Hey, Y’all! I’m Leila Rhoden – she who is composing this mini-bio about herself, and she who has a most difficult time “tooting her own horn.” (Is that why I am talking about myself in the third person?) Therefore, this blurb will only contain the most relevant information that pertains to how I got to the point of where I am now in creating this particular website. I will disclose more about myself later on.
I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and am now nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in northwest Georgia. After a long hiatus from college (approximately 15 years or so), I returned to the University of West Georgia and finished my Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in humanistic psychology and a minor in philosophy.
Not wanting to leave the joys of scholastic life so soon, I signed my life away and completed not one, but two master’s degrees – one in psychology with an emphasis in counseling, and the other in gerontology, which is the study of the social aspect of aging. My focus in gerontology was ‘optimal aging,’ and there was a sort of self-serving aspect in that I was a lot closer to retirement age than not.
Also, I had studied health and nutrition, alternative healing modalities, herbal medicine, owned and managed health food stores, and practiced Foot Reflexology throughout the years before returning to school, therefore, it was the natural way for me to proceed.
After working in community mental health and the in the private sector at an assisted living facility as Resident Services Director, I experienced early career burnout. For the past several years, I feel as if I have been incubating in a self-created cocoon of sorts–licking my wounds, exploring aspects of myself that needed attention and healing – all while working very hard doing a physically demanding job (which has probably been the best thing for me).
During this time, I’ve had the opportunity to listen to a variety of audiobooks – some new on natural health, healthy aging, self development, and all aspects of internet marketing – and I have also revisited many books that profoundly affected my spiritual growth into adulthood and maturity that I previously read throughout the years.
Somewhere along the way, I found that as I was perusing the myriad of sources of information, I was mentally compiling what is vital and meaningful pertaining to health and optimal aging into little modules that could be used for the purpose of informing and assisting those who are making the conscious choice to age well.
Being a natural teacher, I have an innate desire to educate people on what it takes to age healthily so to ensure longevity and to increase the quality of life during those later years. I have been fortunate to obtain the publishing rights on a ton of top quality information on alternative health, nutrition, self care, healthy aging, etc. Therefore, I am in the process of creating the community membership site Exceptional Aging.com which is being prepared to officially launch early in 2017.
However, when I first began my research for the best way for me to gain an internet presence and audience for my unique perspective on healthy aging, I immersed myself in learning all about internet marketing. If only I had known then what I know now!
My approach to learning internet marketing was an experiential, do-it-yourself style and I became hooked (as so many of us do) on getting the next, newest, shiniest thing that would be the magic one-click solution for whatever I needed (or thought I needed) at that time. Ha!
Furthermore, income generating opportunities on the internet are not what they used to be, especially to any late-comers like myself. I finally realized that a lot of the “latest” info products, plugins, membership sites or what-have-you, was only sold to the masses because they had already outlived their usefulness to the internet “gurus.”
Therefore, since I now have a myriad of knowledge on how NOT to do internet marketing, I want to also share what I have learned (and am still learning) with other older adults whose time and money may be in short supply. Exceptional IM has become part of my mission of serving older adults to become financially secure and not dependent on any government program or retirement plan. In addition to this, my greater mission is to provide relevant and useful information on how to age healthy without dependence on pharmaceuticals and anything else having to do with the medical cabal – that does not have our best interests at heart.
SO, I have gathered – and am still currently purchasing and writing/producing some of the best articles, eBooks, special reports, and videos available, so to publish them here for you on Exceptional IM.com and Exceptional Aging.com.