Iceland’s First Lady, Eliza Reid
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Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Jan Arden Podcast. I'm your host, Jan Arden. I am here with the lovely Sarah Burke and Adam Karsh. They are in Toronto. I am here in Springbank, Alberta, I guess, Rocky View County. We've got a great show for you today, and we're going to be speaking. I've never spoken to a First Lady before. Have you ever spoken to a First Lady, Sarah? No, can't say I've been on the list. No, I haven't.

Well, we have the amazing Eliza Reid with us today. And some of you may well already know who she is. She is the wife, of course, she's the first lady of the president of Iceland. And she is an incredible person. She's in her mid-40s. She was born in Canada, so she can't be half bad. She's done an enormous amount of things in her life. She

When she was young, she did some volunteer work for Sick Kids Hospital. She's worked for the Red Cross in Iceland. So she was kind of on that side of working, it seems like, in a sort of a medical fundraising field. And then she just really swapped out and did some other things, writing books.

And she's very entrepreneurial. She started something called the Iceland Writers Retreat, which I'm going to ask her about. It sounds so amazing. I've never wanted to go on a writers retreat until I heard that there was an Icelandic writers retreat. Have you ever been to Iceland, Jan? No, it's been on, you know, I was supposed to go with a couple of girlfriends just before COVID. And of course, the world came to a screeching halt.

And I never ended up going, but we're still talking about it. We still have flight credits. There you go. So that we need to use up. Anyway, this is a woman who has redefined who she was so many times, and she's been very careful in things that I've read and heard her speak to, that she is very aware of her own place in the world, that she does not just...

see herself as the president's wife, as some kind of decoration that he parades around to different countries and to different dinners and speeches. And she's got her own life. She's really, really interesting. So hang around for Eliza Reid. We're so, I don't even know how you did this, Sarah, but Sarah Burke, she said, you know, we have an opportunity to talk to the first lady of Iceland. And I'm just like, what?

Yes. And you know what? We maybe have to ask a couple questions on behalf of my sister. My sister has a trip booked to Iceland with her boyfriend. Oh, we're going to ask everything. If there was ever a person to ask about Iceland, it is Eliza Reid. So stick around for that. So I thought it would be in keeping with

I guess our guest today, Sarah, I want to talk to you about careers, about changing careers, about pursuing things, about being entrepreneurial, about where you started, where you are now in your life and where you see yourself going. I know that's a long question, but, you know, there's we're coming into a climate of

Damn the torpedoes. Do what you want, especially since COVID. People quitting their jobs, moving into the country, retiring or starting all over or doing things they like or taking half a pay cut. Like, I don't care if I make 200 grand a year. I'll make 70 grand a year because I really want to do pottery. Or I really want to be happy. I think that's the new theme. So can you speak to that and kind of where your journey started and how you feel about where you're headed and where you are?

Don't think I'm not going to ask you about this too, because I will. Don't think that you're going to think that I'm going to think what you're thinking. So if we go back to grade two, my teacher did this thing with all the kids. There was a board and she was like, you're going to draw yourself in the profession that you want to be. What do you want to be when you grow up? Any guesses on what this grade two...

Little girl wanted to be? I feel like fireman or Sherpa or, I don't know, did you want to be in radio or in television right from the get-go? I wanted to be a dentist. Oh, my God. I wanted to be a dentist.

And I love going to the dentist. This is something people don't like. And bless my Jewish dentist, Dr. Ben Bassett, who's still trying to make me break up with my boyfriend to hook me up with a nice guy from synagogue. I still go to my pediatric dentist because I love going to the dentist. However...

Got a little taste of writing in high school, and I thought I wanted to be a journalist. Now, this is something that may be uncomfortable to some to hear, but I dropped out of university because it wasn't for me. I thought I wanted it.

ended up dropping out of journalism at Carleton because I needed a little more stimulation. I was really bored. I still like writing now. I'll write you a blog, but I needed to talk for a living. So yes, that's sort of the evolution of me. Dentist, come on. But I mean, ask any kid. It's funny, when I was growing up, there seemed like there were six jobs that you could have

And it was very gender specific. Well, yeah. And little girls were expected to choose jobs. Nurse. You didn't say doctor. You said nurse. You didn't say lawyer. You said secretary. I'm 60 years old, so the world has changed a lot. And now, yes, you do have young women that are saying, I want to be an astronaut. I want to be a cop. I want to be a judge. I want to be a

I want to work in Africa for World Vision. Whatever it is, it's changed how we all think. And maybe for little boys too. Maybe Adam's nodding, but maybe little boys are finally able to go, I'd like to be a nurse. I'd like to be a florist. I would like to go into interior design. I would like to be a fashion designer. And I think maybe 20, 30, 40 years ago, that was a much more difficult thing to be able to say. You looked around at other kids and you're like, oh, I want to be a lumberjack.

