Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
[Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] he he he he he he [Applause] [Music] he good morning good afternoon good evening wherever you are in the world it’s Dr Jan Fortman with Relationship Matters TV. I hope everyone is having a beautiful morning, afternoon, or evening and uh I’m gonna say this again to my guest coming on because it’s I don’t know if you want to call it night or early morning but we’ll find out exactly what time it is there. Well, I want to thank all of you who are watching. We are here in the Midwest, right outside of Chicago, and uh the Midwest and the East we are expecting a huge snowstorm and so far winter here hasn’t been, you know, really bad. It’s been like in the 40s. I know you in in in the uh West are probably saying 40s you all are happy about 40s? Yes, yes, yes, yes, we are happy about in the 40s but so now we understand there’s a snowstorm coming and then after the snowstorm next week uh the temperatures will drop to like five degrees and then below zero and you know what um we’ll just I’ll just stay in the house and and I’m not going outside. But anyway, uh Happy New Year for those who uh I have not seen. Your new year is going to be wonderful and I want you to have goals and have dreams, big goals and big dreams, and we hear more in 24 uh soar in 24 anything that you can think of that rhymes with 2024 that you know that you are going to be conquering. So enough about that. My guest today, well this evening, is someone that I met and she’s going to tell you where we’ve met. This show is called Relationship Matters and let me say this, you never know when you’re going to meet someone and you have a lasting, loving, long, wonderful relationship. So before I bring her on, let me tell you a little bit about her. Her name is Margaret Lance and Margaret is a Community Learning and Development practitioner. She’s a speaker, a dedicated humanitarian, a sexual reproductive health facilitator, and accredited facilitator for parenting. Oh my God, she’s all over the place. She’s very passionate about her work with women and she has helped set up a number of women’s groups nationally and internationally. These groups empower women, they help them to discover their hidden potentials and move them from self-dependency to self-efficacy. So I’m gonna let her talk a little bit more about who she is and how we first met. So let me bring to you Margaret Lance. Hey Margaret!

Margaret Lance
Hello, hello Dr. Janice. Wow, the world is such a small place.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
It is! So tell everybody where we met.

Margaret Lance
Well, as I said, the world is such a small place. We met at the Global Woman Summit in London by Mirela Sula, the CEO and founder of Global Woman Club, and then we just bonded and we started chatting about everything and anything and there we are today.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yes, yeah, that’s what relationships are about. We build and maintain relationships. You don’t just build the relationship and go, you build and maintain the relationship. That’s why I’m here today.

Margaret Lance
And it doesn’t matter where you are.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Not at all. Tell us where you are.

Margaret Lance
Not at all. Where are you? Oh sorry, yeah, I am in Scotland, based in Glasgow. I reside in Glasgow but originally from Cameroon.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh my goodness, wow, wow. So what made you leave the Cameroons to where it’s hot, where the weather is wonderful as far as I’m concerned, to Scotland? Tell me about that.

Margaret Lance
A lot of things. The Wind of Change brought me to Scotland and you say relationships have got no boundaries. That’s how I find myself in Scotland.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, okay. So now you have a Tartan on and so that is, well I call it, yeah right, so what does that signify?

Margaret Lance
Uh, the Tartan actually is used by different Clans in Scotland. So that’s how they identify themselves by their Clans. So this is just a cloth one, it’s not the actual Tartan.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh okay, so that particular pattern is just a pattern. Is this signifying a particular Clan or it’s just a different Clans?

Margaret Lance
So I would suggest to just anyone who is keen to know more about the Scottish Tartan and the different Clans to Google it so they get accurate information and more information than I can explain.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So are you part of a particular Clan?

Margaret Lance
Not at all, I’m not Scottish so cannot be.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh yeah, but I love it, I love it. Scotland is home for me now so I identify with that.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, all right, well it looks beautiful on you.

Margaret Lance
Oh thank you.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So let’s talk about you. You know, now we have talked and I have told you, you are so busy, when do you sleep? But I know you love everything you do, so just kind of tell us a little bit, just start with what is it that you do? What, you know, I know look, we don’t have time for everything you do, but what’s the major profession you are in?

