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Silda’s moxie comes from a lifetime of engagement, a willingness to evolve, creativity, and a deep trust in the power of people to catalyze change when they are seen, supported, and brought together. She has a strategic approach to moxie that is purpose and service-driven.

Silda Wall Spitzer has spent her life working at the intersection of civic responsibility, community, and conscience. Trained as a lawyer and shaped by decades of public service, she has long been driven by a commitment to environmental stewardship, social justice, and the belief that strong communities are built through shared responsibility and mutual care.

As First Lady of New York State, Silda championed initiatives that elevated dignity in work, expanded opportunity, and highlighted the essential role of public institutions in supporting people and places. Her advocacy has always centered on listening closely, amplifying voices that are too often overlooked, and creating spaces where meaningful change can take root.

That same impulse led her to found New York Makers, the first digital magazine dedicated to celebrating the artisans, growers, and entrepreneurs shaping the state’s creative economy. The magazine was born from a simple realization. Extraordinary makers were doing inspiring work across New York, yet had no shared forum to learn about one another or to be seen as part of a larger ecosystem.

Silda’s Jam grew naturally from that mission. For years, Silda had a family tradition of making jam for friends and loved ones each holiday season. What began as a personal ritual became a way to support the magazine and the communities it uplifted. She turned that tradition into a small business rooted in care, craftsmanship, and connection.

Made in small batches in the Hudson Valley and sweetened with local maple syrup, Silda’s Jam reflects her values. It honors local sourcing, thoughtful production, and the joy of sharing food as an act of generosity. More than a product, it is an extension of her belief that building community can start with something as simple and human as gathering around the table.

Resources

Silda's Jam

Silda Wall Spitzer/Tim Jones Art

Social Media

Instagram @SildasJam

Facebook Silda's Jam

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Tracy whips up moxie every time she steps into her kitchen. A Ballymaloe-educated chef, organic farmer, and food educator, she is passionate about mixing those ingredients to create meaningful experiences for people through her new adventure, Undermountain Pantry Cooking School and Microbakery.

Tracy is a creative local food systems entrepreneur evolving her work by owning and managing CSAs for Chubby Bunny and Husky Meadows Farms, coordinating education and outreach for Plantin’ Seeds, and serving as culinary director at Seed and Spoon. All those endeavors fed into her mission to design seasonal, fun, and educational culinary workshops and meals at Undermountain Pantry.

Tracy’s jam is helping people become attached to local and seasonal food, building community through sharing delicious, nutritious food, and helping her students develop culinary skills to take back into their home kitchens and make some moxie of their own.

Through her farming and culinary pursuits, she has learned to listen to her gut, letting her intuition guide her to places that feel authentic and true. She has gained the gift of patience, cultivating relationships and skills that may bear fruit in the future. This way of leaning into her life is integral to her moxie.

Resources

Undermountain Pantry Cooking School and Microbakery

Ballymaloe Cookery School

Social Media

Undermountain Pantry Instagram

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What do you get when you combine two moxie-fueled individuals? Moxie synergy that’s off the charts! Mimi Madden and Susan Wheeler are the driving forces behind Good News Girls, a social collective for women over 50 in northwest Connecticut.

The Good News Girls started as a musing in an English pub after a long ramble in the countryside. It has evolved into a dynamic and active organization, providing enrichment and social opportunities during a phase of a woman’s life that is marked by significant change. Menopause, changes in relationship status, retirement, grown children, and aging parents can add to isolation, loneliness, and a need for connection. Enter the Good News Girls with hikes, book groups, retreats, and learning-centered dinners, creating opportunities for friendship and positivity. They prove that it’s never too late to make changes in your life!

Separately, Susan and Mimi have a wealth of experience and have weathered setbacks in their own lives. Susan overcame a devastating back injury to become a marathoner, author of The Lemonade Diet, mindset speaker and coach, and successful entrepreneur. Mimi has served arts non-profit organizations for decades. She is currently a program consultant for the American Mural Project (AMP) in Winsted, CT. She is a Kinder Life Planner and a Keirsey Temperament Consultant, helping clients align their lives with their natural gifts, motivations, and dreams.

Listen to their stories and draw inspiration from their wisdom. Mimi and Susan understand that in life, things happen, and obstacles and difficulties are an inevitable part of being human. However, they firmly believe that these events are easier to bear in the good company of others who can lift you up and help you get back on track.