Okay. Yeah. And as you know, I just, the reason I'm working with you is because I made a really big decision and left a job. I used to manage the music department at Sirius XM here in Canada. And I'm kind of doing the freelance entrepreneurial thing right now. It's very scary, but it was a risk that made me so happy because I'm working on projects that I really enjoy right now. Tell me about risk and what that means to you. Because it's different for everyone.

Risk is having to go to Dr. Bambasit and not have benefits, right? Like that's part of it. It's like the security of some of the things that come with the, you know, the big office jobs, the big companies. Do you think that's what keeps people from making those leaps?

A hundred percent, right? Like how scary is it to think that like the paycheck could look different every time over the next six months, right? It might not be that same number you're expecting. That's a big part of the risk. So, you know, the first decision financially that I made when I quit my job was,

Okay, going to put my auto payments to the RRSP on hold for right now just to make sure I'm good, right? Like I got a mortgage to pay. So those are the things people are thinking about when they make these decisions. But at the cost of happiness, so happy right now. What would you say to people who aren't risk takers? What would you say to people who are 53 years old and have worked in retail for 22 years?

They're extremely unhappy and they're just so afraid to make that move. I know what I would say, but you just did this. So I'm curious to know what you would say to people that are just afraid to do that. Look at the ratio of your time. You're going to spend more time than anything making money. So you better be making money doing something you love.

So how, how do we, I mean, Eliza Reed probably has a good answer for this too. How do we convince people to have that leap of faith? Do you think it's wise to have something to go to? A lot of people treat relationships like that. They're like, I want to get, I want to get out of this relationship, but I need that bridge. I don't know if he's the guy or she's the gal, but

But I'm going to make sure I have something to go to. And you get in, that was my life. I will admit that.

I was a jumper. I jumped from the frying pan into the frying pan into the frying pan. And then I went into a fire, like a full blown fire. We kind of talked about this last episode too. And maybe that's why I'm feeling so like powerful in my own voice right now. It's because I've spent so much time single and I've only really had like two long-term relationships in all my 35 years.

So I think that's given me a really good chance to get to know myself. And I would say grow a pair to the person thinking about doing something for themselves. Easy to say, easy to say, but like, what do you do? Do you, you know, someone wants to be a photographer. They love taking pictures and they've done a couple of weddings, you know, where people have, you know, don't pay me. I'll just take your pictures because I'm still learning right now, but you know, I'm certainly good enough to take your wedding pictures.

Volunteer? Yeah, I was going to say get involved in it to, you know, not where you're having that monetary experience, but that you're doing something a couple of evenings a week that isn't a field you want to go into. Half the work I'm doing right now is on podcasts because of a podcast I started on my own time that I'm not getting paid for, right? Because people can see that I have the experience in this world.

So, yeah. And to your point about jumping from frying pan to frying pan, you know, with jobs, I think it's also very common that that happens. And that's probably why it took me so long to make that decision. But I will say I should have made it two years ago. Do you think it's different for women than it is for men changing jobs? I'm going to ask you this too, Adam.

Do you think it's a different thing for men changing jobs? And what's your wife done all these years? I know she works. She's in education and she was a teacher and then a vice principal and now a principal. Oh, hell yeah. So she's climbed up that, she's climbed up the hill. Has she ever wanted to change and would you support her if she did?

Sure. I don't think she does, but of course, for me, I can't imagine doing anything else but this. I love radio. I love podcasts, production, anything in this realm. However, if for some reason I was, you know, had to change jobs, I would probably open a food truck and make smash burgers. Oh, yeah.

Well, I mean, COVID has done that. It is at least spurred our imaginations and it's given us the opportunity to really think of what's possible. And it really made people acutely aware of time, how much time they had. And sometimes it takes these huge things in life.