Margaret Lance
Well, as you have said it all, I have many hats and it’s always important to know which hat you put on and when you put it on. So my day job, I am a community engagement coordinator for an organization called Waverley Care and my role is awareness raising through education. So we support people living with HIV, Hepatitis B and C, and sexual health. So my role is to deliver training, raising awareness, getting people to test and putting them on PrEP and signposting them to all the organizations in relation to their needs.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, so that’s my day job. Okay, so before we go to something else, so it’s mostly women who you service or is it just?

Margaret Lance
Okay, I work with the entire community but my work is focused with Africans and other ethnic minority communities. But as we’re talking about relationships, relationships have no boundaries, so you don’t go out to say, oh it’s your partner African, but you provide information for people to then make informed choices. This is what I do, these are the benefits of what I do, so helping people, you know, change their mindset and their behavior towards sexual health.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So the people who come to you, they already are infected with HIV?

Margaret Lance
No, oh no. We have a team and we are all across Scotland. So there are people who have been diagnosed with the infection and we continue to support them to live healthy and live well with HIV. However, there are also people who could be living with any of the bloodborne viruses, especially HIV, who are not aware of it. That is where the education comes in, in order to raise awareness through education and to help tackle stigma, to let people understand that when you are living with HIV, you’re on treatment and you have an undetectable viral load, you can no longer pass it on to anyone. So the education part of it is to help people make informed choices and to help tackle stigma.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, now here in the United States, HIV, I believe, from what I’ve been reading, is not as prevalent as it used to be. So in Scotland, is it still prevalent?

Margaret Lance
HIV remains a global issue and a global concern. As long as anyone who could have been at risk and has not tested is encouraged to test because in as much as people are being put on treatment, many people are having a viral load suppression, there’s still that population that are living with the condition and do not know that they have it. So it is still a global concern in spite of, you know, the work that has been done. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done by encouraging people to take up the test. And now we’re talking about the opt-out, which means your GP or your consultant can offer you the test. You can say yes, you can say no, but it’s important that people understand that they can request the test and they can get tested and they can go on treatment.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay.

Margaret Lance
And they get the support because there are organizations not just in Scotland but globally. So my organization in Scotland is working on that. We have others in London who are also doing that. Some are for policies but we all work together to get to our desired outcome.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh wow, you know, that’s something that you said to me that I was not aware of and I think at least, you know, here in the United States, I don’t think a lot of people are aware that this is still a global concern. And so I’m really, really glad that you really brought that up. I’m really glad about that. So now I know you do something else, it’s called the My Body is My Body. What is that about?

Margaret Lance
Right, we as an ambassador for My Body is My Body program, which is keeping children safe and we use songs to keep children safe. So the songs will be like encouraging every parent, every family or carer not to have to have a no secret policy at home. No secret, you can use surprise rather than use secret. Why? Because abusers use the word secret, don’t tell anyone, it’s our secret, don’t tell anyone, it’s our secret. So by helping children to understand that we’re not going to keep your secret, we’re going to talk, we’re going to tell somebody that we trust. And then we also talk about my body is my body to help them understand that their body is their special body, no one has a right to hurt them, no one has the right to touch them. And if they do, then they could find an adult, their parent or someone they trust or the school teacher, the head teacher, whoever they trust that they can tell. On the other hand, it’s also how parents or carers or teachers respond when a child reports a case of abuse. So sometimes when you report abuse…

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I still on you’re on you just you yeah you’re on you just I just I took me off focus on you.

Margaret Lance
Yeah, so what I was saying is carers, parents, teachers, church leaders, they need to understand how to respond when a child reports a case of abuse. Do you believe them? Do you go straight to the abuser to attack? So the program and the courses they give strategies to work with the children so they understand their body parts, which means that if someone touches them, maybe in the playground or maybe it’s a neighbor, maybe it’s someone at home, they can report to their parents. And we know that abusers are the people that children trust. So that’s what that is about.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Wow, so anyone who is interested in this program can actually go on the website, which is My Body is My Body program, and take some courses from there and they can become ambassadors as well so that they can deliver the courses and to help keep our children safe in a very challenging world. So do you go into schools? Does the group, the organization go into schools or how?