Resources

The Good News Girls

Susan V. Wheeler

When Life Hands You Lemons…The Lemonade Diet

Madden Consulting

American Mural Project

Social Media

Good News Girls Instagram @_thegoodnewsgirls

Facebook The Good News Girls

Women 50+ Get Active Meetup Group

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Happiness is a moxie job!

To kick off the 4th Moxie season, Mary O’Neill, co-creator and co-host of Main Street Moxie, explores the connection between happiness and moxie.

Happiness is a topic on which Mary is well-versed. She has immersed herself in the topic through the lens of multiple disciplines, and it underpins her work as an educator and life design and career coach.

For Mary, rainbows and unicorns do not signify a happy life. Instead, she draws on the Ancient Greek philosophy’s emphasis on living a life of virtue and values. A happy life is one lived in alignment with qualities such as courage, moderation, honesty, humility, integrity, and, most crucially, practical wisdom, which involves knowing how and when to apply various virtues in the situations we encounter.

This kind of life might not always be Insta-worthy, but it will lead to one of authenticity and coherence, which will buoy us in times of struggle and adversity.

Viewing happiness in this way makes it less dependent on feelings and more rooted in action, doing, and MOXIE!

In addition to being the co-founder and co-host of Main Street Moxie, Mary is a seasoned and award-winning educator, lecturer, and trainer. She has taught classes in philosophy, including an interdisciplinary course she created on happiness. She has also taught classes in sustainability and nature, global business, life design, career success, and college first-year studies at Western Connecticut State University.

Currently, she serves as the Director of Life Design at Boston Global Communications and Performance, Inc., and as the Career Services Coordinator at CT State: Northwestern. Mary is also a life design and career coach in private practice.

Resources

Greater Good Science Center

Harvard Happiness and Leadership Laboratory

Happiness Research Institute

Happiness Studies Academy

You Doing You Life Design and Career Coaching

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Got holidays? Then you need moxie to get through them. The expectations, the standards, and the idealized version of the season can wear us down. Not anymore!

This episode of Main Street Moxie with Sara Cousins is here to help you celebrate the holidays in line with your values and priorities, leaving you saner and less depleted as you enter 2025.

Sara shares strategies and techniques to help us hold space for ourselves while finding connection with others during this holiday season and throughout the year.

Sara is a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist with over 20 years of experience in private practice in Lakeville, Connecticut. For a decade, she’s been the go-to mental health professional for Main Street Magazine.

Sara’s diverse career journey has taken her from working with Inuit youth in Alaska to serving communities through the Susan B. Anthony Project in Torrington, Harlem Hospital in Manhattan, and Victim Services of NYC. Across all her roles, she has been inspired by the resilience and vulnerability of the people she has served.

Specializing in relational and couples therapy, Sara has been trained by renowned experts, including Esther Perel, Tara Brach, Orna Guralnik, Terry Real, John Gottman, and Harville Hendrix. She is also deeply committed to mindfulness and meditation, drawing on over 20 years of training with Mingyur Rinpoche. She has attended workshops and trainings with Pema Chödrön, Jack Kornfield, and Tim Olmsted.

Outside her professional life, Sara embraces new challenges and adventures. She recently joined the Norfolk Curling Club to try curling, a sport much more challenging and painful than it looks on TV!

This episode of Main Street Moxie is proudly sponsored by Main Street Magazine.

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Olivia finds and expresses her moxie through stand-up comedy. In this episode, Olivia explores how she grew her comedy moxie, describes her comedic process, and reflects on the challenges of leaving a highly structured, results-oriented career to dive into the unpredictable world of stand-up comedy.

Olivia started her comic explorations by testing the waters at countless open mics in New York City before moving to Charlotte, NC, for her corporate job and continuing her comedy journey there. While in Charlotte, she founded Olivia’s Fun and Flirty Comedy Show, a monthly stand-up show at a trendy brewery, which she grew in popularity over the course of two years.

A standout performer, Olivia was also selected for 2023’s North Carolina Comedy Festival, showcasing her growing talent and dedication to the craft.