To find the bravery to take that leap. You're listening to the Jan Arden podcast. Eliza Reid, the first lady of Iceland, is going to be joining us in today's podcast. But in the meantime, we've got a lot to talk about. Jobs, how you go after what you want to go after, making changes. Where do you start? Don't go away. We'll be right back. Sarah Burke, Adam Karsh.

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Jen Arden here. I am so happy to be here today. We're talking about careers, jobs, making changes at any time in your life. Even if you're 19 and you don't want to be at Tim Hortons anymore, you want to be at Burger King. And then you want to be at a golf course. And then from the golf course, you want to be at the radio station. And then you want to be at a landscaping company. Kids are much more resilient about that.

changing jobs. They don't think anything of bailing on a job that they don't like, especially now. Sarah Burke is here with me. Growing up, what were you, what did your jobs look like? Were you loyal or did you just go, nope, hate that, moving on?

It's so funny you should ask because the Dairy Queen I worked at in Richmond Hill, Ontario, just closed. And it was like a flagship Dairy Queen. It was one of the first ones in Ontario. And I happened to have my old boss's phone number in my phone. And I called to see if he was still in the DQ business like last week. And he thought it was so funny that I called him like,

Anyway, Dairy Queen, American Eagle. I worked at the mall at American Eagle for a very long time. Camp counselor, worked with an autistic girl out of camp that I met one-on-one because I loved that experience. And yeah, and then I kind of went into like dance. I did a little bit of dance teaching. That was kind of on the side. Dance teaching? Yeah, like I took dance growing up. So I taught ballet to some of the little ones. Wow. Wow.

Yeah. Those are my jobs back in the day. Before music, Jan, what did you think you wanted to be, or did you always want to be a singer? I wanted to be a school teacher, which is funny that Adam's wife is doing what I always wanted to do. That was what my dreams were. And I've talked about this a lot as time has gone on. Yeah. I always pictured myself at the front of a classroom with a big piece of chalk in my hand and the kids calling me Ms. Richards and

and teaching young kids, grade one or two. And I still am very fascinated by literature and English and sentences and thoughts and putting your thoughts on paper. But life doesn't always work like that. And as I moved along, I loved guitar. I loved playing. I loved singing. And I loved making up songs. But I was quite a realistic kid.

um I'm just like someone like me can't do something like that like it's just the way I look I'm too short I'm too not pretty enough like all those things well but you just think that way and but by the time I was 25 I'd been in the bars almost you know seven or eight years at that point and then um

Like I said, I didn't sign the record deal until I was 30, but I worked in golf courses, picking up golf clubs. Oh, I did golf course too, by the way. Yeah. Yeah. There was one close to me. I rode my moped down there and I said to Clayton Robb, I rode my moped down there every week until he gave me a job. He said, come back next year. You're too small. You're too young. I started when I was like 11. And when the summer I was 13, he gave me a job and I got 260 an hour.

So that would have been the 70s. And I thought $2.60 an hour was like, holy crap. $6.85. I was a $6.85 at DQ and I thought that was amazing. A couple years later, but... Yeah, a couple, two, three years later, Sarah. But yeah, I just...

lot of little jobs, but you know, once I hit music, I never really had another job. I've really never done anything else. And the irony of that guys is now I'm doing so many other things. I mean, I do speaking engagements and I do this podcast and I've been, I've written five books. I'm just about to publish my first novel, which took me a small 15 years to write.

And, um, so you, you branch out and you just do things that you, I do things that I like to do, but in, you know, I know there's a lot of people listening right now going, well, easy for you to say, because you have something that makes you money. And that's not untrue. I do have my music and I do do corporate jobs and I make records and I have that income stream. But, you know, having said that, it doesn't keep me from trying things that I fail at.

The, the, the downside of it is the same feeling, you know, and, um, I just try all the time, even if it's something that I'm not good at, I just like to do it.

There's something here that I'll bring up from when you came on my Women in Media podcast. I asked you, like, was it easy for you to get into comedy from the music and being on screen? And you said, well, it was always a part of me. So maybe this is something, you know, where we're touching on, like, listening to that little voice inside of you. When you are in a bar and between songs, you're getting a reaction from the crowd. You took something and did something with that, right? Yeah.