Margaret Lance
At the moment, I don’t go to school but I try to work with the teachers, with the faith organization, with individuals for them to take the program so that they can deliver it themselves, taking that they’ve already built trust with these schools and the pupils and churches so they can do that by themselves. And with some internationally, I work with them online and get their leaders to plan and deliver the program with the children.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, so is it as how long has it been formed?

Margaret Lance
It’s been for a long time. I’m sorry, I can’t get that on top of my head. It was by a lady called Chrissy Sykes. She’s a founder and CEO, so she’s a songwriter and singer. She’s done a lot and a fantastic job. This program is super, super good, super, super good. We are living in a challenging world and it’s really good that, you know, we try to keep our children safe. When we were growing up, there was no internet, there were no smartphones, and today most parents are chasing their tails to make ends meet, not really having that much time to supervise what the children are watching either on TV or on their smart devices. So this is a really good program that helps parents, carers, children, and, you know, faith leaders.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
That is wonderful and it’s so needed and it’s called My Body is My Body.

Margaret Lance
Yes, My Body is My Body and so nobody has the right to touch me, nobody has the right to hurt me because it has to do with all from child maltreatment and safeguarding as well.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
That’s, that is so wonderful. So do you all get feedback as to how successful the program is?

Margaret Lance
We do get feedback on the website. Every month there is a magazine because it’s global, so you have a global magazine and newsletters that are posted all the time to see what people from other parts of the world are doing and definitely it’s needing everyone on board.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay.

Margaret Lance
And say all hands on deck.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
On deck. All right, so a question came in here. It says, what is the furthest distance you have gone to present your message and to where?

Margaret Lance
Right, I suppose the furthest I should say would be Angola. I’m not from Angola, I’ve been to Angola and to Cameroon. I went to Angola and recruited women from there and work with them and also in Cameroon where I come from, I’ve been working with them. I’ve been there to work with them and I continue to work with them online thanks to technology and that I don’t have to pay flights and travel. The only difference is that I don’t see them in person and that, you know, in-person meetings are different.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yeah, yes, we got this nice hugs and stuff.

Margaret Lance
Yeah, and there are things that people may not really want to talk to you about if it’s in a group but they have the opportunity to reach out to me individually so I can have a chat and maybe encourage and signpost them to other places that they could go to. So that’s the furthest I have been, Angola.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, and that’s what I was going to ask you, did you work one-on-one with different women either it or different people either about educating as far as HIV and also with this My Body is My Body, do you work, in other words, do you coach women?

Margaret Lance
I do. Every individual is different and they have different issues. No case is ever the same, no experience is ever the same. So people come to you with different issues. So there are times that you work on a one-to-one because you want to understand the issue and how you can help them tap into their hidden potential. So you cannot work with somebody and support them if you don’t really understand the issue. In terms of group work, it’s because when they come together and they share their experiences, sometimes you feel that you are alone in your journey but when you come together, you then realize, oh, you have the same issue you have, I thought I was alone. No one is ever alone but that’s why it’s important coming together so you listen to others and then you learn something from them which you can apply or you can say that doesn’t apply to me. But yeah, I do one-to-one and group and again, as I said, some people may have certain things that they don’t want to share in a group because they don’t have that confidence because they don’t know what someone is going to say about them or their story. So it’s helping them understand that people’s opinion about them doesn’t really count. It’s about helping them, taking them on a journey of self-discovery to understand who they are. It’s about helping them set goals to understand who they are, what they want, why they want it. All of this, it matters. People have skills and potential and they don’t seem to see anything good about them maybe because they failed in the past, maybe because of some past experience which absolutely knocked them down. But it’s to help them understand that there is more to life. No matter what happened to you, you can still pick up yourself and go. It doesn’t matter how many times you fall flat on your face or your back, just get up and go. And most importantly, it’s about seeking help and that’s where coaching comes in because there could be some issues that, you know, you don’t consider everyone to be the same. So you listen to them, listen to understand where they are, where they’re coming from and you think maybe someone else could come into this. If it’s to do with work, I would report to my line manager or I can signpost to other organizations in relation to their needs.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay.

