wholeness, completeness, fulfillment, inner rest, living without deficiency or lack.

Division and polarization are not new realities in the world or our communities. Yet too often we settle for peace keeping, avoiding difficult decisions and challenging situations in our leadership and personal lives. Or we settle for a pseudo peace with conflict bubbling just beneath the surface.

The role of peacemaker is active and intentional; where we choose to pray for the Spirit’s empowerment and take action, choosing to develop new skills and utilize effective tools for the world we live in. We need effective peacemakers in every corner of society today.

Bring your teams and join us for our Pre-Intensive that equips leaders with principles and practices to be Jesus-centered peacemakers that step toward conflict with curiosity, humility and self-sacrificial love.

REGISTER HERE NOW

That’s all for today,

I hope to see you at an Ezer gathering some time soon!

The views expressed in this newsletter are solely those of the author, Jo Saxton, unless otherwise stated.

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