Yeah, it was comfort. You know, the guys were like, talk because we only have like four songs left and we have to play another hour. And so I just started talking in the bar and making up stories and talking about the town. I can't even remember. I was probably so drunk. But people would laugh and, you know, all of a sudden, you know, a six or seven or eight minute little bit would go by and then we'd go into ZZ Top's, you know, bar.

whatever song of the day or, you know, we play, we were a cover band. But what's at the heart of that is, is being vulnerable and like really showing your true self to people, right? Because the things that people love about you now, like on this podcast, in your music, it's when they get,

They get a real sense of who you are, right? When you're putting on a whole facade, people don't connect with it the same way. Well, it's very hard to have a facade, I think. It's hard to, I would think it would be hard to be in the entertainment business and create a persona that you had to do. But some people are so gifted at that. I mean, I look at David Bowie and I'm like, wow, the guy had so many versions of himself, but they were all him.

You know, he talks about that. He would create Ziggy Stardust, but he said it was still him. It was a part of him. I just, I'm not that creative and I'm not that talented. So I just, she's lying. I just, I just stuck with the, the me that I could manage. And, uh, I, I had a critic once tell me, and I've said this on the show before he compared my, my stage presence to a thumb with eyes. And, well,

This is early days. And maybe it's true. I don't dance. I don't move around much. I throw the guitar around my neck once in a while and I'll walk from side to side. But it's not like I don't leap off of speakers. Even when I was in rock and roll bands,

I was pretty sedentary. I didn't jump from a stack of speakers or amps onto the crowd and go, you know, in a mosh pit. Not on TikTok, folks. I've seen your dance moves on TikTok, Jen. Well, that's only the beginning. I'm just getting started. But yeah, so, I mean, and...

For anyone who's thinking of making changes, there's going to be risks involved. There is going to be risks involved. But what's the worst thing that's going to happen? You're going to fail. And you know what? You just try again. You try again. We learn. And you do learn. And there's nothing to be embarrassed about. There's nothing to be ashamed of. It's just trying. God, for everything you see me kind of do okay, I have failed at a dozen other things.

that I don't get right. You know, I'll give you this example and it's kind of, it's, it's, it might be a bit lofty, but people will understand this. I still record records. I still record them. They lose money from my record company every time out, probably the last six or seven albums. No, this is true. Universal keeps me on. They keep making records with me because they believe in me. They believe in my catalog. I'm not on the radio anymore.

My new records that I slave over and pour my heart into, they will never really see the light of day. They're not on the radio. And people, I'm just not on contemporary. You'll hear my old catalog on gold radio, on, you know, hits of the 70s, 80s, 90s, and the, what are they calling the 20s, the 200s, the zeros? I don't even, the tens? The 2000s, yeah.

You'll hear me on those all the time. You'll hear that, you know, that catalog, but on contemporary top 100 radio, you'll never hear me. And people say, why do you keep doing it? Why do you keep making records when you lose money? When, you know, nobody really buys them. And I'm just like, this is what I do. And Universal has been extraordinarily supportive of my work because they are thinking long-term and,

When I kick my clogs, I hope I have 20 albums that I've made that people might listen to 40 years from now, 60 years from now, 100 years from now. So when you talk about failing, I want you to consider that. I fail all the time. I don't do what I want to do in my heart and I don't do as well as I used to do. So-

Just consider that. And I keep going forward. You're listening to the Jan Arden podcast. We've got an unbelievably special guest coming up. Eliza Reed, Iceland's first lady joins us when we come back.

This is very exciting. Welcome back to the Jan Arden podcast. Sarah Burke is with me, Adam Karsh. And I'm just so grateful and very honored that the First Lady of Iceland, Eliza Reid, writer, entrepreneur, mother, fierce promoter of women's rights and women's equality is here with us today. Eliza, thanks so much for joining us. I know you're in Toronto right now. I am. It's so great to be back in Canada.

You were born in Ottawa. Yeah, I'm born and raised in Ottawa or just outside of Ottawa. And I studied at the University of Toronto. So I lived here in Toronto also in the last century. But it's great to be back. Yeah.

So when's the last time you were in Toronto? I haven't been in the city in three years because there's been this kind of travel chaos. You know, I probably had it affect you here. So it's extra exciting to be back now. Yeah.

Well, we were talking before you came on is Sarah had asked me if I'd ever been to Iceland, which is where you're living now, obviously. And it's funny, just before COVID hit, two of my very dear girlfriends and I had tickets and we were headed to Iceland and we couldn't go. So we still have flight credits that we're going to use, damn it, at some point.