While planning shows and booking comics for that show, she also worked her day job assessing bank risk. Then, she took a risk of her own. In March of 2024, she took a considerable leap of faith. Quitting her bank role, she set out for Chicago to launch herself full-time in comedy–and has not looked back.

Olivia is now a Chicago-based comedian, building her comic material and show appearances. Known for her sharp wit and relatable humor, Olivia has graced stages at notable venues, including the Laugh Factory Comedy Club, Lincoln Lodge Comedy Club, and Red Room Comedy Club. She regularly attends open mics and has begun taking improv classes at Second City, expanding her repertoire and range.

She was recently selected from over 100 comedians who auditioned to perform at the Vouch Comedy Show at the Laugh Factory. In The Windy City, she continues to captivate audiences with her unique perspective and comedic flair.

This episode of Main Street Moxie was proudly sponsored by Main Street Magazine.

Social Media

Instagram @oliviahmay_

TikTok @oliviahmay_

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Elaine’s moxie is exuberant and engaging. Her humor and encouragement make you feel like you got this–you got moxie! Elaine has put in the time and miles to discern who she is and how she wants to show up in the world in each season of her life. That unshakeable belief in herself is the foundation of her energy and zest for a successful life, as she defines it.

Elaine is an award-winning serial entrepreneur, educator, and speaker. She is best known for her role as the Founder and Executive Director of Latinas in Motion, a non-profit organization with chapters nationwide, created to encourage women of color to get active. Elaine began her fitness journey after the birth of her first child, taking small steps that have led her to run 5K’s and marathons and organize races and group running sessions for others. Elaine inspires and empowers women worldwide to exercise and adopt healthy habits.

This self-proclaimed "Mogul Mami" is an inspiration—as much for her contagious energy as for her willingness to break stereotypes. She enjoys sharing her story to inspire others to live the best version of themselves and move through the world on their own terms.

Elaine is passionate about sharing her story with others—her down-to- earth personality and frequent pop-culture references have established her as a sought-after speaker. In 2018, Elaine was selected to share her mission statement at the Michelle Obama "Becoming" event.

This episode of Main Street Moxie is proudly sponsored by Main Street Magazine.

Resources:
Latinas in Motion website
Mogul Mami website

Social Media:
Elaine’s Instagram @elaine_g_johnson
Latinas in Motion Instagram @latinasinmotion
Latinas in Motion Facebook group @LatinasInMotion

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We all want peace, but the road toward it can be elusive. Our perceived differences loom large and seem insurmountable. Yet, some individuals like Lisa Worth Huber labor tirelessly to educate people about the self-work required to build peace and understand how the creative arts are a vehicle to express our stories, heal, and begin to bridge with others.

This work takes moxie! It’s granular and slow yet rich and rewarding, leaving Lisa with hope for building a family, community, and world where all are seen and valued. Peace provides a platform for all of us to flex our moxie, free from fear and able to devote our energies to being part of building something larger, not exhausting ourselves in pits of division.

Lisa serves as President of the National Peace Academy. She is on the board of directors and faculty of the Global Peace Education Network (G-PEN), which currently works in partnership with UNESCO. She is a member of the Advisory Council for the Connecticut Center for Nonviolence, where she is a mentor to teaching artists pursuing their certification in Kingian Nonviolence.

Lisa designed, implemented, and served as Academic Director for Connecticut's first accredited MA program in Peace and Conflict Transformation, and was a member of the international Launch Team for the Global Sustainability Fellows program, a trainer for the UnGUN Institute: Collective Trauma Healing Through the Arts, and an adjunct professor of Sociology at Western Connecticut State University.

Additionally, Lisa has been a teaching artist for several decades, working in universities, K-12 classrooms, homeless shelters, and safe houses, and is the first recipient of the Frank McCourt Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

Along with designing and implementing nonviolent and peacebuilding programs, Lisa incorporates the arts to elevate voices, address injustice, heal trauma and PTSD, nurture compassion, and imagine new futures. Lisa blends story in its myriad forms with peace, humanitarian, social justice, and environmental concerns, and nurtures the development of creative activism and ecological stewardship.

This episode of Main Street Moxie is proudly sponsored by Main Street Magazine.

Resources
Lisa Worth Huber

National Peace Academy

UnGUN Institute

Global Peace Education Network

Global Sustainability Fellows program

Bridging Differences | Greater Good Science Center

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