morgan Wonderly FINALEDIT

This is a podcast called Open Forum in the Villages, Florida, where they interview leaders and interesting people in the community. They have made some improvements for Season 4, including using more AI in the creation of each episode. They interviewed Morgan Wunderlich, an author and makeover artist, who wrote a book called Simply Feminine. The book explores femininity from a man's perspective and emphasizes the importance of qualities like a smile, wearing pretty colors, and feeling appreciated. Morgan believes that the culture has demonized femininity, causing women to feel that it is weak. She encourages women to embrace their femininity and appreciate the value it brings to relationships and society. Welcome to the Open Forum in the Villages, Florida podcast. In this show we talk to leaders in the community, leaders of clubs and interesting folks who live here in the villages to give perspectives of what is happening here in the villages. We hope to add a new episode most Fridays at 9 a.m. We are a listener-supported podcast. You can become a supporter for as little as $3 per month, or you can choose to pay more. To become a supporter go to OpenForumInTheVillages.com and click on Support in the black box. There will be shoutouts for supporters in episodes. In Season 4, we have made some dramatic improvements and changes. First is a clarification of the podcast's title. It is Open Forum in the Villages, Florida, to make clear that this is a regional show, independently produced for folks who live in Central Florida and the villages areas. Second is a dramatic increase in the use of AI in the creation of each episode. These include a transcript of each show. Please understand that there may be errors inserted by the AI that may not be caught before the transcript is published. However, this is a dramatic step forward. We will now include chapter markers for each show. The show description text will be AI-generated. In fact, the show's announcers are now all AI voices, including me, Emily. Hope you enjoy. Mike Roth with Morgan Wunderlich. Morgan is an accomplished author. She wrote a book called Simply Feminine, Surprising Insights from Men. She says it was men who taught her the most important things about femininity. Morgan is also a professional makeover artist who uses the knowledge she gained from her 11 years of researching for men to help women bring out their feminine beauty and youthfulness. Morgan, thanks for joining us today. Thank you for having me. Morgan, so how long have you lived here in the villages? I've lived here a year and a half. And you came from? San Diego, California. Okay. You weren't involved in the movie industry, were you? No, I wasn't. Okay. We have several people who are SAG members and involved in the movie industry before. Morgan, why don't you tell us how long ago you wrote the book, Simply Feminine? Well, it came out in 2017, and it took me 11 years to complete it. Wow. I had a lot of work to do. Researching. Oh, the research. Researching men, and I had never written a book before. So it was a slower process. What inspired you to write the book, Simply Feminine? Well, I was divorced in 2004, and I was wondering what to do with the rest of my life. So I hired a life coach, and she was asking me questions. And she said, you know, you seem to be very feminine, you should think about teaching women about femininity. And I thought, oh, wow, really? Women want to know about femininity? I mean, I thought femininity was dead. And she said, oh, no, they do. They want to learn about femininity. So I was talking to a male friend of mine, and he said, I think you should write a book and have it be from a man's perspective, because men know what they're attracted to. Okay. And it was like a lightbulb moment, and I thought, oh, my gosh, I would have never thought of that. And I thought that was a great idea. And that was how it all began. And he actually helped me, gave me a lot of insights along the way, and then I started interviewing other men, talking to men everywhere I went to get their opinion. So how many men did you talk to, to come up with your profile? A few hundred. A few hundred? Yeah. Wow. Did you take written notes, or did you record the conversations with them? Written. It was written notes. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Who was the book written for? Well, it was written for women, but what I found is that a lot of men were attracted to this information. They wanted to know, what are you saying about us? And so probably a third of my readers, or maybe more, are men, and I get rave reviews from men. So I guess, good job. How is the book distributed now, if someone wanted to get a copy? On Amazon. On Amazon? On Amazon. Is it one of those custom print jobs on Amazon? Yes, it is. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. So I always like to add a joke into the show, Morgan, for my grandson, Evan. Morgan, what do they call a guy who's really loud? What? Mike. Ah. Okay. Now, you've interviewed several hundred men for the book. Mm-hmm. Correct? Yes. What are some of the things that you learned from men that they find to be feminine? Well, there were some things I was definitely surprised by. Like, one of the top things that a man is attracted to in a woman is her smile. Mm-hmm. And I wouldn't have guessed that. Dentists will tell you that. What's that? Dentists here in the villages will tell you, oh, yes, got to have a great smile. Yes. And I started asking women, what do you think men said is one of the most attractive things? And they could never guess it either. They would say, oh, her hair, her figure, you know, but... Smile. Nobody guessed the smile. Mm-hmm. And so, I learned to value my own smile more, and started smiling more, and that was, so that was a surprise. I learned that men like to see women wearing pretty colors. And you know how women were just wearing all black for many years. Of course, here in the villages, they do wear more color. But I learned a lot about that, about how, you know, it used to be back 100 years ago, you would never see a woman in black unless she was in mourning. Right, right. It's a sad color. It's a serious color. Some people would say it's not even a color. Exactly. It's not playful. It's not happy. And so, that was something that was surprising to me also. And then I learned that men really love to feel appreciated. I learned how important that is, and admired. And that's another thing I talk about in my book. Good. We had a series of incidents of women in our improvisational theater club who came in in unusual attire with bright colors, and they stood out in a positive way. Yes, it does stand out. And I learned that the color that stands out the most to men, because men have different vision than women do, is red, the color red. So if a woman is wearing a red dress, it's going to stand out more than if she's wearing a blue dress. Oh, that's good. In our improv show in November, all of the players are going to be wearing red shirts. Oh, yeah. We want a little bit of an advantage. What do you think the biggest challenge is, Morgan, regarding women's femininity today? It's the culture. Our culture has demonized femininity since the 70s. And so women, well, I can speak for myself. I didn't want to express my femininity for years, because I thought it was weak, and the culture... Weak? How do you mean that? I think when feminism came on the scene in the 60s, it was... So when Betty... Was it Betty Cardan came in on the 60s? Betty Friedan. Betty Friedan... Yes. ...suggested that women have power, and women would be independent. How did that affect women in general? Well, I think women thought that in order to be powerful, they had to be more like men. They didn't realize they're already powerful. Their femininity is very powerful. And one of the things that I learned from men is that femininity is the greatest force on earth. And that just blew me away to realize that. Tell us more about what you mean by the greatest force on earth. That it's our femininity that inspires men to do the things that they do, to build the communities and build the buildings and protect the feminine, because it's the feminine, it's the women that have the babies. They need to be protected and cared for so that they stay healthy and able to have children. Dr. Curtis, can you give our listeners one thing they can do to improve the nourishment of the brain by helping the blood vessels? Absolutely. Exercise is critical to maintaining healthy blood vessels and therefore healthy blood flow as well as following a Mediterranean type diet, which includes fresh fish, lots of green leafy vegetables, legumes, nuts, and cutting down our amounts of red meat and sugar. Thank you. With over 20 years of experience studying brain health, Dr. Curtis's goal is to educate the villages community on how to live a longer, healthier life. To learn more, visit his website, CraigCurtisMD.com or call 352-500-5252 to attend a free seminar. Morgan, do you see any challenges today in women expressing their femininity? Yes. A lot of challenges. Tell me about it. Women still think that they need to be tough and strong and independent in order to be cool. They still believe that femininity is weak, for the most part. A lot of women believe that femininity is weak. They don't realize that the qualities of the feminine are vitally important in our culture, in relationships. One of the hardest things it is for men to hear from a woman is, I don't need a man. Women don't realize that. They think it's cool not to need a man. Oh, I don't need you. I'm independent. I make my own money. I make my own decisions. I travel alone. So subconsciously, when a woman says that to a man, it's eternal for the man. It can destroy the relationship. Destroy the relationship. What are some good things that a woman could say to her man friends or her husband? She can say words of appreciation. Like? Like, honey, I love the way you think. I love the way you're good at math. I admire your abilities to be a renaissance man. I love the way you take care of me. Certainly. Some of those things may not be said enough. I love your muscles. Okay. And I think some of the images in society prevents people from saying stuff like that. Women say stuff like that. With the whole woke movement and... Yes. Masculinity has been very demonized and, you know, they call masculinity toxic masculinity. Well, it makes men even shy away from their own masculinity. But we need masculinity, absolutely. We will die without masculinity. Sure. Sure. You know. And whether a man wants to ride a motorcycle or be a lumberjack, you know, women could do that too. There are women who ride motorcycles and are lumberjacks. Are there? Oh, I mean, lumberjacks. I didn't realize. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, usually women in fields like that have a lot of masculine energy. They were probably born with a lot of masculine energy. So actually, when I talk about men and women, I'm really talking more about masculine and feminine. And just like some men are born with more feminine traits, doesn't mean they have to be gay. But so a lot of women that do those kinds of jobs have a lot of masculine energy in them. You won't find a feminine woman doing those kind of jobs. No, probably not. They want to dress like men in work clothes. They want to do the same kind of work. There was a woman on Top of Snails this last week who was doing a job and she wouldn't take help or criticism, not criticism, but instruction from other people. And she wanted to do it her way and she lost miserably. That's right. We need other people, don't we? Well, everyone needs to be open minded, take in new information because there's so much new happening. What are some ways that women can be more feminine? Well, as I mentioned before, they can smile more. They can be more receptive. Receptiveness is another thing that I've been told that men appreciate, is being receptive, being receptive to compliments, and instead of saying, rejecting the compliment, accepting the compliment and just saying, thank you. If someone says, you're pretty, say, thank you. Don't say, oh, no, or, well, you're pretty too, if you just say thank you. Right, right. I've known some women who are always fishing for compliments about their appearance. Oh, you have? Right. Always fishing for compliments on her appearance. Well, you know, the feminine does love to be seen and noticed. And so, yes, I think women do, feminine women especially, do love to receive compliments. It's probably not attractive, though, to fish for compliments, but ... You know, you talked about smiling. Last weekend, several of us in the improv club went down to Sarasota for the 13th Annual Improv Festival, which was really a phenomenal event, three-day event in Sarasota. We went for two days. We took workshops on Saturday, during the day, and Friday and Saturday night, they had a new show every hour in five different theaters. And at the end of Friday night, my face hurt from all the smiling and laughing. Wow. I don't think I've ever had as many laughs per hour that I've had, and everyone in the audience was smiling. It was really enjoyable. Smiling is something that I think is good. Exercise those facial muscles. And that is something in relationships that's so important. If you can laugh together, it can cover a multitude of other things that aren't so great. Laughing together is so important. And so, a man also loves a woman's laughter. What about positivity? Oh my goodness, that's so important, to be positive. Oh, I hit on a big one there. And to be happy. A man looks for a woman who's happy, because then he feels like, it's going to be easier for me to make her happy, because she's already happy. What about a woman who always says no first? That's not a good trait, because it shows that she's a negative thinker, and she's not open to possibilities, and she's not curious. I think men love women that have a bit of a childlike curiosity and openness. That is a trait of youthfulness, to be open to new things and say, well, I'll try that. Okay. From a woman's perspective, what traits in men do you think women find attractive? Oh, wow. A lot. I have a lot to say on that topic. In fact, I'm probably going to be working on another book called Simply Masculine, Surprising Insights from Women. I've had a lot of requests for that. So a man that is decisive, he can make decisions easily. He is a leader without being bossy or controlling, but he leads by example. He is a man of integrity. He keeps his word. He's physically stronger than her. She can count on him. One of the examples I have in my book is about the trellis and the vine, and that the trellis represents masculinity, masculine energy in its purest form, and the vine represents feminine energy. The vine is beautiful and flowing and ever-changing, and the trellis is there to bring stability and support and structure, because without the trellis, the vine would be trampled on the ground. It would have nowhere to go, no structure. And so I think that's something that women look for, is a man that gives her some stability and structure so that she can be free in her femininity to be playful and emotional, and she'll feel safe with his being within that structure. Probably 10 or 15 years ago, a book was published called Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. I'm sure you've read that. Well, I love John Gray, and in fact, he endorsed my book. Really? Uh-huh. Yes. And when I was finished, I sent him a copy, and he even called me to say, this is a wonderful book. Mm-hmm. He said, every woman needs to read your book. Right. Right. I read his book when I was teaching salespeople and company owners management and leadership trainings, and I thought it was a terrific book, and it explained the language difference between men and women, which was really important for people to understand. Absolutely. I think before John Gray, we really didn't know many of the differences between the masculine and the feminine, and I think a lot of people get divorced or split up because of misunderstandings because of the two, the masculine and feminine. So if we understand each other, our relationships will be way better, and there will be fewer divorces, fewer breakups. So do you talk to various singles clubs in the villages or women's clubs in the villages? I haven't