But it is funny how the world kind of came to this abrupt halt. And I would imagine, and I thought about Iceland a lot. I'm just like, here's these people, 350,000 of you on this tiny Northern place, island. And I wonder if that must've felt even more isolating than perhaps we would have been on, on the continent here.

I think, you know, it's this interesting thing with the pandemic, you know, because there isn't a human being on planet Earth that has been untouched by this occurrence. And there are so few situations in which that has happened. And obviously it's been very different for everybody, but it has affected every single person on this planet in some way or another. I actually think in Iceland,

we feel quite fortunate because as you say, we are an island. It really enabled us to try to isolate as much as we could. So during the peak of the pandemic and initially in 2020,

Basically, the borders kind of just shut down and people were told to stay at home and they had excellent track and trace systems, regular updates by all the scientists who were involved and people really listened a lot to the authorities. So to the degree that by the summer of 2020, when this was starting,

we actually weren't wearing masks. We were, we had no limitations or anything for that whole summer and no one was really leaving. We didn't have any tourists. So we all tried to do our part for the tourism industry by traveling around the country in the summer vacations. And so you'd be in the different part of the country and run into your neighbor somehow. But it was just this way of everybody kind of,

I think people just felt like they wanted to do their part that they could in this situation. So actually, I think being an island was fortunate. Maybe they saw places they hadn't seen in 40 years of living there. Like, I've never been here before. And it's only like 60 miles from where I live. That happens so much with people. Absolutely. Absolutely. And people, you know, in Iceland, it doesn't get that warm in the summer, of course. So people tend to go to Spain or Italy or

warm countries. And then people thought, but then we've got this beautiful country with so many things to see. And exactly. Every, we'd hit the road and do a little road trips. Another interesting thing happened for you in 2020. And that was your book that came out and I'm going to have you explain it, but secrets of Spracker, Iceland's extraordinary women and how they are changing the world. And I want you to speak to that. Spracker is a, I'm going to have you explain the word, but it, that came out just before the pandemic hit. So that must've been,

kind of a weird disappointing experience in a way. Well, it, it actually, you know, came up this year. I wrote it during the pandemic. So. Oh, I'm sorry. It just came out now. Yeah. So this was actually, it, um, it worked out all right for me because in fact, I think the pandemic, uh, allowed me to write the book. Um, I, I, the book is comprised of interviews with almost 40 different women. And, um,

And so I conducted all of these interviews with them under the pandemic restrictions and that whatever the rules were in place in Iceland at the time. And as you said, the book Secrets of the Sprachar, Sprachar is a very old and obscure Icelandic word that I wanted to introduce into the English language. It means outstanding women. And, you know, I can't think of any words in the English language that we have that describe exclusively women in exclusively positive way.

I'll pause for a minute to see if you can think of any, but I haven't come across any yet. No, I can't even... I mean, you know, the word fierce comes to mind or warrior perhaps in the English language, but I think it's...

what Icelandic women I think have been given this, this opportunity. I mean, for 12 years now, you guys have been the global leader in gender equality. I mean, you were, you were, I saw one of your Ted, the Ted talk and you were talking about United States being at 51. And I just wanted to give people that comparison between this big modern world power house and

being 51 with women's equality and, and in, in every sense of the word, whether it's having children or working or being entrepreneurial or being how they're treated in the workplace or changing jobs or,

in their midlife or working later in life. Like all those things, it's pretty remarkable for 12 years that's been happening. - And even actually 13 years now because a new report just came out after the book came out and everything. So we still hold that, but we're always quick to say that-- - Well, I'm really nailing this. I'm in 2020.

Okay. 20, 12 years. No, it's 13. It's, it's very new. It's very newly 13. Um, and, and, you know, we're always quick to point out that being number one doesn't mean that we've achieved it yet. Um, we always like to point out that we still have gender based violence. Uh, we still don't have equality in the boardroom. Uh, we,

We need to make sure that we are very inclusive in our definitions of working towards equality. But you're right that as a society in Iceland, we've really passed the tipping point of debating whether or not working towards greater equality is an important objective, but talking about how we're going to get there.