Margaret Lance
Because we have issues of domestic violence, we have issues of rape, we have issues of female genital mutilation, we have issues of parenting, all of those, you know, I can do everything but I do have allies and partners that we will always signpost them to. There’s mental health, there’s immigration issues, people have different issues and at times you can have somebody with multiple complex issues. I’m not here to fix anyone but to identify who else can step in.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, okay.

Margaret Lance
And there are lots of them.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Wow, wow, and you said this hot button word, at least I don’t know if it’s a hot button word in Scotland but it is here in the United States and that’s immigration and migrants.

Margaret Lance
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Do you have, you know, do you all service migrants?

Margaret Lance
I do but that’s what I’m saying, every individual is different and have different issues. That’s why we have partners that we can signpost them. We have the Scottish Refugee Council, we have migrant help, we have like the Home Office who would deal with all of these things. All we can support a client with is their mental health or changing mindsets about a situation, believing that, you know, this is what has happened to me and things will get better for me if I work on myself. And we don’t expect, you know, people to go on a race or a marathon but it’s taking those baby steps consistently. So every individual is not the same even if they have got the same experience. Some people can be quick with getting over and the support and some people are a bit slower and when working with people like that, you have to take the time, work with them from where they are and, you know, slow down.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I got you. Oh my goodness, you are just amazing.

Margaret Lance
Oh, thank you.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
You are amazing. So Margaret, I’m going to, I have to take a couple of breaks, a couple of commercials and then we’ll come right back and then we’re gonna talk about a couple of other things that you do. Like I said, we probably need a two or three-hour show to talk about all you do. So just hold on everyone, we’re gonna come right back with Margaret Lance all the way from Scotland and right now it’s 1:30 a.m. It’s wow, oh my God, you are amazing. So we’ll be right back, okay? All right, oh this is amazing. Now you know why when we met in London, you know, I had to maintain our relationship. So we’ll be right back in a couple of [Music] minutes.

[Commercial Break]

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
We are back with Margaret Lance and I just want to say this, the book “Cutting the Ties” is available on amazon.com. If you know anyone who is suffering from physical or mental spiritual abuse, you must get the book “Cutting the Ties.” I have it right here and I meant to show it up to let you know that I do have that book. And have you gotten your essential oils? I’m getting my package tomorrow. So just remember that. So I just wanted you to know that the commercials that you see, it’s not just something I’m just putting on, it’s because I either use the products or read the books or so I just wanted you to know that. So if you really want to know anything about the book or anything about any of the commercials that I have on, the promotions that I have on, you know what, you can get hold of me on Jan4now and I said I was going to put that up there which I will later, jan4now25@gmail.com and just ask me. All right, so let’s get back to Margaret. Alrighty Margaret, you are the founder, let me get this right, of Women in Action. Now tell me about that, tell us about that.

Margaret Lance
Women in Action, take action. So Women in Action was actually brought together in response to the issues that women came up with and say, okay, let’s get together, share and learn new knowledge and support one another to build that confidence to know that there is something within us that we can actually tap into and make sense of our world. And that’s how that came to being.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, okay. So is that just in Scotland or is that international or?

Margaret Lance
This is just in Scotland but we have women joining from all over when we have sessions because if you take women from any part of the world, they have things in common to share and I think that’s a good thing as well. So we would do masterminds, mindset transformation, which just whatever the women want, we ask them what do you want and then we work with them based on what they ask. And some of them have built long-term relationships which is fantastic and that’s why people come together because everyone has something to contribute and we don’t expect everyone to behave like the way you behave because we all individuals. I always ask, you don’t walk into a relationship to change anyone but you walk into a relationship to see how you can work together. There are times the scale of relationship is never balanced, whether in romantic relationship, whether in parenting with teenagers, whether it’s with your colleagues, it’s about how you find that compromise. Why do you walk into this relationship? What do you expect from this relationship? How can you work together in this relationship? It’s simply like also having a SWOT analysis of that relationship because SWOT analysis is not just for business but it’s for you as an individual, the relationship you have with yourself, with your parents, with your colleagues, with your family. It’s all about, you know, taking that SWOT analysis and finding ways of working together.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, so you all meet virtually?

Margaret Lance
Yeah, we meet virtually and sometimes in person.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay.

Margaret Lance
Yeah, but you know, this is a voluntary service and there is no budget on that. And what I said is we do have partners that if you listen to somebody, you can always signpost them to other groups, to other leaders, to other organizations that would then continue to support them. So it’s just like, okay, I cannot cross, you say, no, lend me your hand, I can cross and you cross over and you let them go. That’s how we do it.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, alrighty. So now we’re going on to something else that you do. I don’t know when you sleep. So you are the Global Goodwill Ambassador at the Global Goodwill Ambassador Foundation. Now tell us about that.

Margaret Lance
Wait, I should ask, do you sleep?

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I do. It all boils down to planning and prioritizing. If you plan and you prioritize, then you execute whatever you want to. Some of my voluntary engagements are evenings or weekends and it’s not regular. Like with some of the groups, it’s just once a month and you can also, when conferences or seminars or some important events are going on by other organizations, all I do is we signpost them to go there. We don’t have to be present. So with regards to Global Goodwill Ambassador Foundation, I was recently appointed as a member and it’s, you know, the world is in crisis and the world needs us. There is peace when you lend a hand, when you put a smile on someone’s face. It’s just looking at the sustainable development goals. Look, pick one, pick two, which one aligns with you? How can you support somebody? So it’s just about, I share their vision and that’s why I’m there and continue to help like the charities in Cameroon, Rock of Ages, like Angola, like other friends of mine who have got charities and they’re doing some really good work. They can invite me to share, to help in any way. So it’s about, you know, think, think of what is it I can do to add value to somebody’s life today.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. So now I’m looking at all this stuff. You are the deputy chair of Black Ethnic Minority Infrastructure Scotland and you’re on the board of directors for Scottish Women’s Convention. So tell me, tell us about the Ethnic Minority Infrastructure now. What is that all about?

Margaret Lance
Well, that is about listening to the voices of ethnic minority communities and helping shape policies that work with them, that support them. So in terms of consults, surveys, seminars, race equality matters, how that impacts on these communities and they can listen to them with regards to what they say and how they can help influence policies.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, is there a large minority population in Scotland?

Margaret Lance
There is. Well, 2014, I think was about 2%. 2% is quite a lot but I don’t have the statistics for now but yeah, we do have, we do have just like everywhere.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Is it mostly from Africa, the minorities or just from everywhere?

Margaret Lance
We have from everywhere, Iran, Iraq, Ukraine, it’s about everywhere. We have from across the globe.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, okay. I’ve never been to Scotland, that’s, you know, that’s why I’m asking, you know.

Margaret Lance
Well, I need to come and visit.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I’m thinking about it.

Margaret Lance
You will love it, you will love it. And I would like, I always like to invite people in winter so that they can test the cold.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Well, if I don’t need to come in the winter, I already know about that.

Margaret Lance
Joking, joking. You can come in summer so that you can really visit Scotland. It’s a lovely place to be and the people are also wonderful. They are just so lovely.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, so now let me see if it’s something else that you’re doing that I have not brought up.

Margaret Lance
Yeah, you mentioned Scottish Women’s Convention. Scottish Women’s Convention is also representing the voices of women in Scotland through consultations, through road shows, through seminars, conferences, and representing the voices of women, women in general.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, alrighty. And with all of that, you still find time, which is this is wonderful, you are a devout Christian and you are an elder and trustee with the Church of Scotland, Glasgow Cathedral, and you serve as a member of World Mission Council Board of Trustees. You did that for four years. So are you still an elder trustee?

Margaret Lance
I am still an elder except the day I choose to resign. For now, I’m still the elder. So when you come to Scotland and you happen to visit the cathedral, I will be welcoming you and, you know, showing you around.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Wow, and it seems like to me I’ve heard of the Cathedral of Glasgow.

Margaret Lance
The right too, this is a Protestant one.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay.

Margaret Lance
And it’s Glasgow on high.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay.

Margaret Lance
Yes, there is a Catholic one.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, okay.

Margaret Lance
There is a medieval one, it’s quite, I think, 13th century, yeah.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, so here’s a question that came in. Who has been your mentor along your current journey?

Margaret Lance
I have many.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, well tell us about how.

Margaret Lance
My journey, my journey as a kid growing up, it was my mother because there are some values that were passed on to me by my mom. It’s working hard and to give not just because you have, because it is the right thing to do. And everywhere you go, just be who you are, honesty, loyalty towards anyone you meet. And that has been, and of course, I would say my family has been supportive. In terms of mentors, when I started to realize who I am, I realized that to make a difference, I need somebody. So I have many coaches, many mentors that I learned and that’s how I met you. It was because of Mirela that I met you. So each and every one of us had something within us but we limit ourselves because we don’t trust ourselves or we don’t even know who we are or we think that our situation is the worst and we settle most of the time for less and we base our decision on other people’s opinions about us. We fail to validate ourselves because we want other people to validate us. Once I started to learn and meet people, I said when I’m not working, I socialize and network with like-minded people. I’m conscious of who I surround myself with and I tell everyone, including my family, if anything or anybody doesn’t add value to your life, cut that off completely.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Preach, yeah.

Margaret Lance
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I hope I answered that question.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yes, you did very, very, very, very, very well, very well. Yes, and then another question came in, what are your goals for the next five years? Where do you see yourself?

Margaret Lance
Well, I see myself traveling around the world, making an impact and I choose to go where people don’t go because that I believe that’s where the problem is. People are out there needing someone to talk to, so I would want to go there.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Do you have any specific or particular questions in mind, I mean places in mind?

Margaret Lance
I have a few places in mind. I want to go back to Angola, I will be going to Cameroon, I want to go to Uganda, to Ghana, to Nigeria. I’m actually, I have some friends in some of these parts of the world, so I want to work with them so they can, so we can work together and see what comes up. So I do have goals, traveling and making an impact, that is important. That’s why we’re here. Somebody needs to do something, you know, we cannot just wait for things to happen, we have to step up and make things happen.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
That’s…

Margaret Lance
And I want to come to, I want to come back to the States.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yeah, I was getting ready to say, wait a minute, you named all those other places and you didn’t name the United States.

Margaret Lance
No, I will be there definitely. I think I’m having, oh gosh, gosh, what, second for me please, my signal.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, yeah, you’re fine. Yeah, so while I’m working at the moment and interacting and networking, it’s about listening to what people are saying, listening to their needs, listening to understand. I already have you there, if I have anyone there, I’ll be signposting them to you.

Margaret Lance
Okay.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I’ll be sending people all over to, like I sent to Mirela’s group, to Linda. Linda is such a lovely person as well. So it’s not always about who gets there first, it’s about how we collaborate and work together.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yes, so I see why now you were on the cover of, were you on the cover of Global Woman?

Margaret Lance
No, I wrote an article.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, okay, so yeah, I wrote an article.

Margaret Lance
What was your article about?