yet since I've been here. Mm-hmm. Yeah, but that is something that I intend to do. So you're still in the first two years that you're here in the villages. Mm-hmm. How many clubs or organizations have you joined? I've only joined one so far, and it's the Vintage Jewelry Club, which is really a fun club for ladies. It's all about jewelry, and I love jewelry, and that's part of the feminine in me, I guess. And just some wonderful women there that bring jewelry in that you can purchase, and then they give a talk on different vintage jewelry. Are you wearing vintage jewelry now? I actually am. Tell our audience about the necklace that you're wearing. Well, I got this at a thrift store. I am big on thrift stores. I take women shopping, by the way, and mostly where I take them to is consignment stores and thrift stores, and that's where I buy all my jewelry. It's a very pretty necklace. I would call it almost red. Yeah, it's actually a hot pink. Hot pink, yes. Yes. The first year I was here in the villages, I joined 19 clubs. Oh, wow. I might have been 20 or 21. Oh, wow. I haven't done that yet, but I do a lot of socializing. Actually, I'm part of two clubs. I've also been part of Single in the Villages. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Oh, good. You'll have to take an announcement back to them that the improv club show is coming up November 7th. Oh. That would be fun. I think there were about 20 members of that club at the last show in February. Oh, okay. But it's a very funny show. It's only for people who like to laugh. Sometimes it's laughing at you. I love to laugh. That would be fun. And you have to smile when you laugh. Did you know that? That's true. You can't help it. Right. All right. I think we had a lot of fun here today during this little talk. Is there anything else you'd like to add, Morgan? Yes. Go. I work with women. I'm a makeover artist. I've been actually doing makeover since the 70s. And I do color analysis. I go to their home. I do their colors. I go through their closets doing a wardrobe analysis in their closet and clean out things that aren't working. And then I take them shopping. I actually go shopping for them, pick out some things, have them meet me. They try things on and decide what they want to buy. And then we get together after that and we put it all together with the jewelry. And I also do a makeup lesson and a hair lesson. It's a total transformational makeover. Oh, that's good. And with the theme being femininity, being more feminine, because that makes us look more youthful. So do you have a website where people can see the makeovers? Yes. It's makeoversbymorgan.com. And my book website is simplyfemininebook.com. So if they want to get a copy of your book, Simply Feminine, they go to amazon.com? Yes. Yes. And I also have an audio book. Oh, the book is both audio and... That's really important. I think that... I think so. I sell a lot of the audio books, yeah. Yeah. Is that on Audible? It is. Mm-hmm. And did you record that yourself? No, I actually had someone else do it, a young actress who did a beautiful job. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. However you get it, I think you need to have an audio book, whether authors are listening. Yeah. Too many people, like me, don't have the time to read, sit down and read a whole book. I can listen to On the Drive Back and Forth from Sarasota in two and a half hours, five hours of a 15-hour book, but I won't sit down and read five hours. That's true. A lot fewer people are reading today, especially the younger people, and that's why I felt that it was important to do an audio book, because I think this is a message that young people really need to hear, that we need femininity and we need masculinity. So Morgan, if people want to get a hold of you after they hear this podcast, what telephone number or email should they use to get a hold of you? Well, if women are interested in doing a makeover with me, they can reach me at this number, 858-324-5544. And if ladies want to see my work and what I do, I was featured on the Village Newcomers YouTube show in March doing a makeover on Linda, so Linda and Jerry, and it's called Linda's Big Makeover, and that would be one way to see what I do and my work. I got married last Friday, me and my man beside me, our friends were all gone, we were alone, side by side. We were happily wed when he got ready for bed then, his teeth and his hair he placed in a chair, side by side. One glass eye so tiny, one hearing aid so small, then he took his leg off and placed it in the chair by the wall. I sat there broken hearted, most of my men had departed, so I slept in the chair, there was more of him there, side by side. Great, well thanks for joining us today, enjoyed having you. Yeah, you're welcome, thank you for having me. Good, thanks very much. Sure. Remember our next episode will be released next Friday at 9 a.m. Should you want to become a major supporter of the show or have questions, please contact us at mike at rothvoice.com. This is a shout out for supporters, Greg Pangean, Tweek Coleman, Dan Cappellan, Ed Williams, Alvin Stenzel, and major supporter Dr. Craig Curtis at K2 in the Villages. We will be hearing more from Dr. Curtis with short Alzheimer's tips each week. If you know someone who should be on the show, contact us at mike at rothvoice.com. We thank everyone for listening to the show. The content of the show is copyrighted by Rothvoice 2023, all rights reserved.