Because I think we realize that the more equal society we create for everybody, the more it benefits everybody else. It's not a zero-sum game of giving, of lifting up one group at the expense of another. And that is really what I wanted to explore in the book. And also really to paint a portrait of maybe a lesser known country, my adopted homeland, through this lens of gender equality by just telling the stories of regular everyday women who hopefully we can all

Do you feel Icelandic? Do you feel like an Icelandic person? Do you feel like a dual citizen? I think it would be, I'm trying to imagine, you know, moving my life and being in a country where it's very different culturally, where you're dealing with an extremely interesting language that I'm sure was fiercely complicated to learn. Just,

Just seeing words written out, I'm like, well, how do you get anywhere? How do you tell the tab driver where you're going? You make a lot of embarrassing mistakes is, I think, the key thing. But yeah, I feel both. I feel Canadian. I feel Icelandic. I'm proud to be

an Icelander. I'm proud to be an immigrant, have that experience. I'm proud to be Canadian. And I guess the main thing is that so far I've been fortunate that our national sporting teams haven't had to compete directly against each other in major sports. That I think is the major concern.

Well, I wonder how we can organize that. Is there something we can do? I'm going to tell you, October 11th, Iceland's women's national soccer team has a big game against either Belgium or Portugal. If we win, we qualify for the Women's Soccer World Cup for the first time next year. And I'm pretty sure Canada is going to be there. And I might get a little nervous about that. But I hope that it comes to pass that Iceland and Canada both qualify for that tournament.

It's going to be a difficult choice of who to cheer to or cheer for rather, but I know that you can do it. Just before we go to break, you met your husband in a very interesting way. And I think it's the cutest story. And it really made me laugh because who would have thought all these years later, a fundraiser for a rowing team would have changed your life so much.

I know. I think the message there is give fate a little bit of a push. In a big nutshell, there was a fundraiser. Men were drawing names out of a hat to take on a date, and I stuffed that ballot box with my name. So he'd have to choose me. I didn't know he'd become president, but that's the unpredictability of life, isn't it? I just love that. So listen, when you have a chance to stuff your name into a little cup and get a date with somebody, don't hesitate. Carpe diem. Carpe diem.

We're going to be back with Eliza Reed right after this brief message. You're listening to the Jan Arden podcast. We are back with the first lady of Iceland, Eliza Reed with her brand new book out secrets of Spracker.

Iceland's extraordinary women and how they are changing the world. And you're certainly changing the world. One other thing I absolutely wanted to ask you about is the Iceland writers retreat that you are the co-founder of. And I've never, ever wanted to go to a writer's retreat, but this is just like, I'm going to go to this damn writer's retreat. We'd love to have you. I want to go.

Tell me about it. Tell me what was the catalyst to get this starting and who comes, how long, what happens? Sure. I mean, the catalyst was, I'm going to tell you a bottle of wine, which it often is for good ideas, but essentially it's, it's this idea, as you said, for people who just like to write or, or now we have something for people who like to read just in the way that if you like to cook, you might go to Thailand for a week and take a cooking class and you could be a Michelin star chef, or you could like to just tinker in the kitchen.

Iceland and its capital city Reykjavik is the world's first non-native English speaking UNESCO city of literature. So we have a really long and deep literary tradition in Iceland. We love authors. The country has one of the highest book publishing and book buying rates in the world. So it's a really, really

literary country where there's a lot of reverence and respect for literary traditions and cultural traditions overall. So you come into this environment for a few days at the end of April each year, and we bring over writers from various countries

and they teach small group writing workshops. So the class is on editing your work or creating characters or writing a memoir. And the classes have no more than 15 people in them, but it's very social. So you do these workshops and you also learn about Iceland. We take you on

day tours to see the natural sites, but they're led by authors and we stop for readings on the way. And we have a pub night with local musicians and local author readings. So it's, and it's not competitive, you know, it's not, here's our agent, here's how to pitch your book. It's just about if you enjoy writing.

And if you love books, but you don't enjoy writing, we started last year a concurrent event called the Iceland Readers Retreat, which is basically for book clubs or people who like to read. And so you go over and instead of taking a class on character development, you just listen to an author talk about their writing. I think that's so wonderful to include that. I was going to say there's so many people listening right now that are like, I would go to a writer's retreat in a heartbeat, but I'm not a writer.

I wouldn't feel comfortable going and learning about something that I'll never do. I don't even write in a diary. So I love that you have added that level

come and read a book and listen to people talking about writing books and don't feel like you have to do anything, but have an ice cold beer and listen to music and go see your country. Absolutely. And you know, and everybody can be a writer too. There's no, you know, bar that you have to audition to go. If you want to go, you should come. We would love to see you. Jan's done a lot of writing. What would your best advice be for Jan's next book?