Margaret Lance
It was about the mindset, how we can shift our mindset. Women can shift their mindset and that women have the potential to achieve whatever they want but they should also be given an opportunity to do so because there are so many barriers that stop women from moving forward either in education, work, and stuff like that. So they should be given that opportunity. On the other hand, they can also push themselves a bit because we cannot blame one side, we cannot throw the ball in one direction, you know. It’s about if you have children, what do you do when your children are asleep? Oh, so we are fortunate these days that there’s a lot that we can do online without having to sit in a classroom. It’s about getting that support and when it comes to issues, personal issues, it’s important to seek help because if you open your mind, people will read for you. Nobody is going to be a magician to know that this is what you’re going through if you haven’t opened up to tell someone. Find someone you trust and don’t take your issues to somebody who is like you, who doesn’t have a clue about what you’re talking about. Take it to somebody who is going to uplift you, who is going to say things are going to be all right.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
That’s like a single woman telling a married woman what she should do about…

Margaret Lance
There we go again, there we go.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Right, right, sometimes we go to the wrong people to seek advice. So find the right person and knock and knock and knock. If this door doesn’t open, go to the next one. If you knock 10 doors, one will open. So don’t give up on yourself because there’s a lot that we can achieve if we shift our mindset.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
You know, and I tell you this Margaret, I was going to say to you, okay, what is it that you want to leave the audience with, but you just did.

Margaret Lance
Thank you.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
That, you know, that is so wonderful. So you know, this is what I think, I think that at the next Global Woman Summit that you should speak. Have you talked to Mirela about that?

Margaret Lance
Well, she had invited me to speak even though I talk, talk, I said yeah, I will but I never did.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, Dr. Janice.

Margaret Lance
Yeah, it’s a journey, of course, it’s a journey and I can be on a panel like I was on a panel that, you know, and then that way you have the women next to you and you’re not like, oh dear, yeah, we work on that.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Do that because I’ve already purchased, you told me.

Margaret Lance
Yeah, yeah, right.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And so I plan to be there, I think it’s supposed to be in June.

Margaret Lance
Yeah.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And I plan to be there again, not on the stage this time but just to be there.

Margaret Lance
Brilliant, brilliant.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yeah.

Margaret Lance
See you then.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Definitely, definitely, definitely. Well, you know, I told you that this hour was going to go by really fast and it really has. You have given us so much, you know, value with things to think about and I really applaud you for all what you’re doing. I really, really do.

Margaret Lance
Thank you and I applaud you too for what you do and for bringing me up and let’s keep, you know, building and maintaining relationships because that’s important and communication.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yes, definitely, definitely. And so I’m going to let you go to bed. It’s two, it’s almost two o’clock in the morning there. I really appreciate you staying up and really coming on the show because, you know, I know that I just, I value you, I value your friendship and I just really want to thank you again for coming on.

Margaret Lance
My pleasure. Have a wonderful day and once again, thank you so much for having me and look forward to seeing you soon.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, you know what I didn’t do, wait a minute, wait a minute, before we go, how, right, if you want to follow Margaret, she is on LinkedIn, that’s her name there, Margaret Lance. And if you want to follow her on Facebook, I might have had another text coming in right before we go because I hear the buzz. And if you want to follow her on Facebook, just go to Facebook and look for Margaret Lance and you’ll see all of the wonderful things that you’re, that she is doing. So anyway, I don’t know if this, I should say good night or good morning but one of them.

Margaret Lance
Good morning.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Good morning. All right, Margaret, take care and be blessed.

Margaret Lance
Thank you, stay blessed and speak to you soon.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Alrighty, bye-bye.

Margaret Lance
Thank you for having me, wonderful.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yeah, Margaret is a ball of energy. She just, I just said, oh my God, you just do so much. I think it’s just so wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. So I hope that you have definitely, and I know you have, just definitely enjoy Margaret Lance all the way from Scotland. So now if you would like to be on the show or if you know someone who would be, who you feel would be a great guest, just let me know. All you have to do, and let me find it right quick, of course I can’t find it, okay, but anyway, you can go to jan4now, I thought I had this on here, jan4now25@gmail.com or you can always go to relationshipmatterstv@gmail.com. So if you would like to be on the show or if you would like someone who you know would be a perfect guest, all you have to do is let me know. So thank you all so much for tuning in and watching and so wherever you are in the world, in the morning, if you’re in the morning like Margaret, afternoon or evening, wherever you are in the world, thank you so much for coming and I will see you again next week. Also remember, there are all kinds of relationships and there are all kinds of relationship matters. Life is all about relationships. See you again next week. [Music] Bye-bye. [Music]