Adventure in literature, because like, obviously, you've got some, you know, advice to give.

What's my, so I've only written one book, but you know, in Iceland we have this phrase that everyone walks with a book in their belly that we all have a story to tell. So in my limited experience, I would just say to really believe in yourself. You know, some people say, I want to write this book, but I don't know if anybody's going to want to publish it, for example. Well, there's one way you can guarantee no one's going to publish it. And that's if you never write it. Yeah. Well, it,

Just to sort of... I don't know if I want to school you or not, but you've been writing your whole life. You have been a freelance writer at multiple publications. You've been writing for 20 years. So I think it's very...

interesting that you say that and kind of comforting too, because I think we're all a little hard on ourselves and how we perceive ourselves. But you've always been a writer from the time you started at university. I think even hearing your TED Talk, I was fascinated with how you write the way you speak. And I love that. I'm sure a lot of people have told you that, but it's

It's so, it just, it's like squeezing a lime into your mouth. It's something very tactile. You just are very candid and it's easy to read what you write.

Does that make any sense? That's just very kind of you. And I think some of my friends, when they were reading drafts of the book, said, oh, I read this chapter. I felt like I'd just gone out for a cup of coffee with you. And that's what I want to have. I want to have that tone with the book and with the stories that people feel like it's, yes, they learned something and hopefully they're inspired, but that it's just a warm and friendly conversation. What do you hope that Spracker...

your book does for women when they read this. We, earlier in the podcast, we were talking about that risk of trying things, changing jobs, going forward, leaving long-time careers. How do you think that,

Or what's your hopes for this book? Well, I hope that, I mean, first of all, I hope it's not just women read it. I hope that people of all genders read the book because I think there's a lot of inspirational stories there for everyone. And I think that that's maybe it. It's, it's maybe, it's,

having people develop the confidence, the idea to be comfortable in their own skin and to realize that we are all role models in some way and we all can make a difference in this world. I didn't interview the first female president. I didn't interview Bjork, the singer, or the first woman to climb Everest. I interviewed regular people like you and me with hopes and fears and strengths and weaknesses and

And I just wanted to get those stories to come across to realize that we all have something unique to say and to share with the world and something that we can learn from each other. I love how you have made it very clear that you absolutely are the first lady and certainly the president's wife, but you are your own person. And from the very onset of this new role in your life,

You have drawn definite lines in the sand for, you know, for your family, for things that you do separate from your husband. You don't always go off with him to do these things. You have made your own path. And maybe you could speak to that, why that's so important to you. And I would imagine important for your children and your whole family.

I think you're absolutely right. It is important. I think it's a strange feeling when my husband was elected president. Of course, I'm incredibly proud of him and his achievements. I'm incredibly proud to be his wife, incredibly honored and privileged to have this opportunity to serve. But at the end of the day, I all of a sudden became nationally known

in relationship to someone else. So all of a sudden my identity publicly was being shaped in a sense primarily because of in connection with another person rather than for me as myself. And even though I think a number of, you know, most people aren't married to heads of state, a lot of people maybe have partners that are better known than they are and can really relate to that idea of how

the sort of culling of one's identity by a thousand paper cuts. I think I put it in one article and, and I think it's something that's important to showcase, especially in situations such as mine, where it's say a woman who is married to a man who is better known in a,

in an era when we really still need to be hearing women's voices more and not less. And so a lot of what I try to do in my capacity as First Lady is to defy expectations and to kind of reshape maybe what a stereotype would be of a female spouse of a male head of state. Exactly. You talked about you didn't want to be that soft person.

piece of an accessory to your husband going out and doing his work. Well, listen, for somebody, your husband, who didn't have a lot of political experience, it's very inspiring to see people do things they want to do and to try. And I think that's what it's about. Just try.

If you don't try, if you don't write that book, well, you don't have to worry about not being published because you've got to write the words down. Exactly. And make the most of unexpected opportunities, I would say. My husband had no experience and became president. We became nationally known. And you can either use that platform that Bates handed you or not use it. We're going to leave it right there. Eliza Reid, the first lady of Iceland.

Please, please, please go and get this book. I'm going to just say it one more time. Secrets of Spracker. And I hope I'm saying that right, Eliza. Iceland's extraordinary women and how they are changing the world, just like you're changing the world, Eliza Reid. Thank you for listening to the Jen Arden Podcast. We'll see you next time. Toodle-oo-doo.